Thousands of newcomers enter Jakarta

Thousands of newcomers enter Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): The City Population Agency reported that 329,468
newcomers have entered the city following the Idul Fitri
holidays.

They came with Jakartans returning from their hometowns.

The head of the agency, Soemarto, said recently the number of
post-Idul Fitri newcomers, an annual trend, was less than last
year.

"In 1996, there were 368,374 newcomers," he said.

This year, the agency recorded 3,059,576 people left Jakarta
between Feb. 2 and Feb. 8.

The agency said from Feb. 10 to Feb. 16, 3,389,044 people
returned to the capital.

The number of people leaving the city also decreased from last
year, Soemarto said.

Last year, the agency recorded 3,234,975 people left the city.
A week after Idul Fitri, the agency recorded that 3,603,349
people had arrived.

Soemarto said the agency would conduct operations from Feb. 26
to March 11 to curb the number of illegal newcomers.

Operations which would include checking servants' identity
cards would be targeted at rented houses or rooms likely to house
job seekers.

The agency had distributed questionnaires at bus terminals,
train stations and airports as Jakartans left, and when they
arrived back to Jakarta.

Questions asked whether Jakartans had brought relatives or
friends back with them.

From the 1,680 people who responded, 132 returnees said they
brought one or two relatives or friends with them.

Of the 132, 68 said they brought relatives seeking jobs, 38
said they brought people who wanted to become housemaids, and 26
said they brought relatives or friends intending to continue
their study.

The agency tried to assess the quality of newcomers through
questions on educational level.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has repeatedly lamented the fact
that unskilled newcomers could cause the city more problems. He
said they were likely to work as illegal vendors, for instance.

The answers revealed that the biggest group, 39.83 percent,
were senior high school graduates. But such graduates have cited
difficulty in finding jobs.

Junior high school graduates made up 21.67 percent, and 16.43
percent completed elementary school.

Meanwhile 16.42 percent were university graduates and the
remaining 5.65 percent did not finish elementary education.

Of the respondents, 67.74 percent had Jakarta identification
cards, and 16.96 percent were residents from other provinces who
had yet to report to local authorities.

Another 13.93 percent were temporary residents, (penduduk
musiman), and 0.78 percent did not have identification cards.

According to city rules people from outside Jakarta should
report to local authorities and apply for identification cards if
they plan to stay for over six months.

The observation found 34.7 percent were private employees,
11.73 percent civil servants and Armed Forces members.

Another 6.96 percent said they were housemaids, 11.97 percent
traders, 10.78 percent workers and 23.83 percent from other
professions.

Of the travelers, 28.70 said they were heading to Central
Java, 21.14 percent to West Java, and 15.18 percent to
Yogyakarta. The remaining 15.53 percent were returning to East
Java and 19.45 percent to areas outside Java. (ste)