Don't bring relatives: Sutiyoso

Don't bring relatives: Sutiyoso

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso urged all Jakartans spending
the week-long festive holidays at home not to bring relatives or
friends back with them to the capital.

The arrival of new migrants here will only be a burden to the
city, he said during a visit to several major traditional
markets, bus terminals, train stations and the Tanjung Priok
seaport.

The governor said people no longer needed to seek jobs in the
capital since their homes would have better job opportunities in
line with the implementation of regional autonomy slated for next
month.

"Regional autonomy will offer great chances for development in
every province.

"So why should anyone come to the capital if their region can
offer more comfortable jobs?" said Sutiyoso, who was accompanied
by other top city officials, including Jakarta Police chief Insp.
Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman.

The capital at this time, the governor said, was an
inconvenient place to live in for the jobless and inexperienced
migrants since it offered few jobs or relatively affordable
housing.

"Jakarta is not a nice place to live in. There are no places
to stay or jobs to do here."

The City Public Order officer will arrest you if you are
homeless, so don't come here," Sutiyoso told the holidaymakers,
who were mostly government employees and casual workers.

He repeated his remarks in the same tone during dialogs with
travelers at other train stations and bus terminals.

During the visit, the governor also checked the price of
several basic needs in which he learned some of the prices for
the commodities, such as eggs and beef, had gone up over the past
few days due to transportation problems resulting from the recent
natural disasters in Java and Sumatra.

"The price increases result more from the significant hike in
the transportation fare, not because of inadequate stock,"
Sutiyoso said. (dja)