Migrants set positive example of solidarity

Migrants set positive example of solidarity

By Heru Sigit Cahyanto

WONOSARI, Yogyakarta (Antara): This year's Lebaran festivities
have past. Thousands of travelers have returned to their adopted
cities, leaving their loved ones behind and in their search for a
better future.

They all hope they will have a better time next Lebaran when
they get together and exchange stories of the past year.

Lebaran is not the only time for reunions, but is a special
occasion as its enables relatives to see each other in their own
ancestral lands.

The government of Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta province's eastern
regency, is well aware that the homecoming tradition is special.
Each year, migrants from Gunungkidul send home several billion
rupiah. The money, no doubt, significantly helps lift the
regency's economy.

The regency government has always treated the homecoming
migrants from across Indonesia like long lost friends. Every
Lebaran, it puts up posters in the main streets to welcome home
the local economy's heroes.

"Welcome home my brothers and sisters," read posters put up in
strategic places from the western gateway on Patuk plateau down
to Wonosari, the main town. The government even calls the
travelers wisatawan lebaran, that is, Lebaran tourists who will
spend money in their native land.

The Gunungkidul regent annually holds a silaturahmi, or
informal get together, with representatives of the Jakarta-based
Association of Gunungkidul Families (IKG).

Moral obligation

A spokesman for the Gunungkidul regency government, Sudjatmo,
said in last week's silaturahmi with association representatives
that many of local migrants were successful and affluent.

Therefore, he said, they have a moral obligation to help
develop their homeland and to improve the living standards of
their relatives at home in Gunungkidul.

This year an estimated 50,000 Gunungkidul migrants returned
home for Lebaran. If each of them spent Rp 500,000, then they
brought home some Rp 25 billion. Additionally, those who were
unable to travel home sent their relatives some Rp 1 billion
through the post office and another Rp 5 billion through bank
transfers.

"We hope that the relatives will not spend the money on
consumptive goods but use it to start businesses," Sudjatmo said.

Sudjatmo proposed that IKG and the Yayasan Bhakti Gunungkidul
Foundation in cooperation with the regency government collect and
manage funds in order to lift Gunungkidul residents' living
standards.

IKG chief Benyamin Sudarmadi said Sudjatmo's idea was a
positive one, but he had yet to see how serious the regency
government was about setting up such a project.

He said it was his long-held wish to get the Gunungkidul
government to support the Bhakti Gunungkidul Foundation, but the
government has shown little concrete commitment.

According to Benyamin, his foundation has done a lot to help
Gunungkidul migrants across the country. Major projects have
included an entrepreneurship training program for 400 people, a
training program on how to make "Gunungkidul Javanese noodles"
and sending Gunungkidul businesspeople to study business
management courses in Japan.

The foundation has also sponsored the development of ginger
and high-grade melon plantations in Gunungkidul and the export of
these products to Japan. It has also established "Bakmi Jawa
Gunungkidul" outlets in major markets in Java and Sumatra,
provided credits for farmers in Tepus subdistrict and run a
recording venture for child singers from Gunungkidul.

"We have also held traditional food exhibits in Bahrain,
Jordan, Australia and Singapore with the aim of promoting
Gunungkidul and Indonesian cuisines to the international
community," Benyamin said.

The government, according to Benyamin, should also take
concrete actions to help the migrants achieve a brighter future.