Again, Faisal Basri: 2,174 Chinese Workers Enter Indonesia Through Sam Ratulangi

Indef's senior economist, Faisal Basri. (Photo by: Ministry of Communication and Information)

JAKARTA - Senior economist Faisal Basri admitted that he saw the strange data of tourists entering Indonesia as of September 2020. This departs from the number of tourist arrivals entering through Manado's Sam Ratulangi Airport, which even ranks second after Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

In fact, said Faisal, before the COVID-19 pandemic there were very few foreign tourists arriving through Sam Ratulangi Airport, and more to Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali. This is because Bali is a tourist area.

"We have missed this again. Now Sam Ratulangi Airport is number two after Soekarno-Hatta, June (tourists) to Bali only 10 people, and to Sam Ratulangi 267 people. On September 8 people went to Bali and to Sam Ratulangi 2,174 people. These are tourists. "Yes, impossible. These are Chinese workers," he said in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, October 4.

Faisal then questioned why the government was silent about the thousands of Chinese workers who entered Indonesia. Moreover, today many people need jobs.

In fact, said Faisal, the government said that the existence of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation would open up wider employment opportunities for the Indonesian people. However, in fact it actually made it more difficult.

"Why don't we just keep quiet? How come no one screams? How come no one feels strange? They say the Job Creation Law, but it is destroying Indonesian jobs. They are (entered) September, October, the data has not come out yet," he said.

Faisal said that workers from China entered Indonesia for the purpose of Morowali. He arrived using a charter plane. Based on the statement of the Coordinating Minister for Marves, Luhut Bisar Pandjaitan, said Faisal, they were experts.

However, Faisal said, when investigating the Chinese workers through the PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) website, these workers were not workers with special abilities. Rather, manual labor.

In fact, said Faisal, as of September PT VDNI opened job vacancies for 607 workers, with a minimum education requirement of junior high school (SMP) graduates. It is estimated that these workers will come to Indonesia in October.

"On the website the most junior high school graduates or high school graduates and the third are technical schools, aged under 45 years. The salary is 7,000 yuan to 24 thousand yuan. What are the positions of security, loading and unloading workers, chefs, escalator drivers, warehouse managers, statisticians, mechanics operator. Where is this the opposition party? Where is the DPR? They say that they protect the people, no one is defending them, ”he said.