Ethnic fighting in Batam
Last week's ethnic fighting in Batam brought business on the island to a standstill for three days. Regrettably, ethnic fighting on this island is nothing new. Last week's was simply the worst. Although everything is now back to normal, the conditions that allowed it to occur have not yet been remedied and something similar could happen again.
Batam is suffering the consequences of its own success. It is the fastest growing area in Indonesia and one of the fastest growing places in Asia. From about 6,000 in early 1970s, the population today is about half a million and increasing daily. Hundred of multinational companies have created an extremely buoyant labor market. The island is therefore a magnet for young Indonesians from across the archipelago to come and try their luck. A proverbial "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow". Young women who come here, easily find employment in the hundreds of electronic factories that employ tens of thousands of girls. But the island's economy can absorb only a few of the many unskilled males who seek work.
It is from these jobless young men that the most of Batam's social troubles arise. Thousands of youths are surviving on the island's economic fringe: as garbage scavengers, taxi touts (the source of last week's trouble), ojek (motorcycle taxis) drivers, parking touts, drug pushers, noodle vendors etc. Fierce competition for limited opportunities causes fights, which occasionally spread from individuals to entire ethnic groups. As a proportion of Batam's population, this group only comprises a few percent: maybe 3 percent to 4 percent. But 3 percent of half a million people is still a lot, numbering some tens of thousands. But 99 percent of Batam's population has suffered great inconvenience, due to the actions of 1 percent.
At present, if a hopeful young man journeys far across Indonesia to try his luck in Batam there is no social system to help him get home should his luck run out. Far from home and friends, circumstances virtually force these unfortunates to turn to crime.
The police generally know who these unlucky people are, but they are yet to acquire a tool to help them. Batam need a ship which can carry the luckless few back to their home islands. This ship should operate in partnership with a detention center, where those without jobs and money can be cared for and fed, until transport becomes available. The scheme could be financed by imposing a Rp 10,000 levy on everyone arriving by ferry or aircraft.
With a regular flow of messengers returning home, Batam may succeed in relaying the news that if you have no skills, life on this island can be very difficult indeed.
EVAN JONES
Batam, Riau