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s expected, the number of post-holiday newcomers wishing to make a better living in the capital increased this year.

According to the Jakarta Civil Registration Agency, the number of post-holiday arrivals has increased by 12.6 percent to 54,757 this year from 47,832 last year.

The number is higher than the 52,166 predicted by a recent study by the National Statistics Agency (BPS) and the University of Indonesia.

The agency recorded 51,895 newcomers in 2011, down by 12.4 percent from 59,215 the previous year.

Agency head Purba Hutapea said that the agency would conduct civil registration operations among the newcomers.

'€œWe will hold the operations regularly. Newcomers who stay in Jakarta for more than two weeks and wish to permanently stay should produce a change-of-residence letter,'€ Purba said in Jakarta on Tuesday, adding that the operations would begin in the middle of September.

The agency will work with leaders at the neighborhood unit and community unit levels. Purba, however, reiterated the city administration'€™s commitment not to conduct raids, codenamed '€œOperasi Yustisi'€, as in previous years.

Newcomers who fail to comply with civil registration regulations face up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to Rp 20 million (US$1,840).

'€œThose who have the required letters should report to neighborhood unit and community unit leaders two weeks after they have arrived at the very latest,'€ he said.

Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama has promised that the city administration would not send the newcomers home to their places of origin so long as they abided by the regulations and were responsible for their own well-being.

By July, the Jakarta Social Affairs Agency had netted more than 800 beggars, homeless people, prostitutes and others labeled by the government as those with community and social problems (PMKS).

The operations are part of the city'€™s effort to curb population growth in Jakarta, home to 9.7 million people at night and 12.7 million at daytime. '€œJakarta is already overpopulated,'€ Purba said.

University of Indonesia urban sociologist Otto Hernowo Hadi said that Jakarta was still attractive to outsiders due to its economic growth and development.

'€œMany people rely on its social networks for social protection and security and to get a job. Jakarta is a primary city that attracts thousands,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

'€œThis is also proof that the government decentralization program has not worked,'€ he added.