KBN Cakung; The Dying Manufacturing Industry in Jakarta

PT Kawasan Berikat Nusantara (KBN) was established in 1986. It was designed as an export processing zone. Due to tax incentives and customs exemptions, the garment and ready-to-wear industry quickly dominated the area.

At its peak, approximately 80% of the total industry in KBN was engaged in the garment and ready-to-wear sector, employing tens of thousands of workers, mostly women. The area became a prime location for investors from South Korea, Taiwan, and China to build large-scale garment factories.

Garment products from KBN Cakung were exported to various global brands in the United States and Europe. This made KBN one of Jakarta's largest non-oil and gas foreign exchange earners from the 1990s to the early 2000s.

However, 10 years later, things changed. The increase in the Jakarta Provincial Minimum Wage was used as an excuse by companies to lay off thousands of workers, moving their factories to areas with much cheaper labor in West and Central Java.

Grasses grow abundantly on the former site of PT. Katexindo Citramandiri's garment factory, the largest ever in KBN Cakung, North Jakarta, in July 2023.

About 20% of the tens of thousands of workers remain in their factories in KBN, facing the threat of losing their jobs at any time. July 2023

(left) Parts of the abandoned factory building are beginning to deteriorate over time. (right) An empty canteen in the Cakung Nusantara bonded zone, Jakarta, July 2023. As the number of workers at the Cakung KBN decreases, small businesses are slowly going out of business.

The new Meratus Container Logistics Center (CLC) container depot was inaugurated two months ago at KBN Cakung, North Jakarta, in July 2023.

Torn-out labor movement poster on the door of Mrs. Darsih's rented room in the Cakung area, East Jakarta, July 2023. Darsih (43), a former garment factory worker at KBN Cakung, she's now sells soft drinks on the street.

A row of increasingly deserted rented houses in Cakung, East Jakarta, July 2023. In this alley, only 5 rooms are occupied out of 12 rooms.

Mr. Yasin (48) was photographed on the ruins of his rented house which collapsed several months ago in the Cakung area, North Jakarta. The 118 rented rooms have been empty since 2015 following the widespread relocation of factories from KBN Cakung.

Wa Ampi (45) and her son Azril (14) were photographed in their rented room in the Semper area, North Jakarta, September 2023. Since 2011, Wa Ampi has been unable to work at the garment factory in the Nusantara Cakung Bonded Zone due to her activism demanding workers' rights. However, she remains there to help advocate for female workers in the area. (left) Sticker of female labor activist Marsinah on Wa Ampi's wardrobe. (right)

Lunch break atmosphere in front of the surviving factory at KBN Cakung, Jakarta, July 2023

This story is a collaboration between the Multatuli project and the Inter-Factory Labor Federation (FBLP) based in KBN Cakung. Read the full story here.

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