Young Papuan activist Charles Kossay expressed his aspirations for the elected president who will lead Indonesia next.
According to Charles, the next president is expected to be able to emulate and continue the various development programs of President Joko Widodo or Jokowi.
“We hope that we can continue the national policies that have been well implemented by Mr. Joko Widodo,” he said.
Not without reason, Charles views that President Jokowi’s government really cares about the progress of Papua. He gave an example of this through the visits of the former Governor of Jakarta who had visited Papua dozens of times to hear the aspirations of the people directly.
“Since taking office in the first and second terms, President Joko Widodo has visited Papua 17 times. Jokowi’s commitment to Papua and West Papua has been continued with the issuance of various supporting policies,” he said.
Furthermore, Charles revealed various policies, including the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 24 of 2023 concerning plans to accelerate Papua’s development from 2022 to 2041.
Furthermore, there are also other policies in Papua, especially regional expansion and the extension of Special Autonomy or Special Autonomy.
“The Special Autonomy shows the state’s partiality and recognition of the special features of Papua in the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia with 4 main focuses of development in the health infrastructure sector, prosperity in the form of a people’s economy,” said Charles.
He also considered the Special Autonomy policy to be a special blessing for the Papuan people.
“The existence of this special autonomy policy has confirmed that the government provides ample space for the Papuan people to participate in national development, especially throughout Papua,” he said.
Separately, Chair of the Melanesian Youth Diplomacy Forum (MYDIF) Steve R. Mara appreciated Papua’s development, especially in the era of President Jokowi’s administration.
“I see that development in the Papua region is currently very massive. “The development carried out by President Joko Widodo’s government has carried out a lot of development, both in terms of infrastructure development and human resource development,” he said.
He invited all elements of society to support various national development programs in Papua. Because, this not only has an impact on the development of Human Resources (HR) but also the people’s economy.
He also emphasized that Papua is an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia that cannot be separated. Because of this, he also invited all elements of society in Papua to protect Indonesia’s sovereignty.
“Let’s protect the Republic of Indonesia. “We will protect Papua, together with Indonesia we will protect it from Sabang to Merauke,” he concluded
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