goodmorningpapua.com – The discourse on the expansion of the Province of South Papua is still ongoing. A number of four regencies have formed a expansion team chaired by the Vice- Regent of Asmat, Thomas E Safanpo. The regencies establishing the expansion team were Merauke, Mappi, Boven Digoel, and Asmat.
“The struggle up to a few days ago had been realized with the establishment of a team and Asmat is entrusted to be the team leader, namely the Vice- Regent of Asmat,” said Asmat Regent, Elisa Kambu, in Timika.
The struggle for the expansion of South Papua, continued Elisa, had started 17 years ago. At that time, the Regent of Merauke, Jhon Gluba Gebze, was the initiator. However, because of there was no good communication with the Papua Provincial Government, this did not continue.
“Today, all the people in partition want the expansion of South Papua, the goal is only to accelerate equitable development because of Papua is very large,” said Elisa.
At least, South Papua has the potential for non-mining PAD which is believed to be able to increase the welfare of the community.
“The potential of South Papua is very good, we are dealing directly with Arafura (sea) which contains a lot of fish, this south has a wide enough land area for agriculture which could be a leading sector to supply both Papua and Indonesia,” said Elisa.
Elisa admitted that good irrigation is not yet available in a number of areas of South Papua, such as in Merauke.
“For the plantations, we have sufficient land, now in Boven Digoel to Merauke if we see it from the plane, we will see it ourselves,” continued Elisa.
Not only that, South Papua is claimed to have potential in the mining sector. However, Elisa did not want to mention the details of the location. At least, said Elisa, South Papua is targeted to establish before the implementation of the Papua Governor Election in 2024. Eliza claims that the establishment of this new province has also been agreed by the legislature.
Eliza also did not override the possibility of Bintang Mountains Regency to include to South Papua, although there are still many parties rejecting the discourse.
“Indeed, if viewed from the lower area, we have still four districts, the central government discourse to include the Bintang Mountains into the south, we return to the center to decide. We are struggling, if before the 2024 Pilkada elections, South Papua will have already chosen its definitive governor, “said Elisa.
Previously, the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian said there were two aspirations for the expansion of the Papua region, namely in the regions of South Papua and Papua Mountains. However, from the two regions, the one that is ready to be a new province is South Papua. This is the result of a recent visiting by Tito and President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to Papua.