'Transmigration' for Indonesians

Press, 17 December 1976, Page 12

'Transmigration' for Indonesians

From the Jakarta correspondent of the “Economist,” London

Indonesia’s “transmigration” scheme is about as appealing to its victims as transportation to Botany Bay was to Britain’s convicts when Australia had been discovered to send them to. The idea behind the Indonesian scheme is to relieve population pressure in the archipelago’s more crowded islands, such as Java and Bali, and to develop the empty jungles of the outer islands.

The pioneers chosen to face a life of hardship and isolation include the homeless poor, prostitutes, victims of natural disasters — and now former political prisoners. The Indonesian Government has just begun a phased programme to release most of the 35,000 or so men and women who have been held in prison without trial for 11 years because of their alleged involvement in the unsuccessful communist coup in 1965 (the Government claims that over half a million “less dangerous” prisoners have

been released already; another half-million alleged Communists are believed to have been killed in the bloody wake of the coup). But the prisoners who are now to be released will be less than free: together with Indonesia’s other unwanted people, they are to be placed, with scarcely veiled compulsion, in “resettlement centres” or “transmigrated” to distant islands.

An early contingent of 322 men and women were delivered by army trucks to Jakarta’s garrison headquarters on December 1. Flinching with nervousness at sudden commands, these released prisoners recited to an audience of officers, journalists and a few diplomats their renunciation of MarxismLeninism.

Major-General Mantik, the Jakarta military commander, said: “If we in some way have hurt your feelings during your confinement, please forgive us as the Government has forgiven you.” They then went off to join their families — for a time. Admiral Sudomo, the chief

of the armed forces’ internal security operation, announced that this group was part of 2500 prisoners being released that day to their families. They belong to the “B” category: those who are thought to have been involved in the 1965 coup, but who cannot be tried for lack of evidence. The Admiral said that 27,994 people in this category are still in prison, but that they should all be re* leased by the end of 1979 at the rate of 10,000 a year. In addition, 1821 people are still awaiting trial in the more serious “A” category against whom evidence has been collected (the Admiral said they would all be tried by 1978) and a further 2041 prisoners are yet to be classified. But Admiral Sudomo went on to say that those released would be unable to find employment and would thus create fertile ground for subversion. The Government therefore planned to establish resettlement centres in Sumatra, Borneo and the

Celebes for ex-prisoners native to these areas. Those who come from densely populated Java “will be transferred to the island of Buru and to other islands in accordance with the guildelines on national trans-mi-gration.” He evaded questions on how much compulsion would be used or when; at present, he said, some 2000 released “B” prisoners are at large in Java, including some from the first batch of 1309 people freed a year ago. The security chief claimed that SIOM had been spent on turning the camps on Buru Island from swamp and scrub into neat rice fields and market gardens. Some 11,000 “B” prisoners (as distinct from ex-prisoners) are already there; ordinary “trans-migrants” were now free to join them. When he was asked whether the prisoners on Buru Island would be free to leave it when they were “released,” Admiral Sudomo said that they could choose other camps if they so wished.