Insular Southeast Asia - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 472

Figure 16-20
These residents of Jakarta have one and two chil-
dren, respectively . Smaller family size reflects the
success of family planning in Indonesia, as well as
modernizing trends in terms of the status of
women and growing preference for nuclear fami-
lies. Photograph courtesy of B. A. Weightman.

POPULATION DYNAMICS
In the case of Indonesia, economic growth has far outpaced
population growth. Women of the 1990s had only half as
many children as women did in the 1960s. In part, this is
due to the changing status of women and the decline of the
extended family (Figure 16-20). However, strong family
planning programs have been in place since 1971.
The program was started in Java and Bali and was
progressively extended to the larger outer islands, where
it gained support from local governments as well as Mus-
lim leaders. The program involved hospitals and family
planning services, a battery of field workers, and village
leaders. It focused on both reducing family size and im-
proving quality of life.
In the last quarter century , there has been nearly a
50 percent decline in fertility . Mortality levels have also
been reduced, a function of education, improved access
to health care, and better child nutrition. Life expectancy
has risen but still is not at the same level as in many other
Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Maternal mortality remains a problem. Furthermore,
there has been an increase in chronic and degenerative
diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Water and sanitation remain problematic in Indone-
sia. More than 100 million people lack access to safe wa-
ter and more than 70 percent rely on water from
potentially contaminated sources. About 30 percent of
water delivered by water companies is contaminated
with E . coli or fecal coliform and other pathogens.
Population access to improved sanitation in rural ar-
eas has remained stagnant at around 38 percent. More

than 40 percent of rural households use unsanitary open
pits or defecate in fields or water bodies. “T “Toilet” shacks
with simple holes on the floor that hang over or float on
rivers are common sights. Urban sanitation is the least
well addressed, with disposal and treatment of sewage
available for less than 2 percent of the population.

Transmigrasi

Population distribution has long been a concern of
Indonesian governments. Even the Dutch had colo-
nization programs to provide pepper estates with la-
bor. People were moved from the crowded island of
Java to work on plantations in Sumatra, for exam-
ple. T ransmigrasi started up again in 1969 with the
first five-year plan of development. In the next
three decades, some 6.5 million people were moved
to try to correct population imbalances among the
islands. The proportion of Indonesians living in
Java declined from 66 percent at the time of inde-
pendence to nearly 60 percent in 1995. This rela-
tively small change is due to the fact that a number
of people from the outer islands moved to Java. Java
continues to be one of the most densely populated
islands in the world.
The aims of transmigrasi were to relieve pop-
ulation pressure in crowded areas, to open up
new lands, and to increase the presence of Ja-
vanese in sensitive areas such as Aceh, Papua,