Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta provincial authorities have said that they have no plans to crack down on non-residents migrating to the capital city as they are focusing on promoting compliance with population registration instead.

"Our current focus is to promote population registration (compliance) among residents," Jakarta's Population and Civil Records Office head Budi Awaludin informed here on Friday.

He said that his office is focusing on disseminating information on population registration compliance and providing direct services to residents who want to apply for civil record documents, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and personal identity cards.

The last crackdown on regional migrants in Jakarta took place in 2012, he noted.

Such an operation, called "Operasi Yustisi" (Operation Justice), is usually conducted by the provincial authorities to clamp down on migrants from other regions, especially those without valid identification.

Earlier, Jakarta acting governor Heru Budi Hartono said the provincial authorities will not restrict non-residents from migrating to Jakarta despite the surge in new migrants' arrival.

However, as a consequence, population movement to Jakarta will increase the burden on Jakarta's provincial budget as it will now need to cater to Jakarta's non-residents as well, he added.

He pointed out that almost half of the patients at Pasar Minggu Regional General Hospital, South Jakarta, are non-Jakartans.

"The provincial authorities cannot prohibit (migration to Jakarta), but it will be a burden on our regional budget. For instance, we need to expand Pasar Minggu Hospital as we are now required to add new beds," Hartono said.

The acting governor noted that migration to Jakarta, mostly performed by lower-income residents, might be causal to the increase of the extreme poverty rate in the province.

According to Jakarta's Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Office, the number of extremely poor in Jakarta was recorded at 95,668 as of March 2022, equal to 0.89 percent of the capital’s total 10.7 million residents. The number increased from 0.6 percent in 2021.

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Translator: Dewa Ketut SW, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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