TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan on Friday explained that Chinese workers arriving in Indonesia to work in Southeast Sulawesi are posted in a number of occupations that were not filled by local workforces, such as handling 'high-tech machines.'

“It is plain wrong to think that foreign workers will invade us. It’s nothing like that and that has never crossed our mind. They are doing things that we have yet been able to do,” the minister said in a press release during a visit to the aluminum industry in Bintan, on July 3.

According to Luhut Pandjaitan, these foreign workers are only transferring specific sets of knowledge to Indonesian workers. The system itself involves Indonesian workers aiming to help them apply new knowledge for the domestic industry.

He assures that these foreign workers will not forever stay in the industrial complex and that the Southeast Sulawesi governor has prepared a polytechnic school to help create workforces that would fit the needs of the industry.

This statement by Luhut Pandjaitan is sparked by the public response towards news of 500 workers from China amidst the pandemic. Their arrival into Indonesia, he explained, had obtained the recommendation of the Committee for Acceleration of Priority Infrastructure Delivery (KPPIP).

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FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA