"Indonesian Middle Schooler In Hot Water With Local Authorities For Fighting Against Chinese Wood Pellet Exporter", 7 September 2023

“The road only has a capacity of five tons, but the Jambi mayor Syarif Fasha allowed [trucks of] up to 20 tons [to pass], exceeding and violating the regional regulation concerning road transportation,” a young girl eloquently spoke to the camera. The girl continued: “They worked together – the Chinese company and the Jambi regional government – to violate the regulation.”

The young girl is Syarifah Fadiah Alkaff, a middle school student in Jambi, a mid-sized provincial capital located on Indonesia’s largest island Sumatra. Syarifah has been using the social media platform TikTok to air her grievances about China-owned wood pellet processing company Rimba Palma Sejahtera Lestari (RPSL), which she deems responsible for damages suffered by her grandmother’s house.

...Syarifah’s family house suffers from cracked walls and floors due to RPSL’s truck activities of transporting materials.

Syarifah’s demand is for the company to repair her family’s house. She also accused the Jambi City government of violating the law. Because of this, local authorities reported Syarifah’s TikTok account to the police under the country’s rigid online speech law.

RPSL is a subsidiary of ELL Environmental Holdings Limited, an environmental solution service provider in Jiangsu Province, China... RPSL operated as a biomass power plant that supplied electricity to Indonesia’s State Electricity Company. This year, the company pivoted its business to become a wood pellet processing factory.

RPSL’s factory complex stands only a kilometer from the residential area, a clear breach of the country’s guidelines for industrial estates...

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According to ELL’s annual report, RPSL has so far donated around $3,500 to support local residents in Jambi...

All ninety families in the area have received theirs, except for Syarifah...This is because the company thinks the amount that she’s asking for – IDR 1.3 billion or $84,800 – is “irrational and baseless”...