Transmigrants want to go home

Transmigrants want to go home

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: As many as 47 transmigrant families at
the Bonggo resettlement unit VIII marched to the provincial
legislative council to demand that the government send them home
or resettle them in a more appropriate area.

The head of Commission F of the legislature, Hulda Wanggober
Imbiri, who received the transmigrants, admitted that the area
where the families were resettled was inadequate.

The resettlement unit VIII in Bonggo is situated some 200
kilometers southeast of here.

Public transportation was not available from Jayapura to
Bonggo.

"We could not sell our crops," Anton Leo, one of the
transmigrants said.

He said residents had to spend Rp 25,000 in motorcycle taxi
(ojek) fares each to reach the closest resettlement area.

"The resettlement site was also lacking medication. Once a man
suffering from malaria was given a contraceptive pill."

Around 100 families, mostly from Java, were resettled in the
area in 1998.

Spokesmen for the disgruntled transmigrants, Paulus Lake and
Anton Leo said that drainage and irrigation systems were not made
available at the location.

Hulda confirmed that the stagnant water had caused various
illnesses for the resettlers. (eba)