Government tries to control transmigrants' activities
Government tries to control transmigrants' activities
JAKARTA (JP): The government is trying to control the
activities of Javanese farmers who resettle in the forests of
Indonesia's outer islands, to ensure that they will not disturb
the ecological balance, according to a senior official.
The ministry of transmigration's Director General for Housing
and Environment, H.J. Widarbo, said yesterday that the number of
these transmigrants, more commonly known as "spontaneous
migrants", has been increasing over the last few years.
"They are beyond our reach and therefore their actions, which
are often damaging to the environment, are uncontrollable," he
said during a hearing with the House of Representatives'
Commission IV, which oversees transmigration affairs.
Widarbo said the migrants not only damage the forests they
move into, but also over-exploit the newly-cleared land,
rendering it unproductive.
"While we are trying to increase the number of these migrants,
we also want to see to it that they will not do harm to the
environment in their new homes," he said.
The environmental and social problems caused by such migrants
have been widely encountered in Lampung, South Sumatra, where the
resettlers occupy state land.
This month, the Lampung authorities mobilized dozens of forest
rangers, reinforced by 17 tamed elephants, to uproot coffee
bushes planted by settlers on more than 1,000 hectares of state
land.
Widarbo said that while the number of spontaneous migrants had
increased, the government-sponsored transmigration program had
found it difficult to reach its target.
"Many of those intending to voluntarily transmigrate still
need the government's help," Widarbo said. He added that the
government often found it difficult to obtain suitable sites.
Ideal sites, he said, should have adequate infrastructure and
facilities, and clear land ownership -- which also meant, he
said, that the land should not be part of a nature reserve, a
protected forest or designated for some other purpose by the
state.
The site should also be productive, capable of providing
opportunities for employment, and should have access to clean
water, he added.
Widarbo said that for the fiscal year 1995-1996, the
government aimed at relocating 27,000 families to 247
resettlement sites under the government-sponsored program.
Presently, the program faces further problems because many
ideal sites are already occupied by indigenous residents who will
insist on compensation in return for their land, he said.
Most types of employment generated by this program are also
limited to the agricultural sector, making it unattractive to
prospective transmigrants, he added.
Commencing in 1999, the government intends to send more
transmigrants to the sparsely-populated eastern provinces, such
as Irian Jaya, Widarbo said. (pwn)