Transmigrant from Sukoharjo Builds New Life in East Kalimantan since 1985
KUTAI KARTANEGARA — Sugianto (64), a resident originally from Sukoharjo, Central Java, still remembers the time when he departed to participate in the transmigration programme to East Kalimantan.
Together with other residents, he was placed in the Bunga Putih Village transmigration settlement in Marangkayu District, Kutai Kartanegara Regency, on 28 February 1985. At that time, he arrived alongside other heads of household participating in the same programme. According to Sugianto, approximately 155 households were initially settled in the area.
“We came from Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java, and were first placed here,” said Sugianto on Saturday (23 May 2026).
During decades of living in the area, Sugianto and other residents developed the land they obtained through the transmigration programme, particularly rubber plantations which have become their primary source of livelihood to this day.
Sugianto stated that each household participating in the transmigration programme at that time received a house and land totalling approximately 3 hectares.
However, according to him, soil conditions in the location were not entirely suitable for food crops. Consequently, many residents chose to plant rubber on their land.
Sugianto explained that the plasma plantations were initially managed by PTP (now PTPN) under a credit system. Residents made payments through rubber production proceeds.
“At that time, with every production, with every rubber weighing, 30 per cent of the yield went towards paying off the credit to PTP,” he said.
He acknowledged that he had cleared his debt, and the Certificate of Land Ownership (SHM) for his land had been issued.
“Thank goodness I was able to pay it off, so the certificate was issued,” he said.
Currently, according to Sugianto, rubber plantation yields serve as the primary income source for residents in the Bunga Putih transmigration area.
This situation, according to him, has resulted in increased farmer incomes.