Denpasar administration expels Javanese migrants

Denpasar administration expels Javanese migrants

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite a strong protest, authorities in Denpasar, Bali, expelled
on Friday 77 migrants from East Java for not possessing local
identity cards.

The illegal migrants who were netted in an operation launched
by the Denpasar municipal administration over the last three days
were transported in two buses to a social rehabilitation center
in Jember, East Java, from where they would be sent to their home
villages after a short education program.

Public order chief, I Nyoman Brandi, said in Denpasar that
according to the population registration bylaw, all those who
failed to produce a local identity card must be removed and taken
to their villages of origin.

"In line with the regulation, the 77 migrants who failed to
produce an identity card during the operation have to be
expelled," Antara quoted Brandi as saying.

Hundreds of Javanese migrants who already have local identity
cards staged a sit-in demonstration on Jl. Sutomo, one of crowded
streets in the city to protest the netting of their Javanese
colleagues. They called on the Denpasar City Council to lift the
bylaw which they said was against the amended 1945 Constitution
that guarantees people the freedom to move from one place to
another in the country.

The situation in the city turned tense and almost violent when
the demonstrators were blocked by the police from marching to
city hall while hundreds of other Javanese migrants from city
outskirts were blocked from entering the Jl. Sutomo area.

The demonstration, which caused a traffic jam for five hours,
ended after Denpasar Police deployed a score of riot police to
disperse demonstrators.

Spokesman for the Bali Provincial Police Sr. Comr. Pengasihan
Gaut said the police had to drive the demonstrators back to their
homes after they could not be persuaded to leave the area.

"The police had no alternative but to drive away the
demonstrators after negotiation and persuasion failed," he said,
stressing that there were no casualties in the incident.

Gaut declined to comment on the controversial bylaw, saying
that the police had a mission to enforce the law to maintain
security and order and the people should go to the City Council
to seek a review.

Thousands of Javanese people have migrated to the tourist
island to seek work. Most have employed themselves as street
vendors and food stall owners in the informal sector.

Like Denpasar, almost all municipalities under the regional
autonomy have launched operations to expel migrants, who are
mostly self-employed in the informal sector in an apparent
attempt to minimize the social burden of accommodating them.

Many regions have argued against illegal migration, saying
besides taking job opportunities from locals, unemployed migrants
have also contributed to an increase in crime.