232 Jakartans resettled in Riau

232 Jakartans resettled in Riau

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has relocated 232 people
to Bengkalis, Riau, under the state-sponsored transmigration
program.

The 56 families, mostly from slum areas forced to make way for
development projects, departed last week after a modest ceremony
attended by Governor Sutiyoso in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta.

It was the second group of families the administration has
resettled this year. Earlier, 89 Jakartan families moved to West
Kalimantan and Riau.

The crippling economic crisis has forced the city to lower its
initial resettling target of 1,720 families to just 600 families.

The head of the city's transmigration and resettlement of
forest squatters office, Bachtiar Zakaria, said the
administration had allocated Rp 3.5 billion (US$250,000) for the
transmigration program this fiscal year.

Governor Sutiyoso asked the Jakarta transmigration office to
make sure that prospective resettlers' rights were respected.

He advised the families to cooperate with local residents to
help speed up their assimilation into the community.

"You all should uphold your place of origin's good name," he
said, adding that the resettlers should share their farming
expertise with indigenous people.

The transmigrants participated in a 25-day training course in
Bogor before departing.

Separately, Tangerang officials reported that they had
enrolled 12 people at a transmigration training center in
Cibubur, East Jakarta. The prospective transmigrants plan to
resettle in South Sumatra.

The head of Tangerang transmigration and resettlement of
forest squatters office, P.G. Hirwanto, said that four of the 12
people were employees who had just lost their jobs.

All 12 of the prospective resettlers said they had opted to
participate in the transmigration program because it was
difficult to find work in Tangerang. (ind/41)