“This is a direct invasion of the freedom to practice one’s faith, knowing that the “Jumaat” or Friday prayers are a must for Muslims,” a rights activist charged

Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (IslamOnline.net) - Several Indonesian workers in a fabric factory in Surabaya complain to have been fired by the PT Suparma Tbk for attending the Friday prayers, which is compulsory in Islam, news sources reported Wednesday, March 12.

The issue has exposed the practice by several other firms, including foreign companies, who do not allow or penalizes their workers for attending Islamic prayers such as the Friday prayer.

With the reform movement in action in the world’s largest Muslim nation, workers and rights activists are exposing more and more such abuses by employers, who as it is expected turns out to be non-Muslim, IslamOnline.net was told by a rights activist Wednesday.

The workers have also protested with their parliamentary representatives in Surabaya and have urged the legislators to take strong actions against such injustices, the Republika newspaper reported.

This type of ostracism is practiced mostly by large factories that employ the workers on temporary basis, though at times regular workers too face such discriminatory sanctions by the bosses.

The workers in Surabaya said the worrying trend is that the factory told them they were being fired for leaving the factory to attend the Friday prayers.

“This is a direct invasion of the freedom to practice one’s faith, knowing that the “Jumaat” or Friday prayers are a must for Muslims,” said the activist who lives in Jakarta.

The workers have also lodged a complaint with the Human Rights movement in Indonesia and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), protesting they were fired on religious grounds.

In the past, before the reform movement ousted General Suharto from power in 1998, several such factories and international companies were used to discouraging Muslim workers from participating in the Jumaat.

Some such factories would even offer perks for those who would spend the two hours break that is officially granted to Muslims in the country for the Friday prayers, in the factory and at work.

Though in Jakarta and other mainly Muslim cities and villages Muslims are not impeded from practicing Islam, in Surabaya it is not uncommon.

Those who were not allowed to be at the Friday prayers in the factory in Surabaya were given lunch as bonus, the Republika paper added.

Surabaya is capital city of East Java Province. Denpasar is capital city of Bali province (a mainly Hindu province).

Bali was shaken on October 12, 2002, by a deadly bombing that took the lives of some 300 people according to the latest official records.

Some of the workers of the Suparma said they believe the termination of their work contract with the company was somehow in retaliation to the Bali bombing.

Despite the fact that the government has offered several cheap air packages for Muslims to visit Bali in effort to rebuild the province’s economy and re-establish the social cohesion, there is still an element of hatred towards Muslims in the region.

The legislators in Surabaya are, however, of the opinion that the factory has violated clearly set regulations enforced in the country, pledging the matter will be resolved as soon as possible, according to the Republika.

The factory, like many other such factories in Indonesia, employs more than 1100 people and in most cases 90 percent of them are Muslims.

Most of these factories pay salaries that are as little as US50 per month to their workers, who do not have any other choice but to work or else joint millions of unemployed in the vast archipelago.

Mosques around Indonesia are fully packed during Friday prayers, though it is not the same for other prayers.

Islam is gradually gaining ground in the country of 212 million people, 85 percent of whom are Muslims.