Jakarta, Aug 16 (Antara) - The government is being called upon to
prevent the annual influx of villagers who migrate to cities, and often
cause problems in urban areas, following the post-fasting Idul Fitri
festivities.
As in the past, many Idul Fitri or Lebaran
celebrants who return to their hometowns for family reunions and
festivities later bring family members, relatives or friends to the
cities when they return to work.
Indeed, during this week's post-fasting holidays, about one million
newcomers are expected to migrate to big cities throughout the
country. This estimate, based upon past statistics, was made by
Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar.
"This is a phenomenon where people from villages migrate to cities
after Idul Fitri or Lebaran holidays. They come to cities to seek jobs,"
explained the minister on Monday. Most people migrating to cities do
not have proper skills and find it extremely difficult to obtain jobs,
authorities noted.
As a result, problems such as unemployment and crime in the cities increase.
To avoid this, Ace Hasan Syadzily, a member of the House of
Representatives' Commission VIII on social affairs, urged the government
to take steps to stem this annual migration to the cities.
"The government should explain to the people in the region the
conditions in cities. If there is no work opportunities available, they
should not come to the cities," Ace Hasan said. According to Ace Hasan,
the government needs to prevent migrants from becoming social burdens
when they arrive in cities, with some even becoming criminals.
Officials noted that efforts to explain the difficulties in finding
work in cities should be made by the regional and central governments,
as well as by government agencies in rural areas.
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono also said
regional governments should help stem the flow of urbanization.
"Actually, villagers will not move to the city if the economies in
their villages are improving and life there becomes more convenient,"
the minister said.
Therefore, regional governments must create 'cakes' in villages so that
money can be earned not only in big cities like Jakarta, but also in
the regions.
Besides, urbanization could also be prevented through polices such as
imposing a ban on extending identity cards to newcomers, the
coordinating minister said. "We have to admit that the benefits of
development cannot yet be equitably distributed," he said.
Ace Hasan urged the central and regional governments to reactivate
economic programs, which could improve business and increase incomes of
people in the regions. He pointed to such programs as the Joint Business
Groups (KUBE), Smallholder's Credit Scheme (KUR), food credit and other
socioeconomic programs.
Urbanization is actually a reasonable socioeconomic phenomenon in a
region where economic benefits are not evenly distributed. "We have to
admit the disparities of economic conditions in the village and cities.
This is not only a gap between the rich and the poor, but also a
development gap between cities and villages," he said.
And this is one of the reasons it is difficult to prevent people from
migrating to cities like Jakarta and its satellite towns, as they seek
to improve their lives.
Thus, according to Max Hasudungan Pohan, deputy minister for regional
development of the Ministry of National Development Planning, Jakarta's
buffer towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Bodetabek) are
favorite destinations for newcomers throughout the country.
"Actually, the number of newcomers to Jakarta has been going down, but
many newcomers now come to the Bodetak regions," Max said.
He noted that the key to preventing urbanization is to increase the attractiveness of the regions.
"We have repeatedly explained that urbanization must be overcome with
acceleration of regional development. Regions should be developed and be
made attractive," Max said during a post-fasting gathering on Thursday.
He added that efforts to stem urbanization must be made both by
regional and city governments. Regional governments must create
incentives for their regions and city governments must focus on shaping
the city's conditions.
"However, regional governments should not think it is a mistake if
urbanization cannot be stopped, even if investments in the region has
increased. In this case, they should create incentives," Max said.
He said that incentives could be in the form of faster services,
improved infrastructure such as electricity and technology, which are
needed incentives to attract investors. "These matters could generate
development in the regions so that local residents need not migrate to
cities," he added.
Besides that, according to Finance Minister Chatib Basri, the
agricultural sector in the regions must also be modernized.
"Agricultural technology must be modernized to increase production. If
production increases, wages will also increase and this will prevent
villagers from seeking to move to cities," the finance minister said.
He noted that the value of daily laborers at present were still higher
than those of farmers, while production in the industrial sector was
still greater than agricultural production. "This is one of the factors
that caused urbanization," Chatib said.
Therefore, the government has come up with a number of ways to decrease unemployment and reduce poverty in the regions.
"Regional autonomy can help reduce the problems of urbanization.
Through regional autonomy, centers of growth can be developed.
Additionally, rural areas can be further developed to keep villagers in
their hometowns," explained the minister.
The ministry of manpower and transmigration is also working closely
with regional and local governments to enhance their manpower plans to
absorb workers in organizations and fight unemployment in small cities.
According to the minister, local governments should actively seek
solutions to attract investments and create job opportunities.
"The
government is keen to develop the country's infrastructure through
labour-intensive projects. Therefore, projects should be planned
wisely," he said.***4***
(T.A014/INE/B003) |
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