Rempang Eco City, a large-scale development project in Indonesia’s western Riau Islands, has been touted by the provincial government as a “new economic engine for Indonesia”. It will comprise industrial, residential, tourism and wildlife reserve zones, all with an intended focus on environmental sustainability, and aims to create 35,000 jobs.

For the thousands of residents of Rempang Island, the site of the project, this ambitious undertaking is a source of worry. It will involve the clearance of the island’s existing settlements, including traditional villages that have been inhabited mostly by families of several Indigenous seafaring groups for generations. They fear this will come with the loss of their heritage and established livelihoods.

The Indonesian government announced Rempang Eco City in August 2023 and required the 7,500 people living in the island’s 16 Kampung Tua (old villages) to leave their homes by the end of the next month.

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