Violent Palu still lures new settlers

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu

A string of recent attacks in Palu, Central Sulawesi, has not deterred people from the densely populated island of Java from moving to the province to seek a better life.

More than 200 Javanese families -- about 600 people -- arrived this week in Palu to join a government-sponsored migration program that was initiated by the Soeharto regime in the 1970s.

Central Sulawesi transmigration office head Taufik R. Tiangso said on Tuesday the new migrants arrived on state-run Pelni ferries from East, Central and West Java, and Yogyakarta.

They will be resettled in sites in the regencies of Donggala, Tolitoli and Buol, he said.

"After arriving at Pantoloan Port, Palu, we took the settlers to a transmigration training and education center before taking them to the three locations," Taufik said.

Each of the resettled families received about two hectares of land for farming and plantations, and a 4x6 square-meter house.

The government would also provide them with free meals for a year while they were preparing their land for farming, Taufik said.

The migrants, which came from the Sampang and Pamekasan regencies on East Java's Madura island, and Jember, Bondowoso and Tuban, would be resettled in the Tolitoli and Buol regions, he said.

Meanwhile, villagers from the Tasikmalaya and Garut regencies, would be settled in the Lende and Sibado villages, in Sirenja, Donggala.

Ahmad Poniman, a 35-year old migrant from Jember, said he and his family joined the resettlement program in the hope of improving their standard of living.

Central Sulawesi has been designated as a migration center since the 1970s.

This week's arrivals were the first batches of migrants to Central Sulawesi since the program was suspended six years ago.

Many migrants of previous programs have bettered themselves in the province, with some becoming rich.

They no longer stayed in the small wooden houses given to them by the government, but instead lived in permanent homes and owned private cars.

Migrants from the resort island of Bali living in Tolai, Parigi Moutong, have prospered with their involvement in rice cultivation for the Central Sulawesi market. The region is also known as an important cacao producer.

This economic success coupled with what is seen as Java- centric favoritism by locals has fueled ethnic clashes in the past in several parts of the country.