Siberut Island likely to have settlement areas

Siberut Island likely to have settlement areas

JAKARTA (JP): The government said yesterday it is planning to
resume its program to open up new settlement areas on Siberut
Island off West Sumatra, in an effort to bring the largely
backward island into the modern civilization fold.

The project was shelved in the 1980s because of strong
objections from environmental groups who were concerned about the
impact that the presence of settlers might have on the islanders.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo told reporters
after meeting with President Soeharto that recent studies found
that these concerns were unfounded and that keeping the island
isolated meant keeping them in a state of backwardness.

"Siberut Island is even more backward than most areas in
eastern Indonesia, with inhabitants still living very much in a
by gone era. Obviously, we cannot leave them in that state," he
said.

The President, while agreeing to revive the plan to send
settlers to Siberut, one of the Mentawai Islands in the Indian
Ocean, underlined the need to pay heed to the environmental
aspects of the program, he added.

The government's transmigration program is aimed at a more
even distribution of Indonesia's 195 million population, two
thirds of whom now live on Java and Bali.

Siswono said he was hopeful that the government would come
close to its target of resettling 77,000 families in its
transmigration program in the 1995/96 fiscal year, which ends on
March 31.

So far, nearly 53,000 families have been resettled, and the
government hopes to be able to resettle another 23,000 in the
next month and a half, he said.

For the 1996/97 fiscal year, the government has set a target
of 91,000 families, comprising 55,000 families who would be fully
sponsored by the government, and 36,000 "self-sponsored" families
who will receive limited government assistance.

Irian Jaya, Indonesia's easternmost and least populated
province, will receive the bulk of them, with around 8,000
families.

The government's optimism was supported by the growing trend
that more and more people are motivated to join the
transmigration program without waiting for government hand outs.

Siswono said many of these "self-sponsored" transmigrants were
relatives and friends of earlier settlers. There were also the
offspring of earlier settlers who have grown up and decided to
move to new settlement areas.

Siswono's statement contrasts with many earlier media reports
suggesting that many settlers had given up hope altogether, sold
their land and returned to home villages in Java.

Self-sponsored transmigrants still receive two hectares of
land from the government, but they have to cover other costs,
such as clearing the land and building houses, by themselves.

This year's settlers include a sizable number of poor people,
landless farmers and forest squatters, the minister said.

Siswono also disclosed a program to encourage settlers to
diversify into horticulture crops, besides planting traditional
food crops like rice.

For this program, the ministry has set aside Rp 12 billion
($5.2 million) to provide the high yielding seeds of various
crops such as ground nuts, and various fruit and vegetables.

He said that with such seeds, there is no reason for Indonesia
to resort to importing fruit which is now flooding markets in
major cities.

He added that the ultimate goal of this program is for these
settlement areas to export their produce.

The program will be introduced at selected transmigration
sites to avoid disrupting food production and therefore farmers'
incomes. "Only transmigration areas that are well established and
prosperous will be selected," he said. (emb)