Indonesia has sent hundreds of riot police to a tiny island after protests broke out against a China-backed project that would displace thousands of residents.
About 1,000 people protested in Batam City on Monday over a plan to develop Rempang island into a Chinese-funded economic zone, including the construction of a multibillion-dollar glass factory, that would displace about 7,500 people.
Some protesters clashed with security forces outside a government agency, wielding machetes, Molotov cocktails and stones, police said, adding that dozens were arrested.
Photo: Reuters
Beijing has poured money into infrastructure and resource projects in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and its investments have previously caused social unrest, including a deadly January riot at a nickel smelting facility on Sulawesi island.
Police in Riau Islands province, near Singapore, said that 200 officers from the mobile brigade riot police unit known as Brimob were dispatched to the scene on Thursday.
“They are from Riau Province’s mobile brigade. The deployment is ... to create security,” police spokesman Zahwani Pandra Arsyad told reporters. “This is a precautionary step to ... maintain security as Batam, Riau Islands is strategic [for] people to do business and invest.”
Arsyad said the length of deployment “depends on the situation.”
Monday’s unrest took place outside a building of BP Batam, the agency that oversees the region’s development.
Jakarta secured a reported US$11.5 billion investment pledge from Xinyi Glass Holdings (信義玻璃控股有限公司), the world’s biggest glass producer, to build the factory during a visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo to the Chinese city of Chengdu in July.
Widodo responded to the unrest on Thursday, saying that anger against the project was caused by miscommunication that could have been prevented if relocation package details were properly explained.
BP Batam has said the packages would include rent and meal compensation.
The government says the development will create tens of thousands of jobs for Indonesians.
It aims to attract more than 300,000 jobs by 2080, according to officials, who have not said when the project is expected to be finished.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and