'Population issue not taken seriously'

'Population issue not taken seriously'

Statistics show that Jakarta is home to about 8.3 million
people, while migrants continue to arrive in the city in search
of work. The Jakarta Post asked some Jakartans how they felt to
be living in one of the world's most populous cities, in
observance of World Population Day that fell on Sunday.

Yustinus Heri, 29, is a journalist with a travel magazine in
Kedoya, West Jakarta. He rents a house in Cempaka Putih, Central
Jakarta:

I think the administration puts the population issue at the
bottom of its priority list. The officials do not take the matter
seriously. Last year, they evicted squatters without offering
them any alternatives.

The administration said that it had offered the evictees low-
cost apartments to live in. But, I doubt that idea worked, as
many of the apartments have been sold to the rich -- who later
leased the space to other people and profited from it.

I think the administration should start considering
overpopulation as one of the city's most urgent problems.
Otherwise, we will suffer unbearable consequences in the future.

Hartoto, 30, works for a private company in Kedoya, West
Jakarta. He rents a house near his office with his wife:

The administration should focus seriously on its policy to
provide low-cost apartments for the poor. That would give
squatters homes to settle in.

I observed, in Ancol (North Jakarta), for instance, many low-
cost apartments remain vacant, or that many of the tenants are
not poor. That would not happen if the administration strictly
monitored the scheme.

I think the main contributor to overpopulation in the city is
transmigration and not population growth, thanks to the success
of the family planning program.

--The Jakarta Post