Countries managing their populations to achieve

sustainable growthManaging population case

studies:

IndonesiaA country with an uneven population

distribution (stage 3)

UgandaA country with a

youthful population (stage 2)

ThailandA country with a rapidly growing

population (early stage 4)

The UKA country with an ageing population

(stage 4)

To know what transmigration is and understand how it can help to readdress the population balance.

Learning objectives

Question 1.

What is Indonesia’s current population?

a) 350 million

b) 150 million

c) 100 million

d) 250 million

What is the capital of Indonesia?

Jakarta

Question 1.

How many islands make up Indonesia?

Question 3.

a) 8,000

b) 18,000

c) 800

d) 80

Which product is not one of Indonesia’s main exports?

Question 4.

a) Oil and gas

b) Rubber

c) Sugar

d) Palm oil

How many indigenous people live in Indonesia?

Question 5.

a) 100-150 million

b) 50-70 million

c) 5-10 million

d) 50-70,000

What is the total average life expectancy in Indonesia?

Question 6.

a) 68

b) 70

c) 69

d) 65

The UK’s GDP per capita is roughly how many times more than Indonesia’s?

Question 7.

a) 11

b) 5

c) 22

d) 16

UK = US$ 39,372

Indonesia = US$ 3,510

Transmigration is a method that governments have used to try and solve population problems.

What is transmigration?

It involves moving people from densely/over

populated areas to more sparsely populated areas,

in order to reduce the population pressure on

resources.

Transmigration in Indonesia

Indonesia is an archipelago of 18,000 islands. It has a densely populated core, including the major cities and the island of Java, and a sparsely populated periphery.

141 million people live in Java!

Java

• Java is the 13th largest island in the world.

• It accounts for just 7% of Indonesia's land, but it is home to over 60% of the population.

• Over 100 million people live in the city of Jakarta which has a population density of 15,442 people per km², making it one of the most densely populated places on earth.

The growth of Jakarta is mainly due to rural–urban

migration

Transmigration in Indonesia

• The transmigration policy was first introduced by the Dutch colonial government in the early nineteenth century to reduce crowding and to provide a workforce for plantations on Sumatra.

• After independence in 1949 the Indonesian government continued with the policy to try to reduce the considerable poverty and population pressure on Java (the core), and in particular Jakarta.

Aims of the transmigration policy

To alleviate poverty by

providing land and new

opportunities for poor, landless

settlers to generate income.

To provide a workforce to

better exploit / utilize the natural resources of the

outer islands.

To achieve demographic

balance across the islands.

Transmigration in Indonesia

Landless people were permanently moved from Java, and to a lesser extent Bali and Madura, to less populated peripheral areas including Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.

Activity:

1. Shade and label the islands that people were moved to.

2. Draw arrows on your map to show their movement from Java.

3. Give your map a title.

Transmigration in Indonesia

To know what transmigration is and understand how it can help to readdress the population balance.

Learning objectives

The incentivesThe Indonesian government provided:

A 2ha plot of land for farming

Free transportation

A house

A living allowance for the first 18 months

Food and fertilizer for the first 12

months

Who took part in the Transmigration Scheme? 

Environmental impacts 

Social impacts  Economic impacts 

Activity: Impacts of Transmigration

You have been given some information on the impacts of the transmigration scheme. Cut out the cards and

categorise them under the following headings:

Activity: Transmigration in Indonesia

1. How many people have been resettled as part of the Indonesian transmigration scheme?

2. Who is encouraged to take part in the transmigration scheme, and how?

3. Outline the criticisms of the transmigration scheme.

Read the hand out ‘Uprooting People, Destroying Cultures: Indonesia's Transmigration Program’ and then answer the following questions in detail.

A success story?

• The poor, beggars and vagrants

• Becak drivers

• Those displaced by natural disasters

• Those forcibly displaced by the construction of dams / chemical plants

• The landless

Between 1950 and 1986, 3.5 million people were moved, with a further 3.75 million between 1985–1990, including:

Summary of the criticisms

Environmentalists and Human Rights critics have exposed the transmigration program as a “development fraud and environmental disaster”

Indonesia's outer islands contain 10% of the worlds

remaining rainforest. Transmigration has lead to

further destruction of forests.

The program was an economic disaster, as it cost US$7,000 to

resettle each family in the 1980s which increased national

debt.

Transmigration violates customary land rights.

Summary of the criticisms

Resettlement was political and intended to control the

indigenous population of the outer islands.

Transmigration made no dent in the population pressures on

Java because migration, especially to Jakarta,

continued.

The program did not alleviate poverty, it redistributed it. Many transmigrants were worse off after they were

moved!

Summary of the criticisms

It has been impossible to keep up with the cost of the scheme due to falling revenue from oil, a cut in funding from the World

Bank, and spiraling debt.

Where migrants are sent to work on plantations, they

are often exploited as cheap labour

Summary of the criticisms

Summary of the criticisms

Often the land is infertile and water logged, and consecutive failed harvests have made it

impossible for families to survive.

Many sites have been abandoned, men are forced to migrate back to find work,

and women may have to resort to prostitution to make

ends meet