goodmorningpapua.com – A chairman of the Papuan Provincial House of Representatives, Johny Banua Rouw, gave a door prize of IDR 30 million for the 2022 Asmat Pokman Festival participants.
The door prize is given at the time of drawing lottery numbers by the festival committee. In addition to giving door prizes, the NasDem Party politician also bought a number of sculptures at fantastic prices.
Johny Banua Rouw said that the door prizes and the purchase of statues were a form of appreciation for the Asmat community in maintaining cultural values.
“The culture in Papua is very unique. It has to be continually preserved and developed so that it becomes an income for the community,” said Johny Rouw while attending the Asmat Pokman Festival some time ago.
In Johny Banua’s view, the culture of the Asmat Tribe has always been very well known to foreign countries. “They have natural carving skills. Their works of art have a value that cannot be measured with money,” he said.
Johny Banua views that the Asmat Cultural Festival is a place to show the skills of indigenous peoples for works of art. He hopes that this festival will continue to be echoed so that it is more widely known.
“I wish it could run every year. If this cultural festival can be packaged properly again, I am sure that in the future it will be able to bring in foreign tourists,” suggested Jhony Banua.
Apart from being rich in works of art, NasDem Party politicians believe that Asmat Regency is one of the regions in Indonesia that was the first to use electric vehicles or environmentally friendly vehicles.
This area, for him, has been using electric vehicles since the early 2000s. “In a number of countries, even Indonesia, currently only wants to promote the use of electric vehicles, (and) in Asmat, people have always used electric vehicles,” he said.
Johny Banua also revealed other features of the Asmat Regency. The reason is that apart from being unique in culture, Asmat stands on swamp land, both public houses and flyovers.
“In this area (Asmat) we do not step on the ground, we are like walking on air. This is a unique city, the atmosphere is also cool, no noise, no pollution, life here (Asmat) is very calm, “said Johny Banua.