goodmorningpapua.com – A member of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) Sanusi Rahaningmas said that talking about the proposed division of the Southwest Papua Province (PBD), it could not be separated from the name of the late Papuan leader Jimmy Demianus Ijie. Jimmy died while serving as a member of the House.
“The deceased is the initiator of the division of the new autonomous region of Southwest Papua Province from West Papua Province which has been approved by the Indonesian House of Representatives to be discussed as a draft law or bill,” said the senator from West Papua in Sorong City, West Papua Province, Monday (18/18). 7/2022).
He said that the struggle for South West Papua was already when he became members of the West Irian Jaya DPRD for the first period. And at that time, he continued, the late Jimmy served as a chairman of the West Irian Jaya DPRD.
All members of the West Irian Jaya DPRD at that time from the Electoral District (Dapil) of Sorong were involved. The team is currently led by Andi Asmuruf and Yosafat Kambu. According to Sanusi, at the beginning of the journey for the division of South West Papua, the salary as a member of the DPRD for the Sorong Dapil at that time was deducted for accommodation purposes for the division struggle team.
Sanusi explained that the struggle for the division of the Southwest Papua Province continued during the leadership of the West Papua DPRD Chairman, Piter Kondjol, and a Deputy Chairman JA Jumame. The Director General of Regional Autonomy at the Ministry of Home Affairs at that time, he continued, summoned the two leaders of the West Papua DPRD and asked that there should be no camps in the struggle for provincial expansion.
Everything had to be merged into one until finally a team of eight was formed consisting of two leadership elements in addition to six faction members. “All of our Ministries visited in the context of the division struggle. The struggle for the division of the Southwest Papua Province did not stop and until the time of Governor Dominggus Mandacan a team was formed to accelerate the division of the PBD province, chaired by Lambert Jitmau,” said Sanudi.
He said, with a strong struggle, the Division Bill of Southwest Papua Region was finally approved following the three provincial bills in Papua that had been passed previously. In his view, the birth of the struggle for the division of the province of Southwest Papua began with the disappointment of the residents of the city of Sorong because it did not become the capital of the province of West Papua at that time.
So, the late Jimmy Demianus Ijie as a Papuan figure fought for the division of this new province. “There are definitely people in the Sorong Raya area who agree or not. I believe that the division will really help the community. Moreover, geographical conditions, population and the size of our territory make it possible for the birth of an autonomous region,” said Sanusi.