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)