Editorial: To Jakarta shall I return

The Jakarta Post   |  Sat, 10/04/2008 8:18 AM  |  Opinion

The Koes Plus band, who was imprisoned by former president Sukarno because of their western-oriented music, has a legendary song which is often sung by Jakarta migrants.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo is most likely familiar with this tune. It is a gentle reminder to the governor that regardless of how severe the authorities are in preventing migrants from trying their luck in the capital city, millions of Indonesians will continue to dream of and come to Jakarta because the city is too tempting to be ignored.

In the refrain of its song, “Kembali ke Jakarta” (Return to Jakarta), the group sang of the people’s dreams and their determination to stay in or return to Jakarta, Ke Jakarta aku kan kembali Walaupun apa yang kan terjadi (To Jakarta shall I return, no matter what happens).

Fauzi knows that Koes Plus, who was popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s, is right, but still he has to say “no” to the high rate of urbanization because the city administration has long been kept busy by the existing complicated problems.

Days before Lebaran, in trying to carry out its mission, the city administrators installed some 100 banners in bus terminals, railway stations and seaports warning seasonal travelers not to return with any relatives or friends.

It has also planned to carry out raids, locally known as operasi yustisi, in the same areas plus at rented houses days after Idul Fitri to scrutinize newcomers for the required documents.

“If the increasing trend of illegal newcomers (following Idul Fitri) continues to occur, Jakarta will no longer be able to accept them,” head of the city population and civil registration agency Franky Panjaitan was quoted by the press as saying recently.

The wariness of the authorities over the flow of people from all over the country is understandable because their arrival, particularly the unskilled ones, means additional social and environmental problems such as unemployment, crime, homelessness, sanitation and worsening annual floods.

The administration estimated that this year some 2.5 million Jakartans celebrated Idul Fitri in their hometowns and an additional 200,000 newcomers will flock to the capital. Jakarta’s nighttime population is about 9 million, but it’s about 12 million in the day because of commuters from neighboring cities who work in the capital.

Unfortunately, efforts so far to prevent the flow of migrant workers has not been successful. Besides having a place to live, the city also requires any newcomer to have a number of papers, including migrating documents from their hometowns and a letter promising a job.

Meanwhile, Governor Fauzi Bowo has lobbied a number of his counterparts in East and West Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara and Lampung to help control Jakarta’s urbanization.

But there is always a way for those who want to bet their life on the city such as by bribing officials to obtain Jakarta IDs or by moving from one place to another. And naturally, Jakarta is an open city and therefore, nobody can be denied from entering it.

Currently people with any social and educational background want to live in the city. Bitter experiences posed by a number of people who become homeless and live under bridges never deters their wish to live in the capital.

It seems that so far there is no good way to discourage people from coming to Jakarta. And we cannot expect that Fauzi or any other Jakarta governors to be will be able to solve this problem as long as Jakarta remains the city of hope for many people from across the country.

Fauzi will not be able to curb the high rate of urbanization because the root of the problem is still unresolved. The distribution of wealth, which is still heavily centered in the Jakarta, invites people to come to the capital.

Therefore, if we really want to solve this problem, we should not make Jakarta the only city of dream. In this case, we agree with former population and environment minister Emil Salim who said we should create more “candy” in many parts of the country so people will be happy to live in their hometowns.

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Former Jakarta Resident (not verified) — Sun, 10/05/2008 - 7:12pm

Mr. Emil Salim comment is very astute. He is indeed correct to say that we need to create more "candy" in many parts of the country to detract people from coming to Jakarta. "Candy" making in Indonesia is not a simple task. It needs Indonesian government heavy involvement. The government needs to create incentives to attract businesses to move or expand to smaller town such as Purwokerto. At the moment, no company will willingly open a new factory or headquarter in small town of Purwokerto, where there are no skilled labors and the infrastructure is poor. The company will have to pay more or give more incentives to import skilled labor from the nearest big city, therefore it will cost them more to start business in Purwokerto as opposed to Jakarta.
To attract businesses to the smaller cities, government should give tax breaks, free or cheap land and provide infrastructure such as accessible roads. Many roads in the smaller cities are narrow and sometimes in accessible by large vehicles. With the incentives, it will be hard for businesses to over look the possibility of moving or expanding into a smaller town.
The new businesses in town will also create Economic Base multiplier. A town's economic base drives local economic activity and land use through a multiplier process. Activities and services created by the new businesses in town bring money into the town which is then re-spent and re-circulated within the city. Once the new businesses are established they will attract other smaller businesses, such as malls or movie theaters, which in turn will create more jobs for the locals.
So, Mr Fauzi perhaps you could persuade central government to give businesses based in Jakarta a very good reason to expand or move from Jakarta. I am convinced that it will reduce the flow of migrants to Jakarta.

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