goodmorningpapua.com – The existence of a new province answers Papua’s various problems in the context of OTSUS since it can bridge local aspirations and national strategic interests.
The area expansion is only a means that must be given more substance to be a solution to the complexity of the Papuan problem. According to MRP Member Toni Wanggai, with the revision of the Special Autonomy Law in Papua, there were three major breakthroughs by the central government in the Jokowi era.
First, the presence of a special agency for the acceleration of the development of Papua and West Papua, secondly, the existence of a green design or a comprehensive master plan for the development of Papua, and third is the provision of the widest possible political space for indigenous Papuans with the formation of the DPRK from the appointment route, not the election route. That way, OAP has a broad political space to play a direct role in overseeing policies and being involved in policymaking in every political policy at the district-city level. This shows that the government really has a political commitment to build and accelerate the welfare of the people in Papua.
“Therefore, the Indigenous Law Community Bill needs to be ratified immediately, because there is no strong legal umbrella regulation, because so far, even though Papuans are land owners, the management is left to foreign entrepreneurs,” said Wanggai in the Webinar, New Province for a More Prosperous and Peaceful Papua, Wednesday (2/11).
For him, there needs to be definite regulations regarding the ownership and management of natural resources for the Papuan people, which are also regulated in institutions or customary law that are in line with the regulations. “There is a need for legal certainty to discuss further and there is a need for strengthening traditional institutions so that the welfare of the indigenous Papuan people can be paid more attention to,” said the Papuan scholar.
Meanwhile, a political analyst, Bonny Hargens, stated that the term New Papua refers to Papua today and in the future. This is different from the old Papua, where everyone’s perception only refers to backwardness, poverty, conflict and separatism. The creation of a new autonomous region and all components of the Jokowi administration’s development scheme in Papua, by itself, changes the stigma and paradigm of the Earth of Cenderawasih which is not defined by territory or race alone, but by the common goal of shared prosperity.
“This new condition of Papua is an ideal condition that we continue to strive for, so that the Papuan people can understand their identity, be free from poverty, backwardness and free from all forms of impasse, so that Papua is able to see itself as an integral part of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.
Bonny said that the expansion was a scenario for accelerating infrastructure development and human development at the same time. The creation of new autonomous regions, in the universal development paradigm, is accepted as an alternative way to end the impasse of development, especially in remote and conflict-prone areas. “The expansion is a potential opportunity for the Papuan people to advance themselves in all aspects of life,” he said. Bonny realizes that the establishment of new autonomous regions is often criticized for creating new petty kings who share the same sentiments as the expansion of corruption at the regional level. This is often the case in all countries with parochial political cultures.
According to him, dissemination of the “New Papua” development agenda involving OAP at the forefront must continue to be carried out in order to weaken the propaganda effect of separatist groups and their sympathizers who oppose pemekaran. The implementation of the Papua development program initiated by President Jokowi’s government must really consider aspects of collaboration, coordination, communication, and cooperation among all relevant parties. This was also emphasized by one of the Papuan expansion figures from Kaimana, Ismail Sirfefa who stated that both from a historical and juridical perspective, the government’s efforts to improve the welfare of the community were very good.
Now, he continued, it’s just a matter of how to oversee its implementation in the midst of various existing problems. “The purpose of the division is to realize development justice in Indonesia, which has implications for other fields, such as the employment sector,” explained the former deputy regent of Kaimana and lecturer of the indigenous community empowerment activist.