Govt to boost transmigration
Govt to boost transmigration
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Transmigration plans to open a new directorate whose task will be to find ways of encouraging the traditionally reluctant to move people in Java to resettle.
Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said the proposal to create a separate directorate for the job currently handled by the Directorate for Mobilizing and Supervision has already been approved by the State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi, Antara reported yesterday.
The new directorate is expected to promote the self- sponsored/self reliant transmigration program, particularly among the people of Java, Siswono said.
One of the directorate's jobs will be to carry out social engineering so that the Javanese and Sundanese will become even more adventurous than the Minangkabau and Bugis people, he said, referring to the West Sumatra and South Sulawesi ethnic groups known for their knack at venturing to places far from their homelands.
The Ministry of Transmigration is responsible for carrying out the government's ambitious program of resettling as many people as possible from overcrowded Java and Bali to the other islands in the Indonesian archipelago.
The habit of the Javanese and Sundanese to stay in the places they were born has been one of the chief obstacles to the success of the program. Many Javanese transmigrants, not able to cope with the harsh conditions of the new frontiers, have returned to their former homes to try to once again eke out a meager living.
Siswono is confident that changing attitudes through social engineering is not impossible.
He likened the challenge to the government's launching of the national family planning program in 1969, when the idea was widely scoffed.
The Secretary-General of Transmigration, Soemarsidik, explained that the Directorate for Mobilization and Supervision will be broken into two parts: one for the supervision of the spread of the population and the other for community development.
The changes will be effected in August, he said.
Soemarsidik disclosed that the government is currently preparing a new bill on transmigration to replace the current law about the resettlement program. The bill is now at the State Secretariat for a final review before it is presented to the House of Representatives.
The bill on transmigration emphasizes regional development and the creation of new economic growth centers as a way of complementing the resettlement program.
It also emphasizes the need to diversify the occupational bases of the settlers away from rice farming. The government in recent years has developed transmigration programs related to the opening of fisheries, forestry estates, and plantations in the new settlement areas.
The bill proposes to motivate more self-reliant transmigrants, who are less dependent on government handouts and other facilities. It also seeks to bolster the participation of the private business sector in the transmigration programs, Soemarsidik said. (emb)