City told to boost self-financed transmigration plan
City told to boost self-financed transmigration plan
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo
has called on the municipal administration to promote the self-
financed transmigration program due to budgetary constraints
faced by the central government.
The minister said that each year the government can afford to
finance the relocation of only 2,380 families from Jakarta to
transmigration sites outside of Java.
"Therefore the self-funded transmigration program is very
important and urgent," Siswono said.
Siswono was speaking on Monday evening at a gathering,
organized by the municipality to boost the campaigns for the
enhancement of public mobility and participation in the
transmigration program.
Also in attendance were Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and
265 chiefs of subdistricts.
The minister said transmigration is one of the solutions to
the population problem faced by the capital.
With around 8.5 million residents, the capital, which measures
661.26 square kilometers in area, has an average population
density of 12,435 people per square kilometer.
In some subdistricts where the population density is
particularly high, such as Johar Baru (the most densely-populated
area in the entire country with 51,624 people per square
kilometer), Tambora, Matraman, Kemayoran, Taman Sari, Palmerah,
Jatinegara, Tebet and Grogol Petamburan, there are an average of
106,016 farmers and 101,980 unemployed people, said the minister.
"For them, transmigration is a good alternative," he said.
The minister said the self-funded transmigrants would receive
around two hectares of land from the government at the
transmigration site they are resettled to.
The municipality has sent 20,672 families, or a total of
82,688 people, to transmigration sites over the past 25 years.
Background
Meanwhile, Governor Surjadi said the transmigration program
for Jakarta residents should be designed so that it suits the
urban background of the would-be transmigrants.
"Unlike rural people who make their living as farmers, urban
people make their living through skills and services," Surjadi
said.
The governor said the municipality long ago introduced the so-
called "industrial service transmigration program" in cooperation
with the provincial administrations of Southeast Sulawesi, South
Kalimantan and Riau, where most of the transmigration sites are
located.
Under the joint program, the city administration is obliged to
train the would-be transmigrants in various industrial skills
before they are sent to the designated settlement sites.
Surjadi said he fully supported the campaigns to boost the
self-financed transmigration program, but noted "it will take a
long time to ingrain the spirit of pioneering necessary for this
endeavor in the people, because it encompasses a set of attitudes
including bravery and the willingness to face risks and forsake
primordial bonds."(jsk)