Don’t Let Batam Become Another Detroit

Kompas/Kris Razianto Mada

Batam Mayor HM Rudi (right) surveys a road expansion project in Jodoh, Batam, Riau Islands. The Batam administration has been pushing infrastructure projects as a way to ensure that the local economy keeps moving. Batam’s economy has continued to slow over the last few years, resulting in the loss of 200,000 jobs and company closures.

Workers in Batam, Riau Islands, have been aware for many years that the arrival of managers from India is always followed by a wave of layoffs. The sacking of workers in many factories is carried out as a belt-tightening measure in order to stay afloat.

Many companies in Batam are forced to cut expenses, and such a measure is always handled well by Indian managers. The cost cutting measures are mostly carried out in the shipyard and offshore construction industries that have become the backbone of the Batam economy since 2014. In 2014, the shipping sector employed up to 250,000 people, but that number has since declined to only 20,000 workers.