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Displaced people big spenders in Puncak
Being thousands kilometers away from their strife-torn countries, refugees in Puncak, Bogor regency, West Java, have no other option but to depend on local residents for their new livelihoods
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eing thousands kilometers away from their strife-torn countries, refugees in Puncak, Bogor regency, West Java, have no other option but to depend on local residents for their new livelihoods.
Refugees’ basic needs, including food, clothes, housing and telecommunications have become big business for locals like Ujang Tawado, 44, who has made a relative fortune renting houses to refugees.
“They usually contact me looking for a place,” said the resident of Tugu Selatan subdistrict.
The father of three said the rental fees varied depending on the size of the house and facilities.
“I can rent a house with two bed rooms for Rp 1 million [US$110] for 10 days,” Ujang said.
Many residents in Tugu Utara and Tugu Selatan subdistricts have followed suit.
The Jakarta Post found the refugees have mostly moved into houses in a village called Ciburial, in Tugu Utara subdistrict.
The refugees have come to Indonesia temporarily before finding a country that will accept them as asylum seekers.
These refugees have chosen Indonesia due to its proximity to Australia, a country that grants asylum.
They will be here as long as it takes for the UNHCR in Jakarta to process their documents.
They reside in temporary shelters or houses in remote areas in Puncak, Bogor, due to the lengthy procedures that may even take 20 years.
There is no specific data on the number of refugees in Bogor, but the latest figures from UNHCR shows that, as of January 2010, 2,567 refugees reside in Indonesia, 1,769 of whom have claims currently being processed.
In the first half of last year, the number of asylum seekers registered in the country by the UNHCR was 2,364.
Alif, 25, the owner of a small grocery store in Ciburial, said the refugees were among his big clients as they usually bought the most expensive mobile phone cards.
“As opposed to locals, these people spend a lot on phone cards, because they need to call their families back home. They can spend Rp 100,000 a day on calls,” said Alif.
Sociologist Ganda Upaya from the University of Indonesia views this as a process of social acceptance by the locals to visitors as a result of their economic relationship.
He, however, warned of potential conflicts stemming from economic issues.
“We must remember that these refugees are jobless, while the employment opportunities are limited in those areas, which in itself can spark conflict,” he said.
Refugee Ahmad, not his real name, is one example of Ganda’s statement. Ahmad gets by day on money sent by his brother in Afghanistan.
Despite having a letter from the UNHCR confirming his asylum seeker status, Ahmad said he did not get money from the UN body.
