China’s Nickel Plants in Indonesia Created Needed Jobs, and Pollution

For most of his 57 years on the island of Sulawesi, Jamal was accustomed to scarcity, modest expectations and a grim shortage of jobs. People mined sand, caught fish and coaxed crops from the soil. Chickens frequently disappeared from front yards, stolen by hungry neighbors.

Mr. Jamal, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, regularly rode his motorbike to construction jobs in the city of Kendari, a half-hour away.

Then, six years ago, a…