Stemming urbanization

Stemming urbanization

As expected, an influx of newcomers arrived in Jakarta together with returning Idul Fitri holidaymakers. The newcomers were brought here by relatives who work in Jakarta. It's been estimated that at least 200,000 newcomers have come to settle in this city. The fear, therefore, that Jakarta's population will reach 16 million by the year 2000 appears justified.

Given those facts, it seems that it is practically impossible to stem the tide of people coming to live in Jakarta. Besides, trying to improve one's lot is every person's basic right. What the Jakarta administration could do is enforce the existing regulations in such a way as to ensure an orderly environment in which every person has a fair chance of improving his or her living conditions.

Even so, it must be realized that we cannot allow such conditions to go on forever. It would impose too heavy a burden on the Jakarta administration. This city's problems would become even more complicated due to the swell in population. It must be noted that among the thousands of newcomers there will be many who will not succeed in raising their living standards. Those people are likely to become beggars or drifters inhabiting the city's slums. And slums not only spoil the appearance of the city, they are prone to becoming hotbeds of social ills such as crime, health and environmental problems.

To minimize the magnitude of this tide of newcomers, emphasis must perhaps once more be given to the idea of bringing the city to villages in the sense that more jobs must be made available in rural areas. A city-like village is not crowded with concrete buildings, but is a village in which life and living standards are comparable to that in the city.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta