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Coronavirus: anxiety over Chinese workers in Indonesia as job losses increase

Source
South China Morning Post - May 9, 2020

Rising job losses and persistent xenophobia over the origins of the coronavirus are leading to growing resentment against Chinese migrant workers in Indonesia.

Last week, legislators in Southwest Sulawesi province rejected the planned arrival of about 500 workers hired by the Chinese-backed PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry and PT Obsidian Stainless Steel despite permits being issued by the central government in Jakarta.

The provincial governor Ali Mazi told state news agency Antara he supported the call, adding that "society is not ready to welcome foreign workers".

Said Iqbal, the chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union, one of the largest labour groups in Indonesia, said the decision to issue the working permits for the 500 Chinese nationals could trigger resentment and social friction as unemployment surges.

He said the Chinese were unskilled workers and locals would ask why they were not given these jobs instead. "The danger of massive lay-offs in Indonesia is upon us, but work that is still available is given to foreign workers," Iqbal said, accusing the ministry of being "insensitive" to the plight of local workers.

With the capital Jakarta under a partial lockdown and numerous cities and provinces having similar restrictions on mobility, most industrial activities in Southeast Asia's largest economy have ground to a halt. The outlook for the economy – which had its weakest first quarter in 20 years due to sluggish household consumption and external demand as countries struggled with the pandemic – is grim.

As of Friday, Indonesia had recorded 13,112 infections, 2,494 recoveries and 943 deaths.

Late last month, the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry said more than 2.8 million workers had been laid off due to Covid-19, while about 70 million informal workers were at risk.

While the government has set aside 436.1 trillion rupiah (US$26.4 billion) for stimulus packages focusing on health care spending and boosting economic activity, the fear is that millions more will lose their jobs and fall into poverty. About 10 per cent of the population live under the poverty line.

There are worries that worsening social conditions could fuel social unrest and force anti-Chinese sentiments, always brewing beneath the surface, into the open.

On the back of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, ethnic Chinese in Indonesia were subjected to violence and saw their homes and shops looted. This negative sentiment has translated into opposition towards Chinese investments and Chinese workers, which has grown in recent years.

Chinese companies invested US$4.7 billion in Indonesia last year, an almost twofold increase from $2.4 billion in 2018, according to Indonesia's investment coordinating board. China is the second-largest foreign direct investor in Indonesia, while Chinese workers accounted for about 30 per cent or 32,000 foreign workers in Indonesia in 2018.

And with China and Indonesia marking their 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, Beijing has made it clear it sees the country of 270 million people as a crucial part of President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative to boost global trade, though the first joint project, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway is expected to be delayed.

When the coronavirus – first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan – began spreading through the world, racist comments and discrimination towards ethnic Chinese rose worldwide, including in Indonesia, with calls for a fatwa or non legally binding Islamic regulation to bar ethnic Chinese people from entering the country on fears they might have the virus.

What's driving Indonesian paranoia over Chinese workers?

In March, 39 Chinese workers hired by an aluminium mining firm in Bintan in the Riau Islands were refused entry, with the authorities arguing that the company did not have a permit to employ foreign workers, reported national daily Kompas.

And The Jakarta Post reported that a Chinese worker was refused entry to West Kalimantan province even though he had a medical certificate stating he was well. He was deported after several members of the public protested against his presence. This was before Indonesia's temporary ban on foreigners entering the country took effect on April 2.

The same month, a man who recorded the arrival of 49 Chinese workers at Kendari airport, Southeast Sulawesi, falsely claimed the workers had brought the coronavirus with them, prompting a group of people to lobby for the workers to be repatriated. He was briefly detained by the police.

This month, a fact-checking team at Tempo, a leading publication in Indonesia, debunked a video circulated on Facebook that claimed mainland Chinese workers in Morowali industrial estate in Central Sulawesi, where stainless steel production for export takes place, were staging a protest and "causing trouble".

The video, the Tempo team said, was actually of a protest staged by Indonesian workers last year demanding better wages

With about 4,000 Chinese nationals working in the compound, the local government was taking no chances and had decided to ban new recruitment, whether of foreigners or locals, as a precaution, said Adurahman Toppo, head of the manpower department at Morowali district government. "Chinese workers in Morowali are relatively safe from possible social friction as they reside within compounds separated from the locals," he said.

International relations lecturer Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, writing in The Conversation, said the Indonesian government should choose a more appropriate time to allow Chinese workers back in.

"China and Indonesia need to ensure that Chinese workers, their employers and the governments themselves do not do anything beyond the law or that may cause pushback from local communities," he added.

In the longer term, he said, Indonesia would need to negotiate better labour terms with China, such as requiring incoming investors to meet quotas for local recruitment and training.

Source: https://www.scmp.com/print/week-asia/politics/article/3083591/coronavirus-anxiety-over-chinese-workers-indonesia-job-losses

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