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China claims more employment for locals amid foreign worker backlash
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Hard at work: A worker marks a stainless steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) that just came out from the machine at the Morowali Industrial Park HRC plant in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, on Sept. 18, 2019. The industrial complex smelts nickel and processes it to stainless steel. (JP/Stefani Ribka)
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hina’s mission in Jakarta has given reassurances that its workers who come to Indonesia alongside big Chinese investment won’t take away jobs from the local populace and instead open up more employment opportunities for them.
The planned arrival of 500 Chinese workers to Indonesia next month despite travel restrictions imposed due to the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic has drawn negative responses from a general public already anxious about the uptick in Chinese investment flows into the country.
In the past week, the Indonesian government has scrambled to contain an apparent backlash after news emerged that around 500 Chinese workers would be flown in to work on the construction of rotary kiln-electric arc furnace (RKEF) smelters in Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi.
After the local administration voiced its opposition citing fears over coronavirus transmission, the Manpower Ministry said in early May that the arrival of the foreign workers would be postponed until the situation on the ground returned to normal.
However, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan later said that they would arrive in Indonesia in July due to their essential role in the construction project.
The government had earlier announced a temporary ban on foreigners entering Indonesia, a policy formalized through Law and Human Rights Ministry Regulation No. 11/2020, which went into effect in early April.
Wang Liping, a minister counselor on economic and trade affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta, argued that the Chinese foreign workers in Indonesia were mostly technicians and skilled workers who had already completed all of the necessary employment paperwork.
