DAP (Papuan Traditional Council) rejects transmigration
JUBI, 21 February, 2011
DAP rejects
transmigration
The chairman of DAP, the Papuan
Traditional Council, has called on the
Indonesian
government to be more judicious about plans to send yet more
transmigrants to Papua.
Forkorus Yaboisembut said that
plans by the Transmigration Department to
move more
transmigrants into Papua was a matter of great concern.
'I
very much hope that Papua will not yet again be the target
for more
transmigrants because this is turning the
Papuan people into a minority
in their own
homeland.'
He went on to say that sending more
transmigrants in Papua was creating
many more problems.
In addition to turning local communities into
minorities, it is also fostering feelings of jealousy
because the
majority of people who run businesses and
own plenty of capital are
those who have come from other
parts of Indonesia.
Transmigration is also resulting in
local Papuan cultures being swamped
by cultures from
outside.
The government has announced that it has
allocated Rp 600 billion to
cover the cost of bringing
more transmigrants to Papua from other
parts of the
country. The new transmigration programme is scheduled to
continue until
2014.
ENDS