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For many years Indonesia has experienced
substantial movements of population as a direct result of government policies.
Transmigration programmes implemented
during Suharto's rule Tresulted in the movement of 1.6 million people,
mostly from Java, Bali and Madura to Kalimantan, Sumatra, the Moluccas,
Sulawesi and the islands of Eastern Indonesia. Transmigration was viewed
both as a demographic imperative -- to alleviate population pressure in
Java where 80 per cent of the population live - and as an ideological unifier
through which Indonesia's many and varied ethnic communities would become
more integrated. Transmigration was implemented in a highly authoritarian
manner with the army ruthlessly suppressing any protest.
Since the resignation of Suharto in May 1998, widespread resentment against the government, army and transmigrants has been exacerbated by economic and political changes. The 14 per cent fall in gross domestic product in 1998, the flight of capital and dramatic increase in unemployment have been accompanied by massive increases in the prices of food and basic essentials. Under such conditions it is hardly surprising that conflicts between communities with differential and unequal access to resources have increased. While economic decline has hit the urban areas of Java particularly hard1, some of Indonesia's island regions have suffered less. Areas exporting primary and agricultural commodities have benefited from the devaluation of the Indonesian rupiah that has been a feature of the crisis. As Jakarta's economic control has weakened and local revenues have increased, there have been growing demands for greater regional control, autonomy and independence in areas such as Aceh (North Sumatra) and Irian Jaya. Regional protests have been directed both at the central government and transmigrant groups who are seen as having benefited from Jakarta's dominance.
These developments have taken place while Indonesia attempts a precarious transition to a less authoritarian system, a key feature of which was the 7 June national election. Political and military groups opposed to this development are fuelling and manipulating ethnic and regional conflicts in an attempt to 'prove' that the country is not ready for a democratic transition.
In recent months Indonesia has experienced increasing levels of ethnic conflict and regional protest. Minor events have resulted in conflagrations. Since January more than 50,000 people have left the Moluccan islands while 16,000 Madurese have been driven out by Dayak and Malay villages in West Kalimantan (Borneo).
Nowhere are the consequences of trans-migration clearer than in the Indonesian occupied territory of East Timor which since 1979 has been subjected to forced resettlement of its population.
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