Field Data Crucial for Building Transmigration Areas, Says Minister AHY
Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) has affirmed that field data forms a crucial foundation in developing policies to build transmigration areas as new centres of economic growth.
This commitment is being realised through the involvement of 1,476 participants, comprising students, researchers and professors from ten partner state universities. They will be deployed to 53 transmigration areas, particularly in eastern Indonesia, to continue mapping and developing the potential of these regions, an effort initiated by the Patriot Expedition Team in 2025.
AHY considers a development approach based on research and real conditions on the ground, through the involvement of academics, to be a strategic step. The participation of young people in the programme is also seen as important capital for generating innovative ideas and solutions for developing transmigration areas.
“We want to build transmigration areas that become new magnets for investment, economic growth and improved community welfare. That is where the contribution of these students becomes so important, because the recommendations they produce will emerge from real conditions in the field,” AHY said in a statement on Thursday (30 July 2026).
He made the remarks while giving a briefing to participants of the 2026 Patriot Expedition Team, who will be dispatched by the Ministry of Transmigration, at Balai Kartini in Jakarta yesterday.
AHY said the participants will continue research and mapping work begun last year. They will identify various potentials and challenges in transmigration areas as the basis for developing industrialisation and downstream processing in several sectors, such as agriculture, plantations, tourism, the creative economy and natural resource management.
He expressed hope that their findings and recommendations can serve as input for the government in developing each transmigration area according to its characteristics and strengths.
On this occasion, AHY also reaffirmed the paradigm shift in transmigration development. “Whereas the old paradigm was about moving people off Java, the paradigm has now changed to how we build these areas so they become attractive for population movement, draw in investment and drive sustainable development and economic growth,” he explained.
AHY hopes the participants’ observations will be academically accountable and serve as empirical references complementing government data in formulating transmigration area development policy.
“Hopefully, when academic input meets strategic policy at the central level, policies that are truly effective and implementable will emerge. Empirical data from the field will be a crucial foundation for formulating well-targeted policies,” AHY said.
In a separate statement, Minister of Transmigration M. Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara assured that the government has prepared various measures to guarantee the security and safety of all participants during their assignments in the field, particularly in Papua and other parts of eastern Indonesia.
“We have coordinated with the National Police Chief, the TNI, regional governments and community figures at every assignment location. Alhamdulillah, all regions have welcomed the presence of the Patriot Expedition Team, because they indeed need input and assistance to develop their transmigration areas,” Iftitah said.
Beyond securing support from various stakeholders, the Ministry of Transmigration will also monitor the progress of all participants throughout their assignments.
“Nevertheless, we will not be complacent. While the participants are on duty, we have prepared 24-hour coordination through a monitoring post so that every development can be tracked and all participants can carry out their assignments safely,” Iftitah affirmed.
For information, the 2025 Patriot Expedition Team produced 400 research and recommendation documents. These outputs will be followed up by the 2026 Patriot Expedition Team in the form of further research and assistance tailored to the needs and potential of each transmigration area. The aim is to accelerate the transformation of transmigration areas into inclusive, competitive and sustainable new centres of economic growth.
The briefing by AHY was also attended by Minister of Transmigration M. Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara, Minister of Tourism Widiyanti Putri Wardhana, Deputy Minister of Transmigration Viva Yoga Mauladi, Secretary-General Edy Gunawan and officials of the Ministry of Transmigration. Also present from the Coordinating Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development were Deputy for Coordination of Equitable Regional Development, Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Nazib Faizal, Special Staff for Management and Inter-agency Cooperation Agust Jovan Latuconsina, Special Staff for Legal and Regulatory Affairs Sigit Raditya, and Special Staff for Non-Governmental Organisations and Foreign Cooperation Merry Riana.