City vows to curb flow of newcomers
City vows to curb flow of newcomers
JAKARTA (JP): The only way to curb the post-Idul Fitri influx of newcomers to the capital is to enforce the provincial decree on population effectively, according to the city's governor.
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja was speaking yesterday in reference to the habit of returning Jakartans bringing back relatives or friends who want to seek jobs in the city.
Surjadi said he has ordered all the 265 subdistrict heads to be aware of the newcomers in their areas and take necessary steps based on the decree.
"Take proper action soon before they (the newcomers) settle here," he said.
Surjadi said the decree on population stipulates that newcomers are obliged to possess various documents such as guarantee letters of employment and accommodation in Jakarta. Without such documents newcomers are not allowed to live in Jakarta, which now has a population nine million people.
"The regulation is aimed at preventing people from becoming squatters or beggars. We have enough of them here. They are always chased away by officials of the City Social Affairs Office," he said.
The City Population Office, in cooperation with the City Public Order Office, always conducts operations to apprehend beggars and send them back to their hometowns.
The population office estimates that the 3.5 million Jakartans who returned to their hometowns for the Idul Fitri celebration will return with about 300,000 newcomers this year.
Last year, three million people left the city for similar celebrations and came back with some 300,000 relatives and friends.
In 1993 almost 315,000 newcomers entered Jakarta. The City Population Office has never provided accurate records on how many of the newcomers settled in the capital and how many went back to their hometowns after failing to survive in the capital.
The governor has indicated that most of the newcomers are unskilled people who will find it hard to survive in the city.
The city administration has found it difficult to curb the influx of newcomers despite its continuous programs describing the harsh living conditions in Jakarta. It has been cooperating with a number of city administrations in West, Central and East Java and South Sumatra to prevent too great an influx of newcomers.
People who meet the city population's requirements can obtain temporary citizenship cards which are valid for six months before they get permanent Jakarta's IDs.
The city administration has been issuing about 75,000 new citizenship cards for newcomers per year since 1989 .(yns)