Megawati 'supports' divisive policy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri was quoted on Friday as giving support to the city administration's controversial policy of curbing the flow of migrants into the capital.

"The President asked whether the city administration was going to continue to let migrants flood into the capital and whether it was not necessary to establish rules to curb the movement," Governor Sutiyoso told reporters after meeting with Megawati.

According to the governor, the President is concerned that riverbank squatters would return to live along the riverbanks even though they had already been relocated.

"That means the city administration must think of ways to limit the influx of migrants," he said.

The government is planning to relocate riverbank squatters, who mostly consist of migrants, as their unauthorized settlements are considered to be one of the causes of flooding.

Last December, Sutiyoso said the city administration would issue a bylaw to reduce urbanization as Jakarta had become the destination of villagers nationwide who were seeking a better life.

The plan to make Jakarta a closed city, however, has received strong criticism from activists. They say that any such bylaw would fly in the face of the basic rights of Indonesian citizens to travel to any part of the country, and that the plan was simply a reflection of the administration's inability to solve urban development problems in Jakarta.

Many thousands of people, including many with no skills, flock to the capital every year. One of the most obvious problems caused by the phenomenon is the emergence of slums in many areas, including along Jakarta's riverbanks.