JP/3/IBUKOTA/set lead 2 lines, 10 cols,, crosshead 12 MB
JP/3/IBUKOTA/set lead 2 lines, 10 cols,, crosshead 12 MB
Ethnic heterogeneity poses problems for the city
JAKARTA (JP): Ethnic heterogeneity, spurred on by rural-to-
urban migration, leaves the city with a particular problem in
carrying out the Least Developed Village Development (IDT)
Program.
"The main objective of most people coming here is only to look
for a job or make money. Their utmost concern is sending home the
money they earn to help their families in their home villages,"
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday.
Surjadi added that, "This makes them narrow-minded. They have
no intentions of creating a healthy living environment."
The IDT program was launched this year by the national
government throughout the country's 27 provinces, including
Jakarta, to achieve even development across the country.
Results of a recent survey conducted by the City Development
Planning Board shows that most migrants spend only 30 percent of
their income in the city, while the rest is sent to their
families in their hometowns.
Surjadi apparently referred to low-income people who live in
slum areas or kampongs, the slums where many poor migrants live
in ramshackle houses.
The governor also said that most migrants living in the city
do not have a good sense of belonging, let alone sense of
responsibility.
According to Surjadi, such attitudes are reflected in the way
migrants respond to the Mohammad Husni Thamrin (MHT) kampong
improvement project. This is a project designed to help kampong
inhabitants by building better roads and installing electric and
water facilities.
However, after they have their kampongs improved many of them
sell or pawn the houses to housing brokers at cheap prices. Then
they move to other locations to create poorly equipped, kampong
slums, Surjadi said.
He said that if this continues again and again, the problem
would become a vicious cycle of wasted government resources and
land speculation.
The governor said that, as a result, the IDT program must
focus on how to change the mentality of migrants and teach them
how to work on their own. Surjadi added that this task is indeed
very difficult to implement.
"At present, the city administration is trying to get patrons
to help the poor start their own business."
The head of the City Development Planning Board, Eri
Chayaridipura, said helping the city's poor people through the
IDT program is difficult.
"Most city residents are migrants. Although they have been in
Jakarta for 25 years, their hearts and minds are not here but in
their hometowns. It takes a long time to develop a feeling of
pride in where they are," Eri said.
According to him, the city administration has prepared a fund
of Rp 10 billion to support the IDT program in the city's 11
least developed subdistricts. This is in the hope that they
succeed in using the fund as working capital to start their
business.
Through the IDT program, each poor subdistrict is entitled to
Rp 20 million (US$9,520) per annum.
The 11 poor subdistricts include Galur in Central Jakarta,
Kamal and Tegal Alur in West Jakarta, Cilincing, Kali Baru, Kapuk
Muara, Kamal Muara subdistricts and four others in the Seribu
Islands in North Jakarta. (06)