Transmigrants cut their losses

MERAUKE, Irian Jaya: Many transmigrants at Jagebob transmigration residential site have opted to sell their land and return to their hometowns because of the poor soil quality and the lack of public transportation.

"The number is quite big," Tukijan, one of the few transmigrants still at the site, told Antara on Wednesday.

He said transmigrants participating in the government- sponsored scheme had faced serious difficulties in planting crops due to the low soil quality.

When crops did grow, people were often unable to reach the market in Merauke due to the shortage of land transportation means, he added.

Earlier, the chairman of the Marind Tribe Communication Forum, Celcius Gebze, asked the provincial offices of the transmigration and forestry ministries to allow the group's members to occupy homes abandoned for years by transmigrants.

Gebze said many houses and plots of land in the specially designated transmigration residential areas, such as those at Bupul, Muting and Jagebob, were left vacant.

He assumed the owners had been unable to sell the land because most of their neighbors had also left.

Most transmigrants are from densely populated Java. Some have prospered in Kalimantan and Sumatra. (bsr)