TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Hundreds of students held a demonstration against the Omnibus Law of the Job Creation Law in the Arjuna Wiwaha Horse Statue area, at Jalan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta. The rally coincided with the national Youth Pledge Day that falls on October 28.

An orator proclaimed ideals by rephrasing the Youth Pledge. “We Indonesian students vow to recognize only one motherland, one nation without repression,” the orator shouted from the top of the command car, followed by the mass.

He continued to declare that Indonesian students vowed to acknowledge one nation that is devoted to justice and one Indonesian language without lies and hypocrisy. “Live the people, live the people, live the Indonesian students,” said the orator.

The National Association of University Student Executive Bodies (BEM SI) today staged another round of protests in the Horse Statue area. They planned to hold it in front of the State Palace, yet the road access was blocked.

BEM SI coordinator Remy Hastian previously predicted that some 1,000 students would take part in the rally, urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to issue a regulation in lieu of law (Perpu) to revoke the omnibus law immediately.

On the same day, labor unions GEBRAK and the Indonesian People's Faction also planned to hold a demonstration in Central Jakarta’s Tugu Proklamasi (Proclamation monument) and carry out political orations, poetry recital, theatrical plays, musical performances, and the declaration of ‘the 2020 people’s pledge’. The mass reportedly would call for large-scale civil disobedience over Job Creation Law.

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M ROSSENO AJI