A labor rights group today issued a statement calling on police and military personnel not to get involved in labor issues.

The Coalition of Civil Society for Labor Rights, which includes the Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia said their involvement could pose a threat to democracy.

“The involvement of the police and military in labor issues is a setback of the … [political] reformation process, which has not yet been completed, and also a threat to civil supremacy and democracy,” the statement said.

The statement added that police and military involvement also led to the impression that they were protecting capital over labor.

“It means the state sides with the greed of capital,” the statement said.

The statement followed a demonstration by thousands of workers on January 27 in Bekasi, West Java, during which protesters blocked the Cikarang toll road.

The demonstration was called to express dissatisfaction with a ruling by the provincial governor that revoked a minimum wage increase.

The coalition’s statement also sought to preempt a crackdown on a similar protest scheduled for next week.

Major General Waris, head of Jakarta Military Command, said he would break up any further attempts to block the toll road following an announcement of the planned protest.

The coalition’s statement called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono “to warn and take firm action against Maj Gen Waris because he is arrogant and anti-democratic.”

Father Antonius Benny Susetyo, executive secretary of the Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the right to protest is a human right that must be protected.

The role of the police and military is to provide security and order, he said.

“They must not threaten [people].”