The first family starts decadal national census

The first family starts decadal national census

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) initiated
on Thursday the decadal National Census, with President
Abdurrahman Wahid, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso as the first three respondents.

President Abdurrahman was the first to be censused at about
10:30 a.m., followed by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso at
12:30 p.m., and then vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri at
about 2 p.m.

The President was accompanied by his wife Sinta Nuriyah and
three of his four daughters at the presidential palace on Jl.
Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta.

"His oldest daughter, Alissa Qotrunnada Munawaroh is on her
umroh (minor haj pilgrimage) trip," field officer Dony Gunawan
told The Jakarta Post after the counting.

"I only asked the President basic questions like his name, his
birthday and birthplace and where he resided over the past five
years. For the first lady, I asked how many times she had given
birth," he added, while citing that the questionnaire also
included household facilities, such as the number of bedrooms and
bathrooms.

"The city administration also provided a supplement to the
questionnaire on the respondents' economic status. But we didn't
ask the economy-related questions to the President, we'll just
simply send the auxiliary questionnaire later to the President's
adjutant," he said.

Also present at the State Palace were Governor Sutiyoso, the
newly-appointed head of the BPS Sudarti Surbakti, head of the
bureau's Jakarta office Masni Rani, and Central Jakarta mayor
Andi Subur Abdullah.

After taking counts at the presidential palace, the officials
then queried Sutiyoso at his residence on Jl. Taman Suropati,
also in Central Jakarta.

The governor was accompanied by his wife Setyorini, daughters
Yessy Riana Dilliyanti and Renny Yosnita, and son-in-law Yogi
Sandi Nugraha. The family data was taken by BPS official Panca
Oktaviani.

"I expect all residents to cooperate with the officials by
giving correct answers. It's for the benefit of all of us," he
told reporters, while indicating that it was difficult to curb
the flow of urbanization to the capital.

"It will be difficult to halt urbanization as long as our
development program is concentrated in the capital. But as soon
as the regional autonomy is in effect, we can expect the
migration to reduce automatically," he added.

Separately, Sudarti said the decadal census was taken to
acquire the latest population database.

"We expect the Indonesian population to be about 208 million
people or some 52 million households. More than 350,000 field
officers will be deployed nationwide to take the count," she told
reporters at Sutiyoso's residence.

"The overall budget for the national census is some Rp 304.8
billion (US$ 35.8 million). We spent Rp 160.8 billion for
preparation activities, such as training and document printing.
For the field activities we have budgeted Rp 117.6 billion and
another Rp 26.4 billion for data analysis," she said, citing that
all people in the country would be counted.

She said the census would also count all foreigners and their
family members residing in Indonesia, except those belonging to
diplomatic missions.

"All internally displaced people and East Timorese refugees
will also be counted. Only simple questions will be asked to the
refugees," she said, while ruling out questions on their
preference of nationality.

Meanwhile, Masni said her office estimated the city's
population to be about 9.6 million people or some 2.3 million
households.

"We will also conduct a special session to take the counts of
beggars and homeless people on June 30. We will conduct the
census in the evening," she said.

Masni revealed that the city received a budget of some Rp 4.7
billion from the proposed Rp 6.4 billion.

"Most of the fund is slated for field operations. All field
officials will receive Rp 2,000 per family they count," she said.

Sutiyoso and the BPS officials then censused Megawati
Soekarnoputri at her official residence on Jl. Diponegoro, also
in Central Jakarta. The official in charge was Tono Hartono
Siagian. (nvn)