Transmigrants seek jobs

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Tens of transmigrant families at the Sidera resettlement sites have been forced to seek jobs 10 kilometers away in Palu because their allotted land is not yet productive, Antara reported Monday.

The resettlers from Central Java and East Nusa Tenggara said they had to survive as their land had not produced anything while their food supplies dwindled and the government refused to restock them.

The families at the Sidera resettlement sites in the Sigi Biromaru district, Donggala regency, have been forced to work in Palu on rice fields or for housing projects.

Resettlers Agustinus, 30, Nicolas, 30 and Samsiar, a mother of four children, said they were paid Rp 5,000 a day in Palu.

The families have been resettling at the sites since January 1996. In return they received 15 kilograms of rice and Rp 50,400.

Their land was expected to be productive within a year, but it has lacked irrigation since two pumps broke down.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo, who recently campaigned at the Central Sulawesi site, did not know about the irrigation problems, Antara reported. (sur)