Rumors of Chinese workers flooding Indonesia slanderous: President Jokowi

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said that rumors of Indonesia being flooded by illegal foreign workers, mainly from China, were slanderous and untrue.

The president made the remarks when inaugurating the Lahendong Geothermal Power Plant (PLTP), Unit 5 and 6, as well as Ulubelu PLTP, Unit 3, Lampung, in Tampaso, Minahasa, North Sulawesi on Tuesday.

“I want to remind you once again, one should not believe in spreading slanderous rumors, which project labor and investment issues as a threat, a threat of being flooded by foreign workforce. I need to say no,” said the President.

He added that, according to the rumors, nearly 10-20 million workers from China had illegally entered Indonesia.

“The information that I received is that there are, indeed, Chinese workers but their number is only 21,000. They come in and go back because there are a lot of things that we are not yet ready to do. When we are ready we will use our own labor force,” he said.

The President pointed out the case of the Lahendong Geothermal Power Plant Unit 5 and 6 as well as in Lampung Ulubelu PLTP Unit 3, where foreign workers came into the country briefly, at the beginning of the project.

Furthermore, he said, foreign workers help prepare and initially set up the project, and also transfer knowledge and technology to the domestic workforce.

“After that they go home, because they prefer to work in their own country. Do you think that they are happy to work here? They are happy in their own country where they are closer to their families and receive higher salaries there,” he said.

The president believes that the issue of foreign workers in Indonesia is not logical because wages in Indonesia are only about Rp1.5 million to Rp3 million compared with over Rp5 million in China.

“They were here but in the early days of a project because we do not know the technology, we have no experience about it. Eventually, it will benefit, for example in PLTP Lahendong and Ulubelu, us, the people,” he said.

ANTARA