Newcomers get jobs easily despite municipal policy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Rumadi, 25, had only been in Jakarta for two
\ndays when he got a job as a construction worker. He receives Rp
\n7,000 (US$3.04) per day, excluding food and transportation
\nallowances, which is not bad for someone with no more than an
\nelementary school education.<\/p>\n
Sutriyono, also 25, arrived a week before he started earning
\nRp 60,000 a month for helping his relative, Sutini, at her food
\nstall in the Pondok Indah area. Sutriyono is an elementary school
\ndropout.<\/p>\n
Both Rumadi and Sutriyono are lucky. They found it easy to get
\nwork in the capital although they were newcomers without the
\nproper documents.<\/p>\n
\"No, I don't have any of the documents required by the
\nadministration, not even a paper on changing residence from my
\nvillage head. Nobody could guarantee me a job here,\" Rumadi said.<\/p>\n
\"I got this job through my friend because he is also working
\non this project,\" Rumadi said.<\/p>\n
There are many other newcomers who have no sponsors. The
\nunskilled women who are passed on to people wanting housemaids by
\nsupplier agencies are examples.<\/p>\n
Mustapha of the Karya Setiawan agency on Jl. Jend. Suprapto,
\nEast Jakarta, said that most of the newcomers seeking work don't
\nhave the necessary documents other than identification cards.<\/p>\n
\"It is the brokers who arranged their trips from their
\nhometowns to Jakarta. I have nothing to do with that,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He has placed at least 30 newcomers as housemaids all over the
\ncity since Idul Fitri holidays last month.<\/p>\n
There are 110 agencies in the city, if each agency has placed
\n30 new servants since the Idul Fitri holidays that means at least
\n3,300 unsponsored newcomers have found work in the capital.<\/p>\n
This reality undermines the administration's efforts to curb
\nthe influx of newcomers.<\/p>\n
The administration has been working hard to discourage
\nunskilled people from moving to Jakarta to seek work by enforcing
\na decree stipulating that newcomers must have certain documents
\nin order to stay in the capital with its population of 19 million
\npeople.<\/p>\n
It was estimated that 300,000 newcomers would enter Jakarta
\nafter the Idul Fitri holidays.<\/p>\n
Recently the authorities have netted a large number of
\nnewcomers lacking Jakarta IDs and the necessary documents from
\ntheir places of origin. They have been sent back to their
\nhometowns.<\/p>\n
The authorities will continue such operations until April.<\/p>\n
Outrageous<\/p>\n
In 1994, the administration predicted that about 314,900
\nnewcomers would arrive in the city after the Idul Fitri holidays.
\nLast year it listed 330,000 possible new people and 300,000
\npossible new job seekers this year.<\/p>\n
An official at the city population agency said the predictions
\nwere made based on the expected difference between the number of
\npeople who left the city seven days before Idul Fitri holidays
\nand the number of people who come into the city within a week
\nafter the holidays.<\/p>\n
\"Such figures are outrageous because the real growth of the
\ncity's population growth from 1980 to 1990 was only 200,000
\npeople per year,\" the official, who refused to be named, told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The City Statistics Office lists the number of newcomers in
\nJakarta from 1990 to 1994 as under 100,000 people. In 1990 the
\nnumber of newcomers was 87,140 people, 81,885 in 1991, 97,439 in
\n1992, 70,660 in 1993 and 70,439 in 1994.<\/p>\n
Soesila said that the figures announced every year are only
\npredictions, and that there is no exact count on newcomers.<\/p>\n
\"It is difficult to get the exact number because there's no
\nway we can count them unless we conduct extensive research,\"
\nSoesila told.<\/p>\n
Soesila Darmoadji, a city administration spokesman, said the
\ngovernor himself had predicted that the number would be no more
\nthan 200,000 people this year.<\/p>\n
Soesila said the municipality is not overly concerned about
\ncounting the number of newcomers. The most important thing is to
\nreturn those who are lacking documents to their hometowns.
\n(yns\/03\/04)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/newcomers-get-jobs-easily-despite-municipal-policy-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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