(Bloomberg, Jakarta) A Chinese -funded factory in Indonesia recently had a fatal industrial accident, causing 21 people to die.Analysts pointed out that this accident reflects the insufficient industrial safety standards of Indonesia and the difficulties faced by workers, which may become one of the hot topics of this year's election.
The explosion in the early morning of Morovali Industrial Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia, exploded in the early morning of December 24th. The incident was a nickel processing plant under China Qingshan Holdings Group.According to people familiar with the matter, there are many workers in the factory, which leads to a higher number of casualties. The language barrier between Chinese and Indonesian workers also faces difficulties when dealing with emergencies.
The accident and many industrial accidents in the past year undoubtedly have a blow to Indonesia's rapid expansion in the mineral processing industry in recent years.Bima, the executive director of the Economic and Legal Research Center of the Jakarta think tank, said that the problem of the accident may become a potential hotspot of this election. "Obviously, in terms of workers' safety, the level of protection measures (factories) is low."
records show that 16 people died in a nine nickel processing factory in the first nine months of 2023.In January 2023, another processing plant in Surawesi also had a riots in workers to protest wages and working conditions; the incident caused two workers to die.
Labor organization is worried that any survey of the explosion of the Morrovari Park will eventually focus on the behavior of workers, rather than paying attention to a wider management defect or weak supervision.Environmental monitoring organizations emphasize that the central government must play a role in ensuring occupational safety and health standards, especially for the nickel industry.
About 200 million voters in Indonesia will vote on February 14 to select the president, parliament and local members.Farizar, a political analyst at Jakarta Strategy and International Research Center, pointed out: "Candidates who have raised downstream governance issues will receive the attention of voters. But which voters are it? It is those who understand the downstream and environmental issues of the industry.Everyone knows these issues. "
China has greatly remedied industrial production problems in the past 10 years, and usually stopped work, inspect and manage rectification after an accident.In contrast, Indonesia's regulatory environment is more loose.According to the media, after the accident, other Aoyama factories in the Morowali Park were not closed.
The Director of the Human and Immigration Office of China Sulawesi Province, Fildus, said that the Aoyama subsidiary of the operating park has not reported workplace hygiene and safety in recent months.He emphasized that there are still insufficient supervision of the smelter industry, and the government lacks professional security and health experts. These are deeper issues.
