Tens of thousands protest in Indonesia

Tens of thousands of workers have gathered outside the presidential palace in Jakarta in Indonesia, demanding higher wages, better working conditions and that more economic growth trickle down to the working class.The demonstrations on Thursday come a day after a governor in the capital Jakarta agreed to raise the minimum wage by 44 per cent but protesters said they wanted government to provide better health care and pensions and wanted to ensure that the courts do not over turn their decision.Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from the capital, said “tens of thousands of workers have been marching through the city centre and have reached the presidential palace ... they have been demonstrating for weeks for a higher minimum wage, and they have been demanding to get rid of a much hated outsourcing policy.“Basically, government has met these demands over the past week, now they are here to show they are not satisfied yet.”They say that they have an expensive pension fund and an expensive health scheme, and they want to get rid of them as well, Vaessen said.Governor Joko Widodo agreed to lift the minimum monthly wage in Jakarta to 2.2 million rupiah ($228) from 1.53 million rupiah. In Indonesia, local authorities set minimum wages for their regions. “Workers are demanding better rights because the gap between the well off and not so well off have increased in Indonesia,” Subramananiam Pillay, a journalist based in Jakarta, told Al Jazeera.“This is why they are protesting.” he said.Pillay said that unions are likely to influence political parties to forward their case, especially if parties want to win the next legislative and presidential elections.