330,000 new comers estimated for Jakarta

330,000 new comers estimated for Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): The City Population Office predicts the number
of "newcomers" returning to the capital together with their
Jakartan family members after the Idul Fitri holiday will reach
over 330,000 this year.

"The prediction is based on the average number of newcomers
arriving in the past, which is generally equal to about 11
percent of the total number of Jakartans that leave the city,"
said Suwarno, the head of the statistics department.

The city administration estimated that 3 million people left
the city to celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns. It is common
for many of them to return to the city together with their
friends or relatives to look for jobs.

"About 314,900 newcomers arrived in the city last year, or
10.52 percent of the 2.9 million people who left the city at that
time," Suwarno said.

However, Suwarno said, not all newcomers stay in Jakarta and
many of them continue on to Jakarta's buffer townships of Bogor,
Tangerang and Bekasi.

"Some of them go to Jakarta only to visit a number of the
city's major recreation centers or to meet with their relatives,"
Suwarno said.

The city administration has anticipated the annual influx of
newcomers and has set several requirements for those intending to
stay and work permanently in the city. The requirements include
documents on the change of residence from heads of their villages
and guarantees that they have jobs and a place of residence in
Jakarta.

All subdistrict chiefs have been ordered to register any
newcomers living in their areas.

"Those who fulfill all of the requirements can obtain
temporary citizenship cards from the city administration. They
are valid for six months before they are declared as permanent
residents of Jakarta," Suwarno said.

He said that the city administration has issued about 75,000
new citizenship cards per year since 1989.

In order to reduce the number of newcomers entering the city,
Suwarno said, the Jakarta municipality launched a program
describing the harsh conditions and facts of living in Jakarta in
cooperation with a number of city administrations in West,
Central and East Java and South Sumatra.

"The program explains that living in Jakarta is not as easy as
they imagine. It is aimed at preventing people without skills
from coming to the capital," Suwarno said.(yns)