Dr. Surya Tjandra is a well-known Indonesian labour academic-activist. He is  a lecturer at the Law Faculty of Atma Jaya Catholic University, and for many  years he was associated with the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in  Jakarta, Indonesia.  He is also the founder of the Trade Union Rights Centre, a  labour resource NGO based in Jakarta.

His work focuses particularly on the empowerment of the working people in  Indonesia, providing action research, legal assistance, and trainings. He was  one of the key figures in the struggle for social security reforms in Indonesia  in 2010, which led to the enactment of the Law on the Social Security  Executing Agency in 2011. The Law provides universal health care for all  Indonesian citizens and pension schemes for Indonesian formal workers, and  considered as a breakthrough for the development of social system in the  country. He has published and presented papers on Indonesian labour law and trade unions issues nationally and internationally, and has been working closely  with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the DGB Bildungswerk from Germany,  as  well  as the FNV Mondiaal from the Netherlands.

Tjandra holds a PhD in Law from Leiden University, the Netherlands, with a  thesis concerned the political economy of labour law reform in Indonesia  after the Reformasi. More information about Tjandra and his work can be  found on facebook and page: Surya Tjandra.