The city administration predicts a slight increase in newcomers entering the capital after the Idul Fitri holiday this year.

The head of the Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency, Edison Sianturi, said on Tuesday had that approximately 68,500 people migrated to Jakarta after the Idul Fitri holiday last year, and that the city expected that number to increase by 3 percent this year.

'€œIt shows that a lot of people still hope that this city can change their fortunes, but they have to understand that it will only be possible if they possess the required skills,'€ Edison told The Jakarta Post.

Based on the agency'€™s data, as many as 6,544,631 people left Jakarta to celebrate Idul Fitri with their families and the peak of the return traffic is expected to take place from Wednesday through to Sunday.

At Kampung Rambutan Terminal in East Jakarta, some of the passengers just off the buses were people looking for higher incomes in the capital.

One of them was Rasidi, a farmer from Cirebon, West Java. Carrying a brown box in his left hand and bag in his right hand, the 40-year-old said that he hoped to get a job as a taxi driver or a personal driver in Jakarta.

He said that since the birth of his third child last year, his family could no longer rely solely on their rice field for sustenance. According to him, his brother and wife would take care of the rice field while he looked for a job in the city.

'€œHowever, If I am unable to find a proper job here, I don'€™t have any problems in returning to Cirebon,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Adrian Fajar said that he was certain that his STM (vocational school) diploma would help him to find a job in Jakarta. He said that from what he had heard from friends and others, more jobs were available for fresh graduates in Jakarta that in his hometown of Indramayu, West Java.

Having just arrived in the city for the first time, he said that the first place he would go to would be his cousin'€™s rented house in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

'€œMy cousin works at the Tanjung Priok port, maybe he can get me a job there,'€ Adrian continued.

Edison said that the Jakarta city administration welcomed skilled workers but worried about unskilled ones.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama and his subordinates often accuse unskilled newcomers of only creating problems in the city, such as building makeshift houses in vacant lands.

'€œWe hope that people who come here will contribute to the city'€™s development, and that they won'€™t make it harder by living on riverbanks or making house around railways,'€ Ahok said, adding that his agency would also be ready to facilitate the issuance of Jakarta identity cards for anyone who had jobs and places to stay.

The city administration has conducted dozens of evictions throughout the city this year, such as the demolition of 114 illegal buildings nearby Ciliwung River and the eviction of street vendors in a number of areas.

The policies made under Ahok'€™s administration have repeatedly been criticized for being '€œanti-poor'€ by a number of NGOs. This accusation has been denied by the governor.

'€œThat'€™s why on the 14th day after Idul Fitri, we will visit every neighborhood unit (RT), to raise awareness in the newcomers that there are several rules that they must obey if they want to stay in Jakarta,'€ Edison said.