Influx of migrants a headache for the city administration

Influx of migrants a headache for the city administration

By Ida Indawati Khouw

JAKARTA (JP): The manic frenzy of the annual Idul Fitri exodus
left behind it a pool of calm which will be finally shattered
with most returning Jakartans expected back today.

The city administration says more than 2.85 million people
left Jakarta for Lebaran this year and they are expected to
follow the annual trend and return with some 300,000 friends or
relatives in tow.

The bright lights of Jakarta, it would appear, are still a
strong magnet for country people who dream of a better life.

For years the annual influx of would-be city dwellers who
arrive in the wake of returning workers has created a headache
for the government because few of the newcomers have marketable
skills.

Now, with the worsening economic crisis battering the city the
expected increase is adding to its woes.

Head of City Council Commission E for Social Welfare Affairs
Soeparmo said: "There's no hope of these people getting jobs here
now.

"As we all know, our draft state budget predicted zero
economic growth; and economic activities are relatively dead now
so how can the city provide them with jobs?"

Governor Sutiyoso earlier called on Idul Fitri travelers not
to add to the city's problems when they returned.

"Holidaymakers, please don't bring back any of your relatives
or friends, Jakarta is already too crowded. Don't burden the
city," he urged.

He said "this is only an appeal" and that the government would
not punish travelers who bring anyone to the city.

Worried about the potential social and economic impacts of
many new jobless inhabitants, the city administration is looking
for ways to deal with the problem.

One possible solution is to prevent all people without proper
identity cards from entering the city.

Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi said
the city would reenforce a six-year-old operation to catch people
trying to enter the city without proper identity cards or
employable skills.

Everyone rounded up in the so-called Yustisi Operation will be
discouraged from moving to the city.

Head of the supervision and investigation division of the city
population agency, Soedarsono, said the operation would be a kind
of counseling program.

This operation was first launched in 1992 based on City
Regulation No.5/1991 on Resident Registration and Identity Cards
in Jakarta -- in an attempt to solve Jakarta's population size
problem, Kahfi said.

"Jakarta belongs to everybody, but the city has a limited
accommodation capacity. With these influx control measures we
hope the size of the city's population can be kept to reasonable
levels.

"We urge people without proper identity cards to go back to
their hometowns. What's more, it is unsafe for them to travel
without proper identity cards, especially if something bad
happens (to them)."

Some scholars and city councilors doubt strategies to limit
the number of inhabitants will solve the problem.

Mayling Oey-Gardiner, director of Insan Harapan Sejahtera
Social Science Research Consultancy, once said that sealing off
the cities was pointless unless the core of the problem was
addressed.

She said urbanization was caused by poor management of
economic activities, which were often concentrated in cities.

"Closing off cities will not work. I suggest the government
draft economic policies to promote investment beyond Java,
instead," she said.

Mayling said tax reductions, the facilitation of business
permits and greater access to land outside urban centers were
examples of economic incentives that could help reduce
urbanization.

City councilor Lukman Mokoginta also believes that
implementing control measures in Jakarta alone will not solve the
problem.

"Other towns should help by creating employment back in the
villages so that the people do not have to make a run for the
capital," he said.

"It is important that the central government develop other
cities until they become as big and attractive as Jakarta so that
people will then have choices of places to migrate to," he said.

Sociologist Paulus Wirutomo from University of Indonesia said
it was ridiculous and impossible for the city administration to
hold back the flood of migrants by checking ID cards.

However, councilor Soeparmo and Nitra Arsyad from City Council
Commission E for Social Welfare affairs both support the
administration's campaign.

They say the city should enforce tighter control measures to
handle the problem.

Nitra, however, believes the ID checking operation should be a
last resort.

Preventative not repressive action should be taken by the
city, he said.

"The mechanism should be that people are prepared before they
leave for the Idul Fitri holiday. This should be done by telling
them that there will be an ID checking operation running when
they return, so that they will think twice before bringing
friends or relatives back with them," he said.