Resettlers face problems

Resettlers face problems

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Most transmigrants from within Irian
Jaya are less successful than the more skilled resettlers from
areas outside of Irian Jaya, an official says.

Antara quoted M.R. Rambu of the city administration as saying
yesterday that the Irianese resettlers had yet to reach a
standard of living equal to the newcomers'.

"It's too bad that the transmigration program here has yet to
create a better life for the resettlers and the locals," he said.

He also called on the transmigration authorities to help the
more skillful newcomers from Java, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara to
cooperate with the locals, who hold more land.

This year the government is to send more transmigrants than
ever before to sparsely populated Irian Jaya from overcrowded
Java, Bali and Madura.

Irian will take most of this years transmigrants, around 9,000
families, according to Minister of Transmigration Siswono
Yudohusodo earlier this month.

Last year his office moved 49,332 families, or 210,000 people,
to a number of areas in the archipelago.

Irian Jaya's 421,981 square kilometers are populated by only
two million people with a density of four people per square
kilometer. Java, in comparison, has 115 million people cramped
into an area of 132,186 square kilometers. The population density
is 870 per square kilometer. (swe)