Engaged in 1905 by the Dutch Colonist, transmigration to Indonesia is currently the largest led agricultural colonisation programme ever undertaken by a state. In seeking to correct the significant demographic imbalance within the archipelago, transmigration pursues a dual social policy objective in the “internal islands” (Java, Madura, Bali) and development policy in the “external islands” (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Irian Jaya). Since its inception, the programme has gone through phases of euphoria and disappointment, praising and criticism, and has achieved as many successes as failures. The latter are usually attributed to lack of resources, insufficient site and migrant selection, poor project preparation and multiple dysfunctions within the ministries involved. The author shows that the difficulties of transmigration stem less from implementation problems than from inappropriate design from the outset. Failures are due to a misperception of the evolution of the Javanan landscape in the face of population growth, tense prejudices towards the populations and the middle of the outlying islands and, above all, a purely agrarian development policy. As the latest avatar of the expansion of the Javanan citrus royal, transmigration is understood only by reference to a particular view of the world and power.