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Govt to scale back Rempang relocations, for time being
Among the measures to respect the locals’ rights was to withdraw all police and military personnel tasked with safeguarding the island amid the protests by residents against the plan. Security forces would also dismantle security posts across Rempang once they considered the situation to have calmed down.
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A resident of Sembulang district on Rempang island in Riau Island shows a form and terms for relocation in this photo taken on Sept. 17, 2023. Local authorities have been persuading residents to relocate to make way for an eco-city project on the island, backed by China glass manufacturing company Xinyi Group. (Antara/Teguh Prihatna)
T
he government is considering a proposal from residents of Rempang Island in Riau Islands to relocate them to areas within the island and for authorities to respect the residents’ rights during the process.
The proposal was conveyed during a meeting between residents, the island’s indigenous community elders and Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia on Monday.
“We can discuss the plan together if that’s for the better and won’t disturb the master plan [for a proposed eco-city on the island],” Bahlil said following the meeting.
The eco-city project will turn Rempang into a new special economic zone that will house glass and solar panel manufacturing facilities. The plan is spearheaded by PT Makmur Elok Graha, which has partnered with China’s Xinyi Group, with an US$11.5 billion investment secured by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during his visit to Beijing in July.
Bahlil had been in Rempang since Sunday, when he held a closed-door meeting with Home Minister Tito Karnavian, Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Hadi Tjahjanto and deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Agus Andrianto to discuss the continuation of the eco-city project on the island, which has been met with resistance from locals.
He came to the island after Jokowi instructed the minister last week to sort out what the President claimed to be a “miscommunication” about the eco-city project among the residents.
Read also: Govt insists on Rempang project following visit by ministers, police
