January 12, 2026 | 06:00 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Hundreds of former employees of PT Sri Rejeki Isman, the textile giant known as Sritex, staged a protest at the Semarang Commercial Court in Central Java on Monday, January 12, 2026. The demonstration was triggered by the prolonged delay in the disbursement of severance pay and the 2025 Religious Holiday Allowance (THR) following the company's bankruptcy declaration.
Agus Wicaksono, head of the Sritex former employees' solidarity group, confirmed that approximately 250 individuals participated in the rally, including former workers from Sritex subsidiaries also impacted by the bankruptcy. The group departed from Sukoharjo Regency in five buses on Monday morning, concluding their demonstration at around 12:00 p.m. WIB.
"Yes, we held a protest with around 250 participants, consisting of former Sritex workers and staff who traveled from Sukoharjo," Agus said when reached by phone today.
Agus revealed that the protesters presented three demands to the Semarang Commercial Court. First, they requested that the supervising judge replace the current bankruptcy curator. Second, they urged the judge to instruct the curator to expedite the asset valuation and liquidation process.
"Third, we noted that the curator has claimed to be hindered by the Public Appraisal Agency (KJPP). We asked the supervising judge to evaluate the performance of both the curator and the KJPP, and to appoint a new curator," he added.
Furthermore, Agus criticized the curator’s performance as sluggish. According to the curator's own timeline, the asset auction for PT Sritex should have taken place between August and October of last year. However, to date, no auction has been conducted.
"Since the bankruptcy, we have remained patient because the curator had an agenda. We followed the curator's agenda, which dictated an auction between August and October. In reality, there has been no progress whatsoever," he stated.
Agus emphasized that many of the 8,475 former workers affected by the mass layoffs are no longer of a productive age. These individuals face significant hurdles in finding a new job due to their age, leaving them entirely dependent on their remaining entitlements.
"For those of us who are no longer young, our only hope is that this severance pay can support our daily survival. Many of our colleagues have been forced to sell their personal assets just to make ends meet," he lamented.
The three demands were formally conveyed to the Chief Justice of the Semarang Commercial Court when five representatives of the protesters were granted an audience. According to Agus, the Chief Justice acknowledged their grievances and committed to summoning the supervising judge to discuss the matter today.
"The Chief Justice has received our aspirations and promised a prompt evaluation of the curator's performance. He will be calling in the supervising judge later today for a briefing," he said.
Agus hopes that the court's intervention will lead to immediate structural changes and an acceleration in the settlement of Sritex's bankruptcy assets. However, he warned that if no significant progress is made within the next month, the former workers are prepared to escalate their protests to the Central Java High Court.
"If it is difficult to reach the target for the disbursement [of severance and the 2025 holiday allowance, we will act]. Our target for this evaluation is one month. If we don't see changes or receive further communication from the court, we will certainly take our protest to a higher level at the High Court," he concluded.
As of the publication of this report, Denny Ardiansyah, one of the appointed Sritex curators, has not responded to inquiries sent via WhatsApp. He has yet to provide a statement regarding the demands made by the former workers during today's protest.
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