No one asks you to come to Jakarta

Jakarta has long attracted people from all over Indonesia with promises of a better life. Many have made it, but many others had their dreams shattered by the harsh reality of life in a big city. The Jakarta Post's team -- IGGP Bayu Ismoyo, Ida Indawati Khouw, Johannes Simbolon, Lukman Natanegara, Primastuti Handayani, Sylvia Gratia M. Nirang, Sugianto Tandra and Yogita Tahil Ramani -- looks at the phenomenon of urbanization in Jakarta and the problems it causes for the administration in the following article and three related stories on Page 7.

JAKARTA (JP): Amir used to think that Jakarta's streets were paved with gold.

But the taxi driver who migrated from Tegal, Central Java, 18 years ago, knows only too well now that the capital is also a giant minefield capable of destroying many dreams.

Life in the big city, he says, is a real struggle.

He recalls defying his parents' wish for him to stay at school before coming to Jakarta.

"I had my heart set on coming here. I was lured after seeing people coming back to Tegal from Jakarta, carrying bags full of gifts. I just wanted to be like them."

Amir left Tegal to pursue his dream at the age of 18.

He started off hawking magazines and newspapers at Jakarta's bus terminals. Several years later, he graduated to driving buses and, after getting his driver's license, became a taxi driver.

Would he still encourage youngsters in his hometown to follow on his steps to try their luck in the big city? "Of course not. I'd tell them not to come, especially now, when things are so bad."

Chances are, however, that they, like the young naive Amir, would not pay any heed to the warning.

Urbanization has always been a constant headache for the Jakarta administration, so much so that successive governors have often talked about declaring the Indonesian capital closed to new migrants.

They never carried out the threat however because the idea sparked too much controversy. But it did not prevent the authorities from making it difficult for newcomers to settle.

Tactics

Their tactics have ranged from setting tough conditions to gain a Jakarta ID card, conducting ID checks, compelling people to have travel documents from the local authorities to simply sending them back to their villages.

At this time of the year, the first week after Idul Fitri, Jakarta always sees the largest influx of fresh rural migrants.

Officials expect 300,000 people, mostly from Java and Sumatra, will be joining the 2.8 million people returning from their home villages and towns after celebrating Idul Fitri.

Most of these migrants have few or no skills that the manufacturing or service industries in Jakarta could use profitably. The lucky ones will find employment in the informal sector, such as becoming domestic maids or laborers at construction sites. Some will end up as vagrants, beggars, or worse, criminals.

The endless influx of new unskilled migrants has been a constant worry for the Jakarta administration. The city neither has enough jobs for them, nor enough housing to shelter them.

Jakarta is already crowded with nine million people, plus six or seven million more living in the neighboring towns of Tangerang, Bogor, Bekasi and Depok but working in the city.

The last things the residents want are more joblessness, more homelessness, and more traffic congestion.

But Jakarta has been -- and in all likelihood will be for a long time to come -- a magnet for people in the regions.

Now more so than before, thanks to the El Nio phenomenon which has wrought havoc in the farming sector, the backbone of the rural economy.

But the economic crisis is hurting industries in Jakarta and with the prospect of millions being laid off in the near future, officials fear the influx of migrants will exacerbate the city's social problems.

Not that Jakarta is not grateful to the resourcefulness and skills of migrants. If there ever was a who's who of the most successful public figures who live in Jakarta -- in and outside the government -- the majority would likely be first generation migrants to the city.

Success stories

Tales of success stories bring more and more people to Jakarta. This is in addition to the overt centralization of the government and business and industrial activities.

Trade specialties are often developed by migrants along ethnic and provincial lines, or more specifically, based on the origin of the migrants.

Take Tegal, Amir's home town.

Jakarta's sideroads are now filled with warteg (warung Tegal), food stalls offering inexpensive food targeted at construction laborers or even office workers.

West Kalimantan's Chinese have developed a network of building materials businesses; many Bataks from North Sumatra have become bus drivers; and Flores people dominate the tow-truck business, to name a few of the hundreds of examples.

These small business migrants return to their hometowns every year, taking back success stories which they share with their relatives and friends in the villages.

One success story, often told in exaggeration, is an open invitation for other villagers to try their luck in the city.

But for every success story, there probably is one or more miserable stories of failure. Some returned, some stayed, hoping their luck would change some day.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has dropped his earlier tough stance against unskilled migrants, and on Friday even abandoned sending them home as planned in Operation Yustisia, amid criticism that the measures lacked legal support, were inhuman and ineffective.

Instead, the governor has started campaigns to discourage people from coming to Jakarta, pointing out the harsh reality of Jakarta life and warning that those who come do so at their own peril. "We won't stop people from coming in. They will face a natural selection in the city," he said.

The administration, he said, would not come to their aid. "It would be better if they don't come. If they insist, we cannot stop them, but they will have to face the difficulties alone."

After all, as the title of a popular Manado song about a migrant who fails to make it in Jakarta, suggests, "Sapa suruh Jakarta" or "No one asks you to come to Jakarta."