REMPANG, Indonesia – For more than a month now, feisty housewives have been forming human roadblocks to screen unfamiliar vehicles and strangers entering the fishing village of Pasir Merah on Indonesia’s Rempang Island, just an hour by ferry from Singapore.
Officials with bags of rice knocked on their doors, she said. “Do they really think they could buy us out with rice? We returned everything. But now, we are scared they would forcefully evict us, so we stand guard here every day.” Food stall owner Siti Hawa, 70 on the neighbourhood watch to stop outsiders from entering their village. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Fisherman Rusli, 50, said it was the first protest by Rempang’s Malay community. “We are peace-loving, easy-going people who prefer to talk things out to settle problems. But the authorities have pushed us into a corner. After the clashes, Mr Widodo said the project “was not well communicated to the people”, and promised residents they would be compensated with land and houses for relocation.
Rempang residents told ST that the issue was not simply about compensation, but also about defending Malay traditions and identity. Mr Gerisman said: “It will be a sad day when our grandchildren and great-grandchildren ask about their Malay identity, and all we can offer are stories, and not a real place they can visit or a house they can live in.
“These are not workers with special expertise, so those jobs could well be done by Indonesians too. The Chinese workers are also less keen to assimilate to local culture like learning to speak the Indonesian language. All the discontent has led to jealousy and deadly protests,” he said. A Feb 17 report by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute said the Morowali incident brought into focus the issues of unconducive working environments and poor treatment of local workers in some Chinese-invested projects in Indonesia.
China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner and second-largest investor, with US$3.2 billion of investments and trade volume reaching US$124.3 billion in 2022. Official figures put the number of Chinese workers in Indonesia in 2022 at more than 42,000, or around 44 per cent of all foreign workers. “The lack of knowledge and willingness to understand the host better happened in the past, when labour-intensive manufacturers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan arrived here decades ago. Initially, resistance from local people and administrations was rife, but was solved after mutual understanding and trust were reached,” said the report.