YOGYAKARTA – After the Eid, the phenomenon of urbanization in some big cities such as Jakarta can not be avoided. Rural communities left in droves to the big city, speculating to seek a better livelihood. The government has taken some anticipatory measures such as sweeping people who do not have ID cards or having ID cards from out of destination town. Unfortunately, it is not considered to be very useful.
"It is useless if we only raid ID cards like what we do now. Users of labor service in the capital city like Jakarta no longer consider about it," said an observer who is also Head of the Center for Population and Policy Studies UGM, Prof. Dr. Muhadjir Muhammad Darwin, MPA, on Thursday (16/9).
In Muhadjir’s opinion, the phenomenon of returning to the hometown and urbanization after the Eid are difficult to avoid. Moreover, as long as social values of “returning to the hometown” have not changed such what happens now. The community still considers that it is a "must" that causes such a cultural burden (the cost of culture) as commonly encountered in Javanese people.
"In Java, there are activities in which people should contribute to those who are having a celebration. But this is not a must. There are no rules. But if people don’t do it, they will be subjected to social sanctions," he added.
Communities that are not returning to their hometowns are often underestimated by the family or community where they originated. However there is now a technology that could replace it such as phone facilities, SMS, mail and Internet. Nevertheless, they are still willing to get themselves in a cramped public transport or queue for tickets in order to be able to be home during Eid.
"The tradition of oral culture and meet face to face can not be replaced. In some communities, however, there is some little change in how people view about going home," Muhadjir said.
Advance in technology can not directly replace the phenomenon of returning to hometown. It can only complement it. On the other hand, people who have lived long in or migrated to large cities require a kind of "cultural recreation."
"Cultural recreation remains necessary for them despite modernization, etc," said the doctor of public administration graduating from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, U.S..
Urbanization also indicates the Government’s failure in the distribution of development in towns and villages that should be solved immediately. The government has also failed because there are still people who have not got train tickets. Not a few people even have to ride a motorcycle to get home.
"Yes, it failed, many people ride motorcycle rather than mass transportation such as trains. Strangely, the government does not prioritize on repairing railroad tracks but improving highways,” he said.
Although these phenomenon can not be avoided, previously the Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics, Rusman Heriawan, said that the number of people moving to cities (urbanization), especially Jakarta, will not be as big as expected.
‘I don’t think it would be too big, living in Jakarta also needs careful calculation," Rusman said.
In his opinion, requests for people not to return to Jakarta and not bring along their friends can not effectively stop the desire to come to the big city. Because it is open, the person may at any time enter or come to it so that local governments don’t need to expose the problem by the so-called “operation of justice”.