Squatters reject transmigration offer

Squatters reject transmigration offer

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta

Yosie, 50, who lives on the banks of Ciliwung River in Manggarai,
South Jakarta, has no hesitation in responding to an offer by
Governor Sutiyoso for riverbank squatters to take part in an
optional transmigration scheme.

"No. Sorry, I'm not interested," he said, never looking up
from the bamboo he was working on. "I don't believe that I will
get what they have promised."

Yosie, a father of two, said he has lived in the neighborhood
since he was born. "I belong here. We are used to coping with
repeated flooding if that is the reason behind the
administration's policy to send us away from here."

Sutiyoso made the offer last week, giving priority to
squatters on the banks of the 13 rivers that flow through the
capital who hold Jakarta ID cards. If they joined the program,
the squatters would be moved to sparsely populated areas outside
Java island.

"Illegal squatters who have Jakarta ID cards will be the first
to go since they are a major contributor to the narrowing and
shallowing of the rivers, making them prone to overflowing," the
governor said.

Numerous studies on the cause of the annual floods in the city
state that Jakarta is prone to flooding because 40 percent of the
capital lies beneath sea level. The situation is aggravated by
the loss of water catchment areas, many of which have been
converted to housing complexes and shopping malls.

Sutiyoso said he had received reports that many of the
squatters were enthusiastic to take part in the transmigration
scheme, under which each family would be given two hectares of
land in Sumatra, Kalimantan or Sulawesi.

The governor also promised that the scheme would not repeat
the mistakes of similar programs in the 1970s, when a huge number
of participants returned home after not receiving the help they
had been promised.

He invited the squatters to check out the locations where they
would be sent before making any decisions. "It is up to them
whether they are willing to join the scheme or not."

But Sardan, 45, who lives on the banks of Angke River in North
Jakarta, is skeptical his family would be better off if they
joined the transmigration program.

"I have no agricultural skills. I would not survive there
because I have never cultivated a field in my life," said Sardan,
who works at an industrial plant in North Jakarta.

The father of three, who originally comes from Purwokerto,
Central Java, has lived in a semipermanent home located 15 meters
from Angke River since 1986.

The head of the Jakarta Manpower and Transmigration Agency,
Ali Zubeir, said the agency was still studying the possibility of
other provincial administrations and the central government also
participating in the program.

"We hope we can share the financing burden. For instance, the
Jakarta administration could cover the transportation costs, the
provincial administrations at the destination locations could
provide housing, while the central government could cover the
living costs of the participants," he said.