Urbanization has caused high crime rate: Governor

Urbanization has caused high crime rate: Governor

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has said that
urbanization is one of the main factors causing the city's
surging level of crime.

Speaking after a meeting with President Soeharto at Merdeka
Palace, the governor pointed to the tide of unskilled migrants
pouring into the city. He said that their lack of training forces
them to take jobs in the informal sector, such as pushcart
workers or as manual laborers in construction firms.

Since the informal sectors are already overpopulated, they
resort to crime to survive, Surjadi said.

Governor Surjadi was at the palace on Saturday to brief
President Soeharto on the up-coming Eleventh National Inter-City
Congress.

Apart from discussing about the congress and various urban
problems, Surjadi said Jakarta has a vested interest in urging
other cities in the country to help stem the tide of urban
migrants coming here.

According to him, a national effort to stem urbanization to
the capital can be done by making a law ensuring that Jakarta
belongs to everyone in the country.

The population and most notably urbanization have been central
themes in identifying the city's ills for over two decades.

"People from other provinces have misconceptions, thinking
that getting a job here is easy," the governor said. He added
that once these people arrive they find out that making a life
here is difficult but they are too ashamed to go home.

"So they force themselves to stay," he said.

Covering an area of 650 square kilometers, the city is now
home to a staggering 8.4 million people.

With the population boom, the level of crime in Jakarta has
also been steadily increasing, prompting a joint military -
police task force to begin "operation cleansing" to restore order
in the city's streets.

"That's why our concern is to halt the migration to Jakarta,"
Surjadi said.

Comparisons

Commenting on the often made comparisons between Jakarta and
neighboring Singapore, the governor played down the match saying
it was unfair to Jakarta.

"When people first see Singapore and Jakarta, they come to the
conclusion that Jakarta is very ugly," he said.

He commented that we shouldn't forget Singapore only has a
population of 2.75 million, 90 percent of whom live in flats,
leaving much of the land open.

"Jakarta has a population of 8.4 million with less than five
percent of those people living in flats...so much of the land
here is blanketed with housing," he said.

Meanwhile, during a plenary session of the City Council
yesterday, governor Surjadi said there was some success in
lowering the annual population growth in the two past decades,
from 3.93 percent in the 1970s to 2.41 percent in the 1980s.

However he cautioned that of the latest number about 1.03
percent are the result of urbanization.

"This situation requires us to improve a variety of
infrastructures in transportation, education, health and
housing," Surjadi explained.(mds)