Transmigration defies economic sense
Transmigration defies economic sense
JAKARTA (JP): The government's program to resettle millions of
people from overcrowded Java and Bali to lesser-populated islands
defies economic sense, says Minister of Transmigration Siswono
Judohusodo.
Siswono said in a scientific oration on Saturday, however,
that the government must push ahead with its transmigration
program.
Indonesia is caught in a vicious circle in trying to manage
its population distribution. On the one hand migration is
attracted by economic development, while on the other, a lack of
human resources impedes development, Siswono said at 17 Agustus
Universitas' anniversary ceremony.
People are driven to migrate from areas with a low degree of
economic development to a much higher one, he said. "The
transmigration program is contrary to the laws of migration which
are rooted in market forces."
About 60 percent of Indonesia's population of 190 million live
on Java, the most developed region whose natural resources are
also the most exploited in the country.
The dense population of Java also dictates that most economic
resources be spent there. For example, between 1967 to 1992, 62
percent of all domestic investments were spent on Java.
The economic prospects offered on Java have further encouraged
greater migration from other islands, Siswono said.
Trying to encourage people to move out of Java under the
transmigration problem becomes difficult because people are
reluctant to move to underdeveloped areas, he said.
The government has been embarking on a campaign to attract
investors to develop the largely underdeveloped eastern provinces
in an effort to redress not only the economic imbalances but also
the population imbalances.
Siswono said lack of human resources on the outer islands has
impeded the pace of development there.
"Areas which need to augment their population must offer
incentives to attract migrants," he said.
The severity of the unequal population distribution in
Indonesia is highlighted in places like Central Kalimantan, with
a population density of nine persons per square kilometer while
Java has 762 persons per square kilometer.
Jakarta has a density of over 13,000 persons per square
kilometer compared to Indonesia's largest province, Irian Jaya,
which only has four persons per square kilometer.
"Even to sleep people have to take turns," said Siswono,
pointing out the situation in places like the Tambora district,
West Jakarta, which has a staggering density of 45,000 people per
square kilometer.
Siswono said the mass influx of people into Java is also
causing a "brain drain" in other areas.
"People from outside of Java coming to Java are generally more
educated and motivated than those leaving Java," he said.
According to Siswono, up to "85 percent of transmigrants
leaving Java are elementary school drop outs."
He thus called for people to independently migrate outside of
Java since the government-sponsored migration can only facilitate
50,000 households, or roughly 200,000 people a year.
He particularly called on university graduates, such as those
at 17 Agustus Universitas, to take the initiative.
The university is one of the oldest private institutions in
the country, which now has 2,700 students and a teaching staff of
241 lecturers and teaching assistants.
In 1990, the university moved to a new five-hectare campus in
Sunter, North Jakarta, which houses seven undergraduate faculties
and a fledgling postgraduate law program. (mds)