Java governors agree to limit migration

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Governors on Java have agreed to give priority to people from their own localities when filling job vacancies in their own province in an attempt to control the high level of migration to major cities on the island, said a local official.

"Of course, job vacancies are open to all citizens but we have agreed to give priority to our own people when filling vacancies. This is to prevent people from remote areas in Java and Sumatra from migrating to major cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya," East Java Governor R. Nuriana said here on Tuesday.

He said the consensus had been reached at a recent meeting of governors in Jakarta.

However, he said it was impossible for a province to bar people from visiting other provinces because that was an abuse of human rights.

"We will not make a bylaw to prohibit the people from other provinces visiting or migrating to West Java, but the policy will be effective in increasing employment for local people in the province," said Nuriana, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Provincial Administration Association.

Nuriana acknowledged that the annual major wave of migration to the province had caused a major problem for the provincial administration because the presence of migrants had reduced job opportunities for local job seekers.

"Should all provinces be of the same vision and make a similar policy, a potential population explosion in Java's major cities could be avoided in the future," he said.

The provincial administration has distributed circulars among migrants, asking them not to bring relatives from their home villages to the provincial capital because such action would pose problems both for them and the provincial authorities.

Due to the prolonged economic crisis, more and more people from rural areas are expected to migrate to cities because they are of the opinion that it is easier to get job and make money in urban areas.

"We shall remind job seekers in the province that they should not protest if they are denied access to jobs in Central Java as of next January because of the consensus," he said.

Nuriana noted that more than 400,000 people from numerous provinces had migrated annually to the province and their presence not only stimulated economic growth but also reduced job opportunities for local job seekers.

"So far, 45 percent, or 16 million of almost 35 million people in West Java live below the poverty line. It is a challenge for the provincial administration to improve their social status," he said.

Separately, assistant to the mayor of Bandung on public administration affairs Maman Suparman said the city administration would carry out a joint operation with the city security authorities to crack down on informal traders, who were mostly from outside the province.

"Only a few Sundanese people work in the informal sector because they lose out in competition with migrants," he said, adding that almost all traditional markets and shops in the city were dominated by migrants.