Indonesian police arrested 43 people during large-scale protests against a Chinese-led glass and solar panel factory. The factory that’s being planned for Rempang, a small island close to the border with Singapore, would displace thousands of local residents.
About 1,000 demonstrators took part in the protests, with some throwing rocks and bottles at security personnel and damaging local buildings.
The $11.6 billion factory is being planned by Batam state authorities in collaboration with PT Makmur Elok Graha from Indonesia and China’s Xinyi International Investments Ltd., a subsidiary of the world’s largest maker of glass and solar panels, Xinyi Glass Holdings.
The glass factory, the world’s second-largest, would form part of Rempang Eco City, a business park that would displace all 7,500 residents of Rempang Island. It is seen as a way for Indonesia to gain value from a large natural deposit of quartz sand, which is used to make glass. The zone is expected to become an industrial and tourist hub and to create 35,000 jobs.
This is only the latest protest against the project by residents determined not to be relocated. It was prompted by a land surveying process linked to the development. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo chalked the protests up to bad communication.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT: Chinese companies hold 70% of the world’s solar panel market share, This directly involves them in local politics resulting from the massive scaling up of production any real transition to sustainable energy would entail.
SUGGESTED READING:
- Benar News: Indonesian Police Arrest Dozens Protesting China-Backed Project Near Singapore by Nazarudin Latif and Pizaro Gozali Idrus
- Time: As Indonesia Courts Chinese Infrastructure Investments, Locals are Pushing Back by Koh Ewe
