Jakarta, Aug 10 (Antara) - To avoid worsening the crowding in the
nation's cities, government officials have urged Idul Fitri travelers
who return to their hometowns not to bring relatives or friends back to
the cities.
Idul Fitri or Lebaran is a seasonal holiday that often increases
problems in cities when homebound travelers return from their villages
with friends who are lured to the cities to try their luck finding
better paying jobs in urban areas.
The transport ministry has estimated that total travelers this year
might reach 18.1 million, an increase of 4.46 percent over last
year.
Further, the National Family Planning and Population
Board (BKKBN) earlier predicted that some one million migrants from
villages move to larger cities after the Idul Fitr holiday.
Last year, for example, former BKKBN head Sugiri Syarief predicted some
one million newcomers would migrate to cities after the Lebaran
festivity.
"This year's post-fasting urbanization is expected to be fueled by the
advent of around one million new migrants in cities," he said.
According to Wendy Hartanto, a deputy for population control from the
BKKBN, migration of people from villages to big cities is difficult to
prevent, because cities have a particular attraction for people who want
a new life.
However, 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 cities.
Wendy said on Monday that villagers, often without skills, decided to
take the plunge and migrate to big cities because they were encouraged
by travelers who brought home luxuries, such as mobile phones, jewelry
and cars.
Officials note that town dwellers generally migrate in an effort to
obtain jobs in big cities and improve their standard of living.
"Unluckily,
most newcomers do not have enough skills to support their efforts to
find jobs in big cities so their presence there adversely
creates population problems, such as disparities in income and social
unrest," Wendy said.
Therefore, government officials urged Idul Fitri travelers not to bring
family members, relatives, friends or others from villages to the
cities if they have no skills to assure they find good jobs.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, for example, called on
people in the regions not to come to Jakarta if they have no skills or
jobs.
"We call on people who have no jobs and skills not to come to Jakarta,"
Basuki said at City Hall here on Wednesday last week.
As the capital city, Jakarta has become the main target for villagers.
As a result, Jakarta has been facing urbanization problems, with a
booming population of about 9.2 million and an additional 2.7 million
workers, who commute to the city on a daily basis for work from
satellite towns such as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi.
Basuki, who is popularly called Ahok, said if people come to Jakarta
and have no jobs or skills, it is feared they would become a burden for
their relatives.
"If they come to Jakarta without jobs or skills, they will stay with
their relatives and this will create a burden for their relatives and
they will sooner or later be sent back to their villages. So it is
useless for them to come to Jakarta," Ahok stressed.
Therefore, Head of Jakarta's Population Service Purba Hutapea called on
Idul Fitri travelers to not bring relatives or friends when they return
to Jakarta.
"We are consistently calling on Idul Fitri revelers who celebrate the
Lebaran festivities in their hometowns not to bring friends or relatives
when they return to Jakarta, let alone if they have no skills," noted
Purba.
He said that his office had not yet predicted the number of newcomers
settling in Jakarta this year, because most of them do not report to his
office.
However, according to the International NGO Forum on Indonesia
Development (INFID), around 200,000 to 250,000 new migrants arrive in
Jakarta every year, which has created a population glut in the city.
About 30.5 percent of the new migrants choose to settle in east
Jakarta, while others prefer to live in housing enclaves scattered
throughout the city and suburbs.
Data from the Jakarta Population Services indicates that the number of
new migrants looking to move to Jakarta after the Idul Fitri festival
has reduced considerably to 51,875 in 2011, down from 59,215 in 2010.
Further, Indonesia has many cities with high urbanization levels, which
are expected to reach 68 percent of the nation's population by 2025.
However, urbanization levels are already very high in several provinces
in the country, such as Java and Bali, which rank among the highest,
compared with the rest of Indonesia.
Urbanization levels in
four provinces in Java, which include Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta and
Banten, are already above 80 percent.
The high urbanization in the country is attributed to economic
disparities between rural areas and cities. To solve urbanization
problems, the government should develop and advance rural economies so
that villagers would not migrate to big cities, according to experts.
Fachri Ali, social and political researcher at the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI), 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 earlier pointed
out.
West Java is a province in Indonesia that has tried to stem urbanization by developing rural areas.
"We should have a high commitment to developing villages. If villages
are developed well, God willing, villagers will not migrate to big
cities without good skills," West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said on
Thursday last week.
Of note, the regional government of West Java has a plan to develop
'urban areas' or small towns in rural or remote areas.
"The key to preventing urbanization is to carry out development in
rural areas. Therefore, we hope we can focus on the development of such
towns and villages," Ahmad Heryawan said.
He added that West Java has also been focusing on the development of
education and health sectors, and plans to develop villages, which will
become 'small town' or 'urban village' icons.
"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.***4***
(T.A014/INE/H-YH)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 10-08-2013 15:35 |
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