Canings for lateness are not uncommon. Strikes were illegal in Indonesia until 1990, when the government lifted its 27-year ban. Even now, workers still have to go through a complex set of procedures to obtain a permit to strike, and so most strikes are illegal and subject to repression. Vocal workers are sometimes forced to report to military headquarters to be interviewed. Despite these difficulties, the number of strikes in recent years have increased dramatically.
Workers have plenty to strike about.
The legal minimum wage does not cover the basic level of subsistence and few employers actually pay it since there is no method of enforcement. Child labor is prevalent. In the tobacco industry, for example, children work 8 to 14 hours per day and are punished for any transgressions. Industrialization has been built on the backs of young rural women who have come to the cities for work after being forced out of agriculture, as village communities lose their traditional lands to rapacious developers. Women are the majority of the work force in the textile, garment, footwear, and pharmaceutical industries.