Transmigration site fails

Transmigration site fails

RANTAU, South Kalimantan: Hundreds of families in Tapin regency,
South Kalimantan, have left the transmigration site they were
allotted and headed back home after trying for years to cultivate
the infertile land of Rawa Muning.

Rawa Muning is a marshland in South Kalimantan that was turned
into a transmigration site in 1994. Some 500 families from West
and Central Java, West Nusa Tenggara and Bali moved to Rawa
Muning under a government-backed transmigration program. Now,
only a few dozens remain.

Villagers said that the settlers had complained about the poor
irrigation system that made Rawa Muning unsuitable for farming.

Fifty-year-old Dabil from Pandahan village said the land
around Rawa Muning had once been quite fertile, until the land
was made into a transmigration site. He blamed the irrigation
system for causing the land's fertility to deteriorate.

Over the years, families that had transmigrated decided to
return home, selling their houses for Rp 200,000 (US$23) to Rp
300,000 to locals.

The transmigration program aims to distribute Indonesia's
population more evenly throughout the archipelago, relocating
families from overcrowded islands like Java to regions where the
population is low. -- Antara

;JP;bkm;
ANPAa..r..
Across-Mataram-deer-hunting
Deer poaching plagues Sumbawa
JP/5/

Deer poaching plagues Sumbawa

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: Illegal deer hunting on the West
Nusa Tenggara island of Sumbawa has become worse, with venison
now readily available at markets, said the provincial branch of
the World Wide Fund (WWF).

Nusa Tenggara WWF program manager Tri Agung Rooswiadji said on
Tuesday that the deer, a protected animal, had become a prime
target for poachers.

He did not say how the illegal hunting had affected the deer
population on Sumbawa, but warned they could face extinction.

"They (hunters) no longer use traditional weapons, but guns,"
said Tri Agung, adding that the hunt for deer had grown from a
hobby into a lucrative business for poachers.

Venison, he said, was easily found in markets in Sumbawa, and
visitors bought the meat as a souvenir.

Tri Agung also warned that protected birds on Sumbawa faced a
similar threat from hunters, who capture and sell them as pets.
-- Antara

;JP;bkm;
ANPAa..r..
Across-SSulawesi-airline
Tomy plans new airline for Kendari
JP/5/

Tomy plans new airline for Kendari

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: Controversial businessman Tomy
Winata plans to open a flight path to the Southeast Sulawesi
province, as he pushes ahead with his investment plans despite
protests from local journalists.

Tomy's Artha Graha Group (AGG) planned to launch Anoa Air
flying a Fokker F-50, said AGG consultant Mintarto Gunawan on
Tuesday.

He said the airline would serve the Jakarta-Kendari route. AGG
hoped to capitalize on a surge of tourists and businessmen coming
to the province.

"AGG may get only a 50 percent share of the revenue, while the
rest will be split between the administration of the province and
the regencies over which the airline will fly," Mintarto said
without disclosing AGG's investment in the airline.

Tomy's investment plans in Kendari stirred protests among
several local journalists who had criticized his alleged
involvement in the attack in March against reporters of Tempo
magazine in Jakarta.

His supporters reportedly attacked the magazine in response to
what they said was Tempo's biased news reports about Tomy. --
Antara

;JP;bkm;
ANPAa..r..
Across-Ejava-haven-trade
East Java haven for trade in women
JP/5/

East Java haven for trade in women

TULUNG AGUNG, East Java: Women and children living in the regency
of Tulung Agung along the southern coast of East Java face a
higher risk of falling prey to traffickers in the sex worker
trade, as most migrant workers in that area are women.

Although workers placement agencies abound in the regency,
many of them only seek to exploit women and children as overseas
sex workers, said Umu Hilmy, the secretary of the Law and Gender
Development Center at the University of Brawijaya.

"The government is still complacent in regards this problem,"
she said on Monday.

East Java immigration officials, she said, recorded that six
to 20 East Java sex workers were deported monthly and returned to
Indonesia.

Umu added that Indonesian women made up the biggest share of
sex workers in Japan. Quoting a survey by the United Nations
Ecosoc, she said that "out of 10,000 sex workers in Japan, 5,000
of them come from Indonesia." -- Antara