Over the past week, Rempang residents have been staging protests against the development plan. The national strategic project is slated to turn the 17,000-hectare island into a new economic zone that is expected to attract US$11.5 billion in investment, but at a cost of the forced eviction of hundreds of families living on the island.

Local demonstrators felled trees, burned tires and hurled stones and Molotov cocktails on the Batam, Rempang and Galang (Balerang) Bridge last Thursday, and in front of the office of the Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BP Batam), one of the developers of the project, on Monday.

Security forces have fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, while also arresting dozens of locals suspected of inciting the riots.

The President, however, said that the trouble in Rempang is simply due to “poor communication”.

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According to Jokowi, local families had agreed on a deal for their eviction to be compensated with a 500-square-meter plot of land, along with a 45 sq m house.