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.