'We are expecting more than 40,000 people demonstrating today,' policeman Hariyadi said as thousands of workers gathered at the central Imam Bonjol traffic circle.

Carrying banners reading 'Lower Food Prices Now' and 'More Pay for Workers and Farmers', many of the demonstrators said they were alarmed at soaring inflation and the prospect of sharply higher fuel bills.

'We want the price of kerosene to come down. Food is getting expensive,' said garment factory worker Yuningsih.

Factory worker Lia said: 'If they keep increasing the price of food, maybe we'll have to eat less.'

'The price of formula milk for the baby has gone up. It's now 36,000 rupiah (S$5.40) for a can of 600 grams and the baby drinks it up in two days,' she said.

Tarjiman, who was marching with a group of garment factory workers, said people would go hungry if inflation was not brought under control.

'I feel it very hard with the increasing prices. We have to borrow money before the end of the month and try to work extra odd jobs.'

'If the price keeps going up, we'll be hungry.'

High food prices helped drive Indonesia's annual inflation rate to 8.17 per cent in March, the biggest increase since October 2006.

Prices are expected to keep rising, with the government considering hiking subsidised fuel prices in June by almost 30 per cent to minimise the impact of record oil prices on the national budget.

Many workers were also concerned that their rights were being eroded through companies' growing use of contract labourers hired from employment agents.

Jakarta police chief Adang Firman told reporters after monitoring the capital from a helicopter that 10,000 security personnel had been deployed to control the rallies and another 50,000 were on standby.

All May Day rallies were banned in Surabaya, the country's second largest city, because the workers' holiday coincided with a religious holiday, police said.

'Rallies are not allowed during a public holiday. Let's respect Jesus Ascension day,' Surabaya police chief Anang Iskandar told state news agency Antara.

'If there are rallies, we'll break them up.'

Thai workers protest for higher minimum wage
In Bangkok, thousands of workers waving flags and banners gathered in the Thai capital on Labour Day to call on the government to raise the minimum wage and improve their welfare.

More than 3,000 workers from various industries across Thailand gathered for a rally outside Government House, where they handed in a list of their demands.

Speaking from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck, labour leaders criticised the government, which they said was more concerned with constitutional amendments than efforts to improve the welfare of workers.

'We will gather here with no time limit,' Ms Wilaiwan Sae Tia, president of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, which helped organise the rally, told the gathering.

'Today is the day that will prove whether this elected government is sincere about solving our problems or not,' she said, as protesters waved Thai and labour organisation flags along with signs saying 'Expensive rice prices, cheap labour wages' and 'How can labourers live?'.

Demonstrators demanded a minimum wage of 233 baht (S$9.99) a day and a curb on rising commodity prices. Many labourers around Bangkok earn less than 200 baht a day, while in the provinces daily wages are as low as 144 baht.

They also called for legal amendments to protect labour rights and improve their working and living conditions, while urging the government to stop its policy of privatising state enterprises.

'We have long suffered from stagnant wages while inflation keeps rising steeply,' Ms Arunee Srito, deputy chairwoman of the Women Workers Unity Group, said.

'Whenever we labourers pleaded for a wage increase, the governments always told labourers to make sacrifices for the sake of the country. Have they ever wanted to see us live like other normal people?' Ms Arunee said.

The protesters later handed in a letter with their demands to labour ministry deputy permanent secretary Nakorn Silpa-archa at Government House.

Nakorn said their demands would be put to a meeting between the government and employers' and workers' representatives on Friday.

Thousands march in Manila to demand higher wages
In Manila, thousands of workers marched on Thursday under tight security to demand higher wages in the face of inflation that has sent food prices soaring.

Some 3,000 police were deployed to avert any violence as scattered rallies began in several places across the city.

The demonstrators were due to converge at several points later in the day, including one rally outside President Gloria Arroyo's palace.

Manila police chief, Deputy Director General Geary Barias, said protesters would be allowed to march near the palace after an agreement with organisers that they would remain peaceful.

'We have not received any (security) threat this day and we believe in the sincerity of the rally organisers that they will hold their May 1 celebrations peacefully,' Mr Barias told reporters.

Elite police commandos armed with assault rifles however were deployed in highways leading to Manila, while 'crowd dispersal units' were also placed on full alert near key government buildings, AFP reporters said.

'The economic crisis is sharper and more intense this year,' said Mr Renato Reyes, secretary general of the left-leaning group Bayan.

'Workers in the Philippines have every right to be angry and frustrated,' over government policies, he said.

The militant May One Movement demanded that Arroyo step down, accusing her of failing to put in place relief measures amid soaring prices of the staple rice or prioritising a legislated wage increase.

'Workers are hungry and angry over the Arroyo government's callousness in addressing demands for wage hikes, price controls and significant economic reforms,' said Mr Elmer Labor, the group's chairman.

'Calls for a legislated wage hike are justified now more than ever with the rising cost of all products, utilities and services.' -- AFP