Rural-urban linkages and development : a case study of North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Creators: name: Tuerah, Noldy
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: There is a lack of research on the relationships between rural areas and the urban hierarchy in Indonesia. Because of this, policies for urban and rural development are undertaken in isolation from one another, without incorporating the implications of rural-urban linkages for rural development. This study contributes to our understanding of rural-urban linkages in Indonesia by examining four villages in the Province of North Sulawesi. Because of the importance of the Indonesian government's transmigration program for rural development in North Sulawesi, specific emphasis is placed on the comparison between the experiences of transmigrant villages and indigenous non-migrant villages in their relationships to the urban hierarchy. The main case study covers four villages (two transmigrant, two indigenous) in Dumoga Subdistrict of North Sulawesi. The linkages between these villages and the various levels of the urban hierarchy are articulated through the following key sets of variables: economic ties, population movement, services delivery, physical infrastructure, technology and political administration. The variables associated with administration interact strongly with the other sets of variables, as government policies (an aspect of administration) have impacts on all other forms of rural-urban interaction. In the comparison between indigenous (Mongondownese) villages and those of transmigrants (Javanese and Balinese), it was found that the transmigrants were better off in terms of almost every social and economic indicator. Although the success of the transmigrants may be attributed in large part to the application of their skills at wet rice farming in the new environment of North Sulawesi, they have also been strongly supported in their endeavors by central government programs which provide them with land, tools, irrigation infrastructure and other benefits. This study also examined in detail the mechanics of policy setting as it pertains to rural villages. It was found that although a system has been put in place by the Indonesian government to promote lower level inputs into the planning process, the continuing strong centralization of the administrative system results in a filtering process as policy suggestions work their way up from lower levels (village, subdistrict, district) to higher levels (provincial, national). Despite efforts at administrative decentralization, policy setting and implementation for rural and urban development remain highly centralized. The concept of the urban hierarchy which was utilized in this study is that which is defined by the Indonesia administrative system, consisting of the provincial capital (medium size city), the district capital (small town) and the subdistrict capital (rural center). It was found that without its administrative functions, the lowest level on this hierarchy (the rural center) would have very few functional linkages to the rural areas, as most of the other sets of linkages bypass the rural centers. The rural-urban linkages of transmigrant villages differed greatly from those of indigenous villages with transmigrants having stronger connections to higher points on the urban hierarchy. Considering the income differences between migrants and non-migrants, the longterm implication of this final point is that we can expect a gradual reduction in the functions of lower level centers if rural development is successful and incomes increase.