Solution for poor Irianese

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: The provincial administration is calling on poor people in Irian Jaya to resettle as a way of improving their economic condition.

Budi Sinulingga, the head of the Irian Jaya Transmigration Office told Antara that the administration was allocating more places for local people, rather than people from other islands, to take part in the resettlement program within the province.

Some 450,000 people in 1,738 villages in Irian Jaya are believed to be living below the poverty line.

Irianese account for only 17,616 of the 295,361 people who have been resettled under the government's transmigration program in Irian Jaya. (01)