Jakarta, Aug 22 (ANTARA) - The government should direct all its resources and developmental efforts towards rural areas in order to create better employment opportunities for local residents, which will help improve their quality of life and also prevent large-scale migration to urban centers.
An imbalance in development and unequal distribution of resources has resulted in the concentration of wealth in metropolises and made urban dwellers prosperous, which is also a reason why people living in rural areas want to migrate to these cities, but the recent increase in migration has also produced social disparities and unrest.
High urbanization levels can also boost crime rates in metropolises, sociologist Musni Umar of the National University said on Wednesday.
"The crime rate might increase because of migrants, who will do anything to survive in a city like Jakarta. To do that, they can commit crimes such as pick pocketing and robbing," he said. Villagers mostly migrate to bigger cities following the post-fasting month of Ramadhan and the Id-ul Fitr festival, when holiday makers return to their workplaces in the city.
Jakarta is one of the most attractive destinations for migrants hailing from regional provinces across Indonesia.
The National Family Planning and Population Board (BKKBN) estimates that around one million migrants from villages are expected to move to bigger cities after this year's Idul Fitr holidays.
"This year's post-fasting urbanization is expected to be fueled by the advent of around one million new migrants in cities," BKKBN head Sugiri Syarief said last week. Major cities and especially Jakarta will remain the most favored destination for new comers.
"People living outside Java consider Jakarta the best city they can go to when seeking jobs," the BKKBN head said, adding that this has compounded the city's problems including intensifying its population density.
Sociologist Umar pointed out that new migrants coming to Jakarta should possess work skills and a good education, or they will be rendered jobless and create social unrest.
"Most of the new migrants coming to Jakarta lack skills and a good education," Umar asserted.
However, this stiff competition for jobs benefits employers, who can easily fire disobedient workers who demand a reasonable pay.
"Employers can easily sack their workers and replace them with new ones," he said.
As Jakarta remains an attractive destination for migrants hailing from rural areas, who are looking to improve the quality of their life, the city's population is expected to rise considerably with the advent of new migrants.
This will also lead to an increase in the poor people living in the city.
BKKBN's Syarief said there are already too many poor people in big cities because of urbanization, and that such conditions can create social unrest, especially if most of the new migrants in the city are job-seekers who have no work skills.
He also stated that the urbanization which has taken place in the past has been largely unregulated and dominated by job-seekers lacking work skills, which has created an additional burden for the government. Thus, the administration of these cities should at least provide work training centers for new migrants.
In the meantime, regional governments can stall the flow of urbanization by stepping up their endeavors to boost economic growth through the creation of new work opportunities and by providing incentives to local residents for not migrating.
Regional governments should be able to carry out enough developmental work in the region and create sufficient jobs for local residents, so that they choose to stay there and not seek welfare improvement in major cities.
Social and political researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Fachri Ali asserted that villages in Indonesia must be industrialized in order to stop the flow of migrants to metropolises, particularly to the capital city of Jakarta.
"Uncontrolled urbanization is taking place in Jakarta mainly due to the lack of development in villages," he said.
"Industrialization is needed in villages, which will also direct the flow of money into these places. Right now, there is no money in villages and it is very difficult to even earn Rp100,000," Ali pointed out.
He explained that if villages are industrialized and developed, locals will be unwilling to flock to cities like Jakarta in search of jobs.
Jakarta needs to cooperate with the regional governments in provinces such as West Java, Central Java and Banten to boost economic growth and reduce its urbanization rates, sociologist Umar said.
"Efforts must be made to spread prospective investment opportunities in regional provinces and not only in Jakarta, so that the benefits of economic growth are distributed equitably," he noted.
He added that with investors doing business in rural areas, more work opportunities will be created regionally and lead to uniform economic growth throughout the country, which will also help in reducing urbanization and in evenly distributing the country¿s population.
Umar also stated that governments need to play an active role in ensuring uniform economic growth and an even distribution of population, as this will prevent big cities like Jakarta from being burdened with providing work opportunities to an every growing migrant labor force.
The benefits of economic growth must be equitably dispensed between cities and villages, and should not be concentrated in big cities like Jakarta, he noted.
He also said that villages have become backward as money and other resources circulated by big cities to villages are again ploughed back into the booming economies of big cities.
Umar pointed out that launching the `Yustisi Operation¿ to overcome high urbanization rates will not prove effective.
He added that a vital change is required in the government¿s thought process, whereby it should encourage economic centers being based not only in big cities, but also in the regional areas and villages.
"At present, people go to Jakarta because it is easier to make money there. Urbanization in Jakarta cannot be controlled by the Jakarta administration but by the national government," Ali said.
"People should not be blamed for going to Jakarta because they have to make money for a living and also pay for their children's schooling, among other things," he pointed out.
In the meantime, the West Java province is now setting up economic development centers, which it has dubbed as `small towns or urban villages' that will prevent local residents from moving to the city.
"The key to preventing urbanization is to carry out development in rural areas. Therefore, we hope we can focus this year on the development of such towns in villages," West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said on Sunday.
He added that West Java has also been focusing on the development of the education and health sectors since last year, and plans to develop villages, which will become `small town or urban village¿ icons next year.
"We have to continue developing villages for our people, so that they also experience advancement and become reluctant to leave their villages. We hope that with this development, they can simply move to a small town if they want to," Heryawan said. ***2***
(T.A014/A/INE/B003/KR-BSR/B003) 22-08-2012 20:36:1 |
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