127 families of transmigrants face uncertainty

127 families of transmigrants face uncertainty

PADANG, West Sumatra (JP): As many as 127 families from Aceh,
who had to leave the restive town for security reasons, are
facing uncertainty in West Sumatra.

The families, supposed to be resettled in the Silaut VI
resettlement area in the Pesisir Selatan regency, have yet to be
properly handled. The local administration seems to be unprepared
to receive them.

West Sumatra provincial administration spokesman Zulkhaidir
said on Wednesday that funding was the main constraint.

"We are trying to do our best to help them. We are responsible
for their fate here."

Zulkhaidir did not say how much money had been set aside by
the administration for the resettlement program.

The families, migrants who had spent years in Aceh, are now
being housed in temporary shelters in the Silaut VI resettlement
area, some 300 kilometers from the West Sumatra capital of
Padang.

They have yet to get plots of land to cultivate and no houses
have been made available for them. Many of them have been forced
to live with relatives and work for a tea plantation belonging to
PT Hefina Niaga.

According to Article 28 of government Regulation No. 42/1973,
each transmigrant family is entitled to two hectares of land,
1.75 hectares for agriculture and 0.25 hectares for housing in
resettlement areas.

Meanwhile the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) said that Indonesia
now has about one million internally displaced people, driven
from their homes by sectarian conflicts, separatist struggles and
natural disasters.

PMI chief and former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad said
that to cope with the growing flood of displaced people, the
government needs to set up a national commission on refugees.

Mar'ie made the suggestion after receiving a financial
donation from a Jakarta-based newspaper for victims of this
year's earthquake in Bengkulu and three ambulances from the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the news agency
said.

The commission, he said, could be independent, with members
representing non-governmental organizations, volunteers and the
government. It could handle and coordinate aid.

Previously released government figures have shown that more
than half a million people have been driven from their homes by
months of sectarian conflict in the Maluku islands.

Another estimated 130,000 people driven from the former
Indonesian province of East Timor are still living in camps in
East Nusa Tenggara. Ethnic and religious violence have also
driven thousands more from their homes in Kalimantan and
Sulawesi.

Without giving a complete breakdown of the figures Mar'ie said
that the one million displaced people were now scattered over 14
provinces.

PMI, as a humanitarian organization, would continue to channel
domestic as well as international relief aid to those who are
victims of natural disasters or social conflicts, he said.
(28/sur/byg)