Number of Newcomers to Jakarta Predicted to be Higher

Jakarta (Antara) - The number of newcomers seeking jobs in the capital city Jakarta is expected to rise by around 25.5 percent after the Idul Fitri holiday, a city official said here on Friday. Jakarta's head of Civil Registration and Population Affairs Purba Hutapea said that the opportunity for people from other regions to visit Jakarta would be wider now, as the city administration had decided not to conduct operations against people without Jakarta IDs this year like it used to do after Idul Fitri to prevent flow of newcomers. He said by stopping the operation people from outside Jakarta would be willing to come to the city without fear of being arrested for having no Jakarta ID. Based on the results of a research by the Institute of Demography of the Economic Faculty of State Indonesia University, he said 2,616,774 or 36.21 percent of the city's population totaling 9,988,329 had left Jakarta for Idul Fitri this year. While returning later, their number is expected to rise to 3,685,274 or by 68,500 or 1.89 percent, he said. "So, it is estimated that newcomers to the city would increase by around 25.5 percent or 17,000 compared to 51,000 last year," he said. Purba added that people who arrived at Jakarta could be categorized into three groups--those who would live temporarily or permanently and who would only spend Idul Fitri holiday and later return to their hometowns or villages. (*)