BYD's Subang Plant in Indonesia Faces Local-Hiring Dispute: Residents Demand 70 Percent of Jobs for Locals as Company Says 90 Percent of Its Nearly 6,000 Workers Are Indonesian
Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD's assembly plant in Subang, West Java, Indonesia, is facing a local-hiring dispute. A residents' group, the United Subang Community Forum (FMSB), says the factory hires too few people from Subang and has proposed that companies investing in Subang fill 70 percent of their jobs with local workers, alongside demands for transparent recruitment and more vocational training.
The plant, in the Subang Smartpolitan industrial estate, covers about 126 hectares, represents an investment of about Rp 16 trillion (about $908 million) and can produce 150,000 vehicles a year. It was inaugurated on September 3, 2026, and is BYD's third automobile factory in Southeast Asia. BYD says the workforce exceeds 5,000, with plans to reach 20,000 at full capacity.
Hundreds of residents protested outside the factory on October 28, estimating that residents of the regency held fewer than 20 percent of its jobs. The West Java provincial government said BYD has advertised around 3,000 positions through its job-vacancy app Nyari Gawe and hired more than 800 people through it. Industry Minister Muhammad Sarmuji said on October 30 that the government might inspect the factory to help coordinate the company's interests with those of the surrounding community.
Luther Panjaitan, head of public and government relations at BYD Motor Indonesia, gave a workforce breakdown during a factory visit on November 10: of the plant's nearly 6,000 workers, 90 percent are Indonesian nationals; 80 percent of those are from West Java, and 30 percent of the West Java group are from Subang or the communities around the plant, which works out to roughly one-fifth of the total workforce being local. He said many positions require one to two years of experience in the automotive industry, one reason local applicants cannot always be hired directly.
Representatives of the company, the Subang Regency Manpower Office and the community have met since the protest; the 70-percent local quota demand remains under discussion and BYD has not confirmed accepting it. BYD says production has not been disrupted and has asked the government for clarity on the background to the repeated protests.
(Source: BYD Motor Indonesia)
Source: BYD Motor Indonesia
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：比亚迪位于泰国罗勇的工厂（资料图）。照片 CC BY 3.0，作者 iMoD Official，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: BYD's plant in Rayong, Thailand (file photo). CC BY 3.0, by iMoD Official, via Wikimedia Commons.
