“What triggered [the violence] was that the Konawe Workers Protection Union wanted to meet with management to demand a pay rise and a change in the status of workers [who had worked for more than three years] to become permanent staff, but management failed to meet them,” said Southeast Sulawesi police spokesman Ferry Walintukan. “In the end, the demonstration descended into anarchy.”

VDNI is a subsidiary of Chinese firm Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry. In its first operational phase, the firm received US$1 billion in financing from state-owned China First Heavy Industries for a nickel smelter, power plant and port in Konawe.

Since March, students have been holding demonstrations over the planned phased arrival of 500 Chinese workers at nickel-smelter projects in the regency – including VDNI and a neighbouring firm, PT Obsidian Stainless Steel (OSS) – accusing them of taking jobs away from locals during the coronavirus pandemic.

Protesting Indonesian students write to Chinese ambassador threatening to deport workers

Local journalist Zainal Ishak, a contributor to CNN Indonesia, said Monday’s protests were the worst in the series of demonstrations against the company.

“[It] was very tense and roads leading to the industrial site were sealed off. Many vehicles were burnt,” he said. “The situation is fine now but the site is still being guarded by the police and the military.”

The workers who demonstrated came from a union representing both VDNI and OSS, but all material damage occurred at VDNI.

VDNI in a statement said the demonstration had “paralysed” its activities as “about 40 pieces of heavy equipment and operational vehicles” belonging to the company had been burnt.

Indonesian students in Sulawesi continue protests against Chinese workers

In the statement, a company official denied that VDNI had not increased workers’ salaries, and expressed concerns that Monday’s incident would affect future investment in the area – including plans that would have had “a very good impact on the absorption of more local workers”.

He added that the company also planned to build better medical facilities for employees as well as residents living around the factory.

As of May 2020, there were 98,900 foreigners working in Indonesia, representing less than 0.1 per cent of the total workforce of 124 million, according to government figures.

The largest group of workers – 35,781 people – was from China, while Japan and South Korea had 12,823 and 9,097 workers respectively.

China is the second-largest foreign direct investor in Indonesia, with Chinese companies investing US$4.7 billion in the country last year.