ID :
134395
Sat, 07/24/2010 - 00:38
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LEGISLATOR SUPPORTS EMPOWERMENT OF OUTLYING ISLANDS` PEOPLE
Jakarta, July 23 (ANTARA) - Legislator Paskalis Kossay of the Golkar Party said he supported the idea of developing special economic zones in outlying islands or border areas to empower the people living there.
"It can be done on islands whose locations are strategic viewed from the geopolitical and economic aspects so that they could serve as border gateways such as the islands of Sulu, Mapia, Rote and others," he said Thursday night.
Paskalis Rossay who is a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission I on foreign affairs said that to develop the outlying islands, the present government should adopt the successful methods applied by the New Order government in Batam island.
Batam was initially a neglected island inhabited by only about 6,000 people without any economic, industrial and tourism dynamism.
"But as we can witness now, Batam has been transformed into a modern industrial island, with a workforce almost reaching one million. They came there not through a transmigration program but they spontaneously came there by themselves to seek employment," he said.
He said if there were 10 islands that could be developed like Batam on international trade lanes like the Malacca Strait, North Sulawesi waters and the waters north of Papua, it would certainly benefit the country a lot.
"The benefit would not only lie in the improvement of the welfare of the local people but also in the economic progress that would be achieved for the state and the reinforcement of the country's territorial integrity," he said.
"It can be done on islands whose locations are strategic viewed from the geopolitical and economic aspects so that they could serve as border gateways such as the islands of Sulu, Mapia, Rote and others," he said Thursday night.
Paskalis Rossay who is a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission I on foreign affairs said that to develop the outlying islands, the present government should adopt the successful methods applied by the New Order government in Batam island.
Batam was initially a neglected island inhabited by only about 6,000 people without any economic, industrial and tourism dynamism.
"But as we can witness now, Batam has been transformed into a modern industrial island, with a workforce almost reaching one million. They came there not through a transmigration program but they spontaneously came there by themselves to seek employment," he said.
He said if there were 10 islands that could be developed like Batam on international trade lanes like the Malacca Strait, North Sulawesi waters and the waters north of Papua, it would certainly benefit the country a lot.
"The benefit would not only lie in the improvement of the welfare of the local people but also in the economic progress that would be achieved for the state and the reinforcement of the country's territorial integrity," he said.
