Irian Jaya to take more resettlers

Irian Jaya to take more resettlers

JAKARTA (JP): This year the government is to send a greater
number of transmigrants than ever before to the sparsely occupied
Irian Jaya from the densely populated Java, Bali and Madura.

"Irian will receive most of the 1996/97 fiscal's year
transmigrants...around 9,000 families," Minister of
Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said after meeting with
President Soeharto yesterday.

He pointed out that last year his office resettled 49,332
families, or 210,000 people, to a variety of areas in the
archipelago.

West Kalimantan received 7,702 families, Riau 6,362 families,
and Central Kalimantan 4,891 families. Siswono said Irian ranked
fourth, but did not specify the number of people resettled there.
All of the four provinces he mentioned are less-developed parts
of Indonesia.

Irian Jaya's 421,981 square kilometers is populated by only
two million people at a density of four people per square
kilometer. Java, in comparison, has 115 million people living
cramped on an area of 132,186 square kilometers. The population
density is 870 people per square kilometer.

During the past six months, Irian Jaya has repeatedly grabbed
international attention following a number of incidents involving
the separatist movement and the giant gold and copper mining
company PT Freeport Indonesia.

Last month an angry mob torched the Abepura market in
Jayapura, causing a loss of Rp 10 billion for some 100 traders
who are mostly resettlers. The riot itself was sparked by the
Irianese natives' anger after they were unable to pay their last
respects to the body of a separatist leader.

Around 130 people have been arrested for their alleged
involvement in the violent protest, 43 of whom are suspected of
masterminding the incident.

Siswono also said that of the people resettled in the past
year, 29,585 families went on their own initiative. Most of these
people are from East Java and chose South Sumatra, Riau and
Central Sulawesi as their destinations, he said.

Siswono said the President has instructed him to provide each
family transmigrating this year with a cow. The program will
start with ten resettlement areas on the islands of Sipona,
Natuna, Cemajak, Wawonii, Sabaena and in the border area between
Irian and Papua New Guinea.

Each resettlement unit is occupied by 300 families.

Thirty-five people, representing 100 families who have
resettled in Arso, Irian Jaya, recently lodged a complaint with
the local office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation
concerning the transmigration office's failure to keep their
promise of giving each resettling family a two-hectare plot of
land. (swe/01)