Few Balinese want to resettle

DENPASAR, Bali: The densely-populated tourist island of Bali is finding it difficult to resettle its people to the less-dense provinces of East Timor and Irian Jaya, Antara reported yesterday.

The news agency quoted I Gde Suratmadja, head of the provincial resettlement office, saying this year's target of sending 87 families to the two eastern provinces has yet to be met.

Suratmadja said sometimes the failure to meet the set target was caused by the unreadiness of recipient provinces.

He insisted, however, that Bali had a good resettlement record. "In the last three years, five resettlers from our province have been named the best resettlers," he said.

In fiscal year 1996-97, Bali plans to send 1,985 families to several provinces in Eastern Indonesia. "So far we have been able to send 1,230 families," he added.

Bali and Java are Indonesia's most densely populated islands. (swe)