goodmorningpapua.com – Jayapura Regent, Mathius Awoitauw, attended the opening ceremony of the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Congress of the Archipelago (KMAN) VI 2022 at Barnabas Youwe Sentani Stadium, Jayapura Regency, Papua last October.
A total of 250 students in Jayapura performed a colossal dance that represented the diverse activities of the daily life of the Papuan people, such as cutting sago palm, gardening, rowing a boat and knitting Noken.
Mathius said as many as 2,500 indigenous community members from various regions in Indonesia also attended KMAN VI. This event also involved all indigenous peoples of the archipelago from Sabang to Merauke.
On this occasion, Mathius encouraged all elements to maintain the unity and integrity of the Indonesian nation.
At the same time, the Lake Sentani Festival was also being held. This festival performed the natural beauty, arts and traditions of Papua which are still preserved from generation to generation. Not only that, this festival also displays a lot of acculturation and a blend of cultures in Papua.
Mathius said that the festival, which has existed since 2007, has become an annual festival which is attended by many local and foreign tourists. This festival is also proof of the maintenance of unity and integrity among ethnic groups, races, religions. He said that the strong nationalism that exists among each other brings joy to the hundreds of tribes in Papua.
“I believe that the future of the world and our nation lies in the uniqueness and local wisdom of the people in the villages and the various local wisdoms of the local community,” said Mathius.
For him, diversity, unity and development are an inseparable synergy. In fact, the stronger the unity in the midst of existing differences, the faster development and prosperity will be achieved.
Regarding the welfare of the Papuan people, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said cooperation between related parties in the process of accelerating Papua’s development is very much needed. For him, this can help realize the acceleration of the development of the welfare of Papua, namely the Papuan Orang Asli (OAP) community. He assessed that various policies could not only involve traditional elders or office holders.
He conveyed this virtually through his remarks at the Papua Peace Declaration event held by the Papuan Indigenous Peoples Institute last June.
Ma’ruf also conveyed that efforts to inflame peace and the spirit of unity in the Land of Papua are in line with the government’s commitment through various regulations and affirmative policies provided. He said unity in Papua would further support the government’s efforts to accelerate development in Papua and West Papua.
He assessed that the more unifying various elements in Papua, the faster development will be realized which will affect the welfare of the entire community in accordance with the values of the philosophy of ‘Torang Bersatu Torang Sejahtera’.