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.