No one asks you to come to Jakarta

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."