S'pore investors unfazed by Bintan unrest
S'pore investors unfazed by Bintan unrest
JAKARTA (JP): Singaporean investors remain interested in Riau province despite the weeklong turmoil at a Singaporean investment on Bintan island, Indonesian ambassador to Singapore Luhut Pandjaitan said on Monday.
"There aren't any Singaporean investors fleeing the island due to the unrest in Lobam and Lagoi areas. If anything, they are now looking for new investment opportunities in the region," Pandjaitan was quoted by Antara as saying in Riau's provincial capital of Pekanbaru after a meeting with the provincial governor and top officials.
Thousands of villagers and student activists occupied the industrial estate in Lobam and tourist resort in Lagoi, North Bintan, for about one week until Sunday morning when troops were deployed to forcibly disperse them.
The villagers occupied a power plant at the Bintan Industrial Estate, cutting off the electricity supply to about 30 factories on the industrial estate.
They also blocked an access road to Bintan International Resort.
The villagers demanded compensation from the owners of the estate and tourist resort for their land appropriated in the 1990s for the projects. They said developer PT Buana Mega Wisata paid them only about Rp 100 per square meter (about 4 U.S. cents at the then prevailing rate), much lower than the then market price of Rp 10,000 per square meter.
Indonesian security forces wounded 13 people and arrested 45 on Sunday morning during the dispersal.
The industrial estate and the tourist resort are managed by a unit of Singaporean conglomerate SembCorp Industry Ltd.
Pandjaitan said the Singaporean investors were "happy" with the tough measures taken by the government because it reflected its commitment to protect foreign investment.
He said the crackdown should be followed up with appropriate measures to resolve the problems concerning compensation.
"If there is a dispute, let's settle it through a legal process. The government should also be serious in resolving the problems concerning unpaid compensation. Let's make a list of the people who have yet to receive the compensation."
Pandjaitan said the villagers were promised between Rp 100 and Rp 300 in compensation for one square meter of land, plus Rp 1,000 for vegetation per square meter of land.
The villagers were relocated to a new area on the island, with each family provided with a house and an authorized 2,000-square- meter plot of land. The developer also built mosques, roads and other public facilities in the new village.
Ealier, Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who visited Jakarta 11 days ago, urged the Indonesian government to protect foreign investors on the resort island of Bintan.
He said it now happened to a Singaporean investor. But the basic message must be the Indonesian government had to protect foreign investors.
"I will leave it to the Indonesian authorities to handle this. They have to protect foreign investors," Goh said as he returned from a six-day trip to India.
Pandjaitan said current investors in Bintan could not be blamed for the fact the villagers did not receive their compensation in full, because the former "fulfilled their obligations".
He did not name who was responsible for causing the discontent among the villagers
"The current problem is a legacy of the past, that is the compensation was not paid in full to the villagers."
Pandjaitan said foreign investors in Bintan contributed Rp 20 billion to the province's revenues.