BPS ethnic statistics

This is in response to Masli Arman's letter titled "Statistics debate" on Dec. 2.

Hopefully this letter will enlighten Masli as far as statistics are concerned.

In his letter he made three comments. The first was that there was no census in 1995. The second was that there are no ethnic population figures. And the third was that the 4.3 million figure was the population of West Sumatra province only and that slightly more than half of all Minang people live outside West Sumatra today. And he says he knows that most certainly!

Masli even goes further by decreasing and increasing the population of the ethnic groups outside and inside Java.

According to a census conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (Population of Indonesia: Results of the 1995 Intercensal Population Survey; Series S2), the total population from age O to over 75 was 194,754,808 (page 21, table 04.9) and the population of five year olds and over was 174.303,277 (page 111, table 08.9). As per table 16.9 on page 177 for the population of five year olds and over by province and mother tongue, the total population in West Sumatra is 3,830,482 and those speaking the native Minang language is 3,448,658 followed by Batak 172 970, Javanese 85,478, Indonesian language speaking group 84,749 and then others (other native languages) 29,557, Sundanese 7,383 and then 1,183 for foreign language group.

Nationwide, as per table 16.9, the native Minang language group totals 4,316,889 with the most in West Sumatra totaling 3,448,658, 268,265 in Riau, 164,306 in West Java, 103,189 in Jambi, 85,923 in North Sumatra, 85,598 in DKI Jakarta, 54,407 in Bengkulu, 35,885 in Lampung, 30,552 in South Sumatra, 16,309 in Aceh, 5,774 in West Kalimantan, and surprisingly but interestingly for further academic study, the Minang in the heart of Java total less than 10,000, they are respectively 4,527 in East Java, 2,892 in Central Java and 1,050 in Yogyakarta. For the rest of the provinces, the Minang are less than 2,000 in the respective areas. As per table 16.9, the Javanese number 67,453,465, Sundanese 25,222,111, Madurese 7,142,046, Minang 4,316,889, Bugis 3,680,331, Batak 3,608,559, Banjarese 3,130,637, Balinese 2,709,969, Indonesian speaking group 25,775,145, other native languages 30,345,949 and foreign language group 918,186 so totaling 174,303,277.

SIA KA MOU

Jakarta