Outsiders begin to flood Jakarta

Outsiders begin to flood Jakarta

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Over the past four days, some 250,000 people have returned to
Jakarta through one of the city's three major bus stations of
Pulo Gadung and Kampung Rambutan, both in East Jakarta, and Lebak
Bulus in South Jakarta.

Some of them have brought along their unskilled friends and
relatives to find jobs.

Sutini, 46, who had just arrived from Kuningan, West Java,
told The Jakarta Post at the Pulo Gadung bus station on Friday
that she had brought along her three nieces, all junior high
school graduates, to work in Jakarta.

Sutini, who currently works as a laborer for a company
producing plastic items, located in Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta,
admitted that her nieces did not have any skills, and moreover,
they did not yet have the slightest idea of what to do in
Jakarta.

Yet, they were determined to work here as they believed there
would be jobs for them, while there were no job opportunities at
all in their hometown.

Another villager, Sutikno, 35, who had just got off an
intercity bus from Sumedang, West Java, at the Kampung Rambutan
station, admitted that he had brought along his sister in law to
work in Jakarta.

"She is unskilled and doesn't have a job yet, but she will
work here to get experience," he said hurriedly as he rushed to
get a city bus.

The city population agency estimated that 225,000 unskilled
newcomers would enter the city after Idul Fitri. It is 10 percent
less than last year's figure.