By: Sabby Kosay) *
President Jokowi’s promise to grant the wishes of the people of Papua related to the Papua Regional Expansion seems to have the support of various parties, one of which is the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Jimly Asshiddiqie who claimed to agree with the plan.
He also encouraged President Jokowi to immediately draft a law to realize the plan.
This DPD member also said, there had been a law dividing the land of Papua into Irian Jaya, West Irian Jaya and Central Irian Jaya. But when the law was brought to the Constitutional Court, it was decided that Central Irian Jaya was canceled because it had not yet been formed.
Meanwhile, the other two provinces were later renamed Papua and West Papua.
The Regional Representative Council (DPD) also supports the government to expand regions in Papua. DPD said it would form a special committee (Pansus) related to the expansion of the region.
Fadel Muhammad as a member of the DPD RI said that he considered the expansion of the Papua region important to do. According to him the expansion will have an impact on improving community services.
With the expansion, regional leaders are not too far in reaching remote areas that are difficult to access.
Interior Minister Tito Karnavian said the central government would add 2 new provinces in Papua. The division is being explored by the central government. The former Chief of Police said that what would become the new province in Papua was South Papua. Meanwhile, the central Papua region is still waiting for an agreement on naming the province from local leaders.
According to Tito, residents in the Timika and Nabire regions proposed the name of the Province to be Central Papua. With Timika which will become the center of the province.
But there are still some differences in the proposal regarding the naming of the province. In addition to disagreements about the name of the new province, Tito said that he did not rule out the possibility of Central Papua and above becoming two different provinces. Tito outlines the area that includes the new province later.
If later in the central region of Papua can be divided into three different provinces, Tito said the central government will follow up on these aspirations. But at the moment Tito stressed that there is still debate over the name of the Province of Central Papua.
Tito also conveyed his study related to the division of the province in Papua for situational reasons. The government also uses intelligence reports regarding considerations for new provinces in Papua.
The technical rules for the division of the provinces will be prepared. The new provincial candidate who gets the green light is South Papua.
Meanwhile, Tito has also received 183 requests for regional expansion to the government. But the government memorization due to budget constraints. Tito said that only the regions in Papua that had been given the green light broke the province.
Previously, Mimika Community Leader Athanasius Allo Rafra viewed the discourse of the formation of a number of new provinces in Papua such as southern Papua and central Papua, needing the support and special attention of the central government to accelerate equitable development in the easternmost region of Indonesia.
The former Mappi Regent official said that no matter how great the officials at the provincial level, he would be overwhelmed because of Papua’s vast territory. One problem hasn’t finished yet, another problem arises. It all certainly requires attention and energy to solve it.
According to Allo, the formation of the new provinces in Papua was not for the purpose of sharing power, but more than that the presence of the provincial government as a representative of the central government in the regions could more effectively help accelerate the progress of the Papuan people.
The former Chairperson of the Commission A of the Mimika DPRD for the 2009 – 2014 period assessed that development progress in a number of inland districts had not been too significant.
When the expansion of the Papua region was realized, the impact was very much received by the community. Among the availability of employment, equitable distribution of development faster and shorten the range of control of government services to the community.
In addition, if the division of Papua is realized, young people in Papua will have a great opportunity to get the opportunity to enjoy equitable development and the opening of new business and employment opportunities.
Expansion in Papua is certainly a manifestation of the central government in developing Indonesia from the outermost region, so that equitable distribution of development is possible.
) * The writer is a Papuan student living in Yogyakarta