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)