Internal Migration - A case study - Indonesia

Internal Migration – Case Study on Indonesia’s Transmigration Policy

·       Indonesia is very unevenly distributed. Most of the population live on Java, Bali and Lombok, as the soil is rich from volcanic activity.

·       The idea of Transmigration was introduced in 1905 during colonial rule and adopted by Indonesians in 1945. It was strengthened in 1969 during a dictatorship, which was the cause of the invasion of East Timor and West Papua.

Forced migration:

·       The core three islands were overcrowded

·       The government improved the quality of life on the less populated islands to attract the uneducated and landless families. This was done by stimulating the economy, improving infrastructure and land to landless families.

·       In 1975 East Timor was seized by the Indonesian government to provide additional land for the policy

·       Between 1949-1974 the government resettled over 670,000 people through the transmigration policy

·       Another 3.5 million were resettled to the outer islands by 1990

·       Over 200,000 East Timorese were killed during the suppression

·       Many became refugees due to the transmigration policy

·       Some people had no option to move

·       Refugees accounted by 25% of the population on some outer islands

·       4.1 million people moved by 1990

Barriers or constraints (Distance, cost, boarders)

·       Cost of the government to move people

·       Cultural indifferences

·       Lack of agricultural knowledge

·       Family splitting up

Consequences of forced transmigration:

·       As most new transmigrants were from urban areas and had little agricultural knowledge –which caused many new farms to fail (also the land given was often un-farmable even for even experienced farmers).

·       Most new farms were on swamp lands, which caused many farms to fail as the techniques were difficult to grasp

·       In 2002 after 25 years under Indonesian rule, East Timor became independent – though 40% continue to live under the poverty line.

·       Deforestation carried out to create extra farmland for the migrants destroyed much of this invaluable resource. In the past 40 years 50 million hectares has been cleared for logging and agricultural development. On average 1.2 million hectares is lost in Indonesia. Soil erosion increases – leaching damages topsoils – reduces further soil richness.

·       The failure of the farms has meant many of these families have returned to the cities.

·       The programme was an economic failure for Indonesia. Between 1998-2000 national debt increased from 23% - 91% of total GDP.

·       Ethnic & religious conflict arose between religions on some islands

·       Pressure on services was relieved