Nunukan: Town strained to the limit by returnees

Nunukan: Town strained to the limit by returnees

John Haba, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI),
Jakarta, habanet52@hotmail.com

As a newly established regency in 2000, Nunukan, formerly a
district of Bulungan regency in East Kalimantan, has increased
its role both as a transit point for people from other provinces,
and as a site for border crossing between Nunukan and Tawau to
purchase goods in the neighboring country.

Historically, people from other islands such as South
Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara -- mostly from Flores -- and Java
started entering this region after 1950 for various reasons.
Struggling for a better life could be a determinant variable
besides family reunions and other factors that have prompted
people to enter Nunukan in the last 10 years.

One hidden reason to enter into Tawau is to work in households
or on plantations, either legally or illegally. The current
ethnic composition and development programs in the city of
Nunukan suggests that migrants are being favored at the expense
of the local Tidung people.

With the waves of illegal workers arriving from Tawau and
Kinabalu since July 2002, Nunukan is facing mounting problems,
particularly potential conflict among the illegal workers and the
local Tidung.

Based on Law No. 47 1999, Nunukan was declared a new regency
on June 7, 2000. Encompassing 14,657.7 square kilometers, it
covers five districts -- Sebatik, Lumbis, Sebakung, Krayan and
Nunukan. Overall, there are 212 villages on Nunukan with a
variety of ethnic groups living together: the Tidung, Javanese,
migrants from South Sulawesi, the Dayak, the Banjar, Timorese and
the Melayu people.

In 1999, the former Nunukan district had a population of
81,472 with an average annual population growth of 2.89 percent
and a density of some 5.9 percent per square kilometers.

From 1998 to 2000 job seekers entering Nunukan comprised
54,294 people from South Sulawesi, followed by 15,107 from East
Nusa Tenggara and the rest from Java and other provinces.

At the end of the monarchy period of Bulongan (1770-1958) and
during Dutch colonial rule, the center of government was in
Tanjung Selor, which until now has abundant natural resources.

Nunukan's annual income reached Rp 402 billion in 1999 with
oil and gas alone contributing Rp 300.7 billion, apart from the
contribution of agriculture, trading and services.

Nowadays with regional autonomy the local authority is trying
to exploit more resources to gain regular revenue from sectors
such as forestry, while it still depends on the budget allocation
from Jakarta.

As a new regency, Nunukan is struggling to meet all demands
while it faces two major constraints: a scarcity of skilled
people to exploit its natural resources and limited financial
resources to undertake its various development plans.

Presumably, one way out of the present predicament would be to
allow the incoming people from other provinces to invest there;
as they are not always a burden for the Nunukan people, but
create jobs in trading, construction, transportation and
agricultural sectors. On the other side there is also potential
ethnic resentment on the part of the locals, as has been shown
toward Bugis migrants who control business activities, emerging
as new landlords and playing vital roles as traders at markets.

Being remote from Jakarta, there has been little attention
from either the central or provincial government. Local
bureaucrats in East Kalimantan's capital, Samarinda, argue that
the lack of transportation means to cover the long distance
between Samarinda and Kalimatan's interior must be a main
consideration in developing areas such as Nunukan. The legacy of
a "top-down" mode of development is also still felt from the
Soeharto era, with many feeling marginalized.

Clearly, without a good development strategy after the
introduction of regional autonomy, Nunukan will face many
domestic problems.

The thousands of illegal workers entering Nunukan since
Malaysia cracked down on undocumented migrants since July 2002
has led to the direct potential problem of having scores of
unemployed people in town, one obvious issue being that of how to
feed them.

It is the people of Nunukan who will also bear the brunt of
this tragedy if a way out is not found soon.

Dr. John Haba, who graduated from the University of Western
Australia in Perth, has recently conducted research on migrant
workers in East Kalimantan as part of a study for LIPI.