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.