Transmigration program
The transmigration program (
The stated purpose of this program was to reduce the considerable
History
Under the Dutch
The policy was first initiated by the Dutch colonial government in the early nineteenth century to reduce crowding and to provide a workforce for plantations on Sumatra. The program diminished during the last years of the Dutch era (the early 1940s) but was revived following Indonesian independence, in an attempt to alleviate the food shortages and weak economic performance during Sukarno's presidency in the two decades following World War II.
In the peak year of 1929, in the Sumatra's east coast, more than 260,000 contract workers were brought, 235,000 of them from Java. Workers entered into a contract several years long as coolie; if a worker asked for the early termination of the contract in the company ('desertion'), he could be punished with
Post-independence
After independence in 1949, under
In August 2000, after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the fall of the New Order, the Indonesian government again reduced the scale of the transmigration program due to a lack of funds.
Under the restructured Department of Manpower and Transmigration (Indonesian: Departemen Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi) the Indonesian government maintains the transmigration program, although on a far smaller scale than in previous decades. The department assists in annually relocating approximately 15,000 families, or nearly 60,000 people. The rate has shown gradual increases in recent years with funding for transmigration activities at $270 million (2.3 trillion IDR) and a target of relocating 20,500 families in 2006.[5] The program again intensified in 2019.[6]
Aims
The stated purpose of the program, according to proponents in the Indonesian government and the development community, was to move millions of Indonesians from the densely populated inner islands of Java, Bali and Madura to the outer, less densely populated islands to achieve a more balanced population density. This would alleviate poverty by providing land and new opportunities to generate income for poor landless settlers. It would also benefit the nation as a whole by increasing the utilization of the natural resources of the less-populous islands. The program may have been intended to encourage the unification of the country through the creation of a single Indonesian national identity to augment or replace regional identities. The official position of the Indonesian government is that there is no separation of "indigenous people" and settlers in Indonesia, because Indonesia is a country "of indigenous people, run and governed by and for indigenous people". It argues instead for the use of "vulnerable population groups" which can include both tribal groups and the urban poor.[7]
Effects
Economic
In many examples, the program failed in its objective to improve the situation of the migrants. The soil and climate of their new locations were generally not nearly as productive as the volcanic soil of the Java and Bali. The settlers were often landless people lacking in farming skills, let alone skills appropriate to the new land, thus compromising their own chances of success.[8]
Environmental
Transmigration has also been blamed for accelerating the
Social and political
The program has resulted in communal clashes between ethnic groups that have come into contact through transmigration. For example, in 1999, the local Dayaks and Malays clashed against the transmigrant Madurese during the
Figures
Transmigration from Java and Madura have resulted in large numbers of the population elsewhere, particularly in
Transmigrants are not exclusively ethnic Javanese and/or Muslims. For example, in 1994, when East Timor was still part of Indonesia, the largest transmigrant group was Hindu Balinese (1,634 people) followed by Catholic Javanese (1,212 people).[10]
Criticism
Indigenous peoples saw the program as a part of an effort by the Java-based Indonesian government to extend greater economic and political control over other regions, by moving in people with closer ties to Java and loyalty to the Indonesian state.[citation needed] The government agencies responsible for administering transmigration were often accused of being insensitive to local customary or adat land rights. This was especially true on Borneo with the Dayak population. In addition to general public criticism, the potential marginalization of native and Indigenous members of the host communities has also been highlighted in research surveying long-term effects of transmigration programs across a number of impacted communities.[11]
The environmental damage associated with these projects was caused less by ignorance than by inattention, poor follow-up, and lack of accountability during project implementation. Many environmental issues were identified at project appraisal: the potential for soil erosion, the possibility of declining soil fertility, need for protection against pests and disease, possible adverse effects on wildlife and deforestation, impact on indigenous people, and the need to strengthen the borrower's capacity for managing natural resources. But often, the audits found, the proposed mitigatory measures were unrealistic or were insufficiently monitored by the government.[12]
Papua
In the provinces of Papua and West Papua, the program has resulted in the
The recorded population growth rates in Papua are exceptionally high due to migration.
Detractors[who?] of the program argue that considerable resources have been wasted in settling people who have not been able to move beyond subsistence level, with extensive damage to the environment and deracination of tribal people. However, very large scale American and Anglo-Australian strip mining contracts have been developed on the island, as well as other Indonesian islands.
The transmigration program in Papua was only formally halted by President Joko Widodo in June 2015.[17]
See also
- Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration
- Internal colonialism
- Nam tiến
- Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation schemes
- Settler colonialism
- Demographics of Indonesia
- Demographic threat
- Project IC, in neighbouring Malaysia
References
General
- Hardjono, J. 1989. The Indonesian transmigration program in historical perspective. International migration 26:427-439.
- Hollie, Pamela. 1981. Jakarta fights overcrowding Bali and Java. The New York Times January 11.
- Rigg, Jonathan. 1991. Land settlement in Southeast Asia: the Indonesian transmigration program. In: Southeast Asia: a region in transition. London: Unwin Hyman. 80-108.
- MacAndrews, Colin. 1978. Transmigration in Indonesia: prospects and problems. Asian Survey 18(5):458-472.
Notes
- ^ "Govt builds transmigration museum in Lampung | the Jakarta Post". www.thejakartapost.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ a b Anata, Aris (2003). The Indonesian Crisis: A Human Development Perspective. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 229–230.
- ^ Magdalena, Federico V. "Islam and the Politics of Identity". University of Hawai'i at Manoā. Center for Philippine Studies. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
- ^ Goldman, Michael (2006). Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization. Yale University Press. p. 299.
- ^ Almubarok I, Zaky (16 May 2006). "Ditargetkan Transmigrasi 20.500 Keluarga (Target of 25,000 Families set for Transmigration)". Berita Ketransmigration (Transmigration News) (in Indonesian). Departeman Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi (Department of Manpower and Transmigration). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
- ^ The Jakarta Post. "Indonesia's transmigration program moves more people outside Java, but they remain poor". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 19 May 2020..
- Psychology Press. pp. 121–122.
- ^ Max Sijabat, Ridwan (23 March 2007). "Unemployment still blighting the Indonesian landscape". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 1 May 2007.
- ^ Farhadian, Charles E. (2005). Christianity, Islam, and Nationalism in Indonesia. Taylor & Francis. p. 63.
- ISBN 9789797990831
- .
- ^ "Transmigration in Indonesia".
- ^ Saltford, J; The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969, Routledge Curzon, p.3, p.150
- ^ Transmigration in Indonesia: Lessons from Its Environmental and Social Impacts, Philip M Fearnside, Department of Ecology, National Institute for Research in the Amazon, 1997, Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Accessed online 17 November 2014
- ^ "Department of Peace and Conflict Studies" (PDF).
- ^ They're taking our children: West Papua's youth are being removed to Islamic religious schools in Java for "re-education", Michael Bachelard, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 2013, accessed 17 November 2014
- ^ Asril, Sabrina (2015). "Jokowi Hentikan Transmigrasi ke Papua". Kompas.com. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
External links
- "Indonesia’s Transmigration Programme: An Update", 2001 report by M.Adriana Sri Adhiati and Armin Bobsien (ed.) for "Down to Earth," a UK-based organization working on Indonesian environmental issues. Many details on the Suharto-era program and the changes since then. DtE is highly critical of transmigration.
- Transmigration Settlement by Regency in Papua 2000–2003, Badan Pusat Statistik, Indonesian government.
- Golden promises - Indonesian migrants find themselves pawns in a war for control of West Papua.