goodmorningpapua.com – Papuan students who received OTSUS Papua scholarships abroad turned out to be experiencing obstacles and problems that were crucial enough, so that having a negative impact on their lives. These problems have actually been around for a long time but lack of attention and even tend to be ignored, especially by the central government and the Papuan government itself.
Dimison Kagoya, in his explanation at the APS public discussion, stated that there are at least three main problems faced by OTSUS Papuan scholarship recipients abroad, especially in the US-Canada: first, the messy student database managed by the Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDM) Papua, secondly, weak communication between the government and overseas campuses and also with students themselves and thirdly financial delays.
These three problems have been complained by many students receiving OTSUS scholarships abroad, including in the US-Canada. It is because, this problem also has an impact on the delay of students completing their studies and returning home. There are hundreds of Papuan students studying abroad such as in the US, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Japan and in other countries by means of OTSUS scholarships. They usually face the same problem.
Kagoya, as a President of the US-Canada Papuan Student Association (IMAPA), has emphasized that his party has worked hard to overcome these disturbing problems through communication with related parties, especially with the Indonesian government and the Papuan provincial government. However, there has been no serious response from both the Indonesian and Papuan governments themselves. Until now, Papuan students are still waiting for clarification from the government. Many of them have illegal status and cannot stay in America anymore, but cannot return to their homeland due to financial problems.
“Every year, every semester, all Papuan students abroad complain because of financial delays. Many Papuan student friends cannot finish their studies on time because the fees have not been paid and even last year’s arrears have not been paid off. Also to pay for the apartment.”
Daniel, one of the US-Canada IMAPA administrators, presented data on problems that arose as a result of the chaotic management of the Papua Special Autonomy scholarships, including student databases and finances that had an impact on student repatriation. In his report Daniel explained that there had been repatriation of 83 Papuan students by the Papuan government. However, the government carried out it without prior coordination with the local campus. It is definitely du e to data confusion. There are students who have finished their studies but whose names have not been included in the repatriation list so that their fate is hanging in the US. Then there are students who have returned to their homeland but their names are still on the repatriation list. The data confusion like this is clearly a disturbing obstacle to the presence of Papuan students abroad.
The data of students receiving foreign scholarships is managed by the Papua BPSDM. However, the BPSDM itself is not only unprofessional in managing it, but also tends to be uncommunicative, including to parents of students who want to seek information about the condition of their children studying abroad. “Many parents of students come to the BPSDM office but they are often ignored,” said Kagoya.
In addition, the problem of financial management is no less bad. Many students are disturbed by the process of studying and returning home because the funds are late. All IMAPAs abroad have made efforts to help disburse these scholarship funds, including directly writing to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, the Indonesian Consulate General and holding a meeting with the Minister of Finance. However, they always say that the money has been transferred to Papua. Therefore, this problem is more related to the Papuan government. The students then hoped that the Papuan government would immediately deal with the problems that beseting them.
It is hoped that in the future the government will optimize this program so that future students will not experience the same problem.