Protesting Indonesian students write to Chinese ambassador threatening to deport workers
Indonesian students protesting against the presence of Chinese workers on Sulawesi island have written to China's ambassador in Jakarta calling for a temporary halt to their entry, and for existing workers to be deported to prevent conflict with local residents.
Since March, the students have been holding demonstrations over the planned phased arrival of 500 Chinese workers at nickel smelter projects in Konawe regency in Southeast Sulawesi province, accusing them of taking jobs away from locals during the coronavirus pandemic.
The protesters say the Chinese arrivals are not skilled personnel but "ordinary workers" and their jobs could be done by local residents.
"We only want fairness," wrote Sulkarnain, head of the Kendari branch of the Islamic Students Association in Southeast Sulawesi, which organised the protests. "We hope your government would not be upset if we enter the industrial area to deport the workers." The letter was emailed to the Chinese embassy last week.
Sulkarnain confirmed to This Week In Asia that the protesting students would "enter the industrial site" to compel those Chinese workers without proper documentation to leave.
He claimed the Indonesian government had allowed them to enter the country without obtaining the correct licence, the Foreign Workers Utilisation Plan (RPTKA), which is verified by the Manpower Ministry.
The workers were hired by Chinese-backed mining companies PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) and PT Obsidian Stainless Steel (OSS) to install 33 pieces of smelter equipment belonging to PT OSS.
PT VDNI external affairs manager Indrayanto, who goes by one name, said the Chinese personnel were all skilled workers hired as contract staff as the equipment uses technology from China.
The Jakarta Post quoted the companies as saying they needed to bring in the Chinese workers due to a lack of capable local staff, and that once the equipment was ready the company would hire 3,000 local employees.
The foreign workers were expected to be in Indonesia for six months and would return to their home country once the installation has been completed, they said.
PT VDNI was quoted as saying that some 3,000 local jobs would be at risk if the 500 Chinese workers were not allowed in.
A worker processes nickel at a nickel smelter in Sulawesi island, Indonesia. Photo: Reuters
This came as Indonesian Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said the coronavirus pandemic is expected to add about 3.7 million more unemployed people to the 7 million who are already without work in the country.
Southeast Asia's largest economy shrank by 5.32 per cent in the April-June period from a year ago, according to data from Statistics Indonesia on Wednesday - the first time it has contracted since 1999.
The data showed a broad-based fallout from the pandemic and restrictions to contain its spread. Households curbed spending and businesses delayed investments, while exports were hit by lower global demand and commodity prices, reported Reuters.
The protesting students said they are also concerned that the Chinese workers would "expose" the local community to Covid-19.
"Indonesian society is traumatised that amid the pandemic, there was no lockdown or a limit to foreigners entering our country. But instead, it is opened up for [the entry of] Chinese workers when the world has not forgotten that the virus originated from Wuhan," Sulkarnain wrote in the letter to the ambassador.
PT VDNI last month said around 300 workers who had arrived in Sulawesi had been processed according to World Health Organisation (WHO) standard health protocols.
Indonesian students protest against the presence of Chinese workers in Sulawesi, saying they are taking jobs away from local people. Photo: Sulkarnain
The local community has also been angered by a fatal accident on July 18 in which a Chinese worker at PT VDNI nickel smelter allegedly drove a dump truck over an Indonesian mechanic who was lying under the vehicle doing repair work.
On Tuesday, regional news portal BenarNews reported that Lee Shang Bing, 35, will stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter. A date for the trial has yet to be fixed.
"Lee asked his subordinate to fix it together. When Yusran [the Indonesian colleague] was checking a cable under the truck, Lee started the engine and the truck ran over the victim," the head of the local police's criminal investigation unit, Husni Abdi, told BenarNews. "It was a case of negligence, either because of miscommunication or something else."
Lee could face a maximum of five years in prison if convicted, according to the report.
As of May, there were 98,900 foreigners working in Indonesia, representing less than 0.1 per cent of the total workforce of 124 million, according to government figures.
The largest group of workers - 35,781 people - was from China, while Japan and South Korea had 12,823 and 9,097 workers respectively.
China is the second-largest foreign direct investor in Indonesia, with Chinese companies investing US$4.7 billion in the country last year.
The Chinese embassy in Jakarta, when asked for comment, referred to a statement posted on its website at the end of June, stating that since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, China and Indonesia had rendered each other support which "testifies to their profound friendship of solidarity and mutual assistance".
"President Xi Jinping spoke with President Joko Widodo twice on the phone, reaching important consensus on jointly fighting the pandemic," the embassy said.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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