The INDOC database contains 24.766 references to articles on labour in Indonesian newspapers between 1996 and 2009.
From 1996 to 2000 the original newspapers were transported from INDOC in Semarang, Indonesia, to the IISH, and they are now held by the IISH.
To consult the newspapers or request photocopies, please contact IISH or, for newspapers after 2000, consult specialized libraries such as the KITLV in Leiden, or the Royal Library in The Hague, The Netherlands.
INDOC
The Indonesisch Documentatie en Informatie Centrum (Indonesian Documentation and Information Center) was established in Leiden, The Netherlands, in 1979 as a nonprofit, voluntary foundation for the purpose of gathering and disseminating authentic contemporary information about unofficial Indonesia, especially on issues of social development and human rights. To that end it maintained its own special documentation service in Indonesia to scan both the national and regional press in order to obtain articles on a number of select themes. These articles were sent to the office in Leiden on a weekly basis. In addition, INDOC itself subscribed to a range of newspapers, weeklies, and other Indonesian periodicals or ones that dealt with Indonesia. Most of the material thus assembled is in Indonesian, although there are some clippings in English as well. INDOC catalogued the clippings in Leiden as systematically as possible and used this material as the basis for its own publications, as well as to provide sources for interested researchers and others working on Indonesia. The IISH has microfilm of the press clippings and other documentation from the INDOC archives on labour issues in Indonesia, 1979-1995 (IDC).
In 1996 INDOC terminated its own activities, and these have now been assumed in a somewhat modified form by the IISH. The IISH Asia Department continues INDOC's documentation work in Semarang, Indonesia, albeit on a new basis. The information collected is now focused more specifically on labour issues (labour politics, labour policy, labour relations, working conditions, labour migration, strikes, etc.). At the same time, the range of periodicals covered has been expanded, especially to include newspapers and weeklies from different regions of Indonesia. IISH staff in Semarang produced and will continue to produce an index to the collection, which is available through the online catalogue.
Labour as theme
Labour, broadly conceived, was one of the themes on which INDOC regularly collected information. To be as comprehensive as possible, its documentation service kept track of many crucial issues of contemporary significance, building up an archive in the course of the years that includes information on:
- labour policy
- employment, wages, and living conditions
- working conditions
- occupational safety
- dismissals
- night work
- collective labour agreements
- labour disputes and strikes
- right to strike
- rural workers
- women workers
- migrant workers
- child labour
