Govt to move people to empty islands

Govt to move people to empty islands

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Still smarting from the loss of Sipadan and Ligitan islands, the
government is planning to resettle people from densely populated
areas to 88 uninhabited islands on borders with neighboring
countries under the transmigration program.

"We have 88 small, empty islands that are located on border
areas with neighboring countries. We will relocate people to
these islands for the sake of our sovereignty," Djoko Sidik
Pramono, the director general for the empowerment of
transmigration areas at the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, told a press conference.

The status of the islands is stated in government regulation
No. 38/2002 on the List of Geography Coordinates of the Base Line
Points of the Indonesian Archipelago.

Indonesia lost the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan to Malaysia
after a legal dispute that dragged on for years ended last
December with the International Court of Justice ruling that the
islands in the Sulawesi Sea belonged to Kuala Lumpur.

The court considered the administrative measures taken by the
British colonial power, who once ruled Malaysia, over the two
islands as strong reason to award them to Malaysia.

Since then, Indonesia has realized that it can no longer
ignore a single island on the country's borders.

Djoko said the transmigration program would give Indonesia
political advantage, although it might not yield economic
benefit.

The transmigration program for small islands on border areas
is part of the nationwide program for 2003 to 2009, which is
expected to relocate over 300,000 families from densely populated
areas.

Djoko said the government had provided subsidies to manage
fishing or husbandry activities as incentives for those who are
willing to live on the small islands.

The fishing system will emulate the old transmigration scheme
(PIR), in which a private company will provide settlers with
fishing equipment, while the government will develop
infrastructure, such as houses and roads, he said.

At present, the government is focusing on relocating people to
Natuna island, which is located on the border between Indonesia
and Vietnam.

"We have resettled 960 families and we are planning to move
more than 1,000 families to the island," he said.

For those who relocate to Natuna, the government has allocated
hefty subsidies for them. An oil palm plantation there has been
closed for not being profitable, said Djoko.

However, as the island has started up oil and gas production
activities, at least three local investors are interested in
sinking their money into the oil palm plantation business, he
said.

One of the companies plans to build a factory to process palm
oil into household products, such as oil and soap, he said.

"Natuna will be a model for developing other small islands on
border areas," he said.