By : Kristy Tiara Yumte )*
The government, through the Directorate General of Christian Community Guidance, Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenag RI), handed over assistance for the construction and rehabilitation of churches in Papua in a very transparent manner.
Director of Christian Religious Affairs, Rev. Dr. Amsal Yowei was present in person in Jayapura, Papua Province in order to monitor and hand over development and rehabilitation funding assistance as well as operational funding assistance to churches in the Papua Province region. The handover of the aid took place in the Sasana Krida Bakti Hall, Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion, Papua Province.
Proverbs emphasized that the delivery of aid was in a very transparent era like today. So it is not only very important for the work to be carried out well, but at the same time the work must be accountable and the report must be open.
No matter how small the work is, it must still be published because it is part of public service, so the people must be able to find out about it in a transparent manner and the report can be accessed by all parties. By upholding the principles of transparency and accountability, all use of aid funds sourced from the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) will be audited not only internally by the Inspectorate General, but also externally by the Financial Audit Agency (BPK). BPK) and the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).
Therefore, all parties must also be able to maintain good cooperation with each other in the context of distributing and utilizing this assistance, including how transparent it is, starting from the funds entered into the account, all of which are part of the Accountability Report (LPJ) data, up to the date the funds are received. entered into the account, everything must be able to be properly monitored and accounted for.
It is hoped that the provision of funds by the Indonesian Government will be able to provide stimulants and stimulus funds to provide further encouragement, so that God’s servants and workers can be helped in their work to provide church facilities and infrastructure.
To all the congregation present, the Director of Christian Religious Affairs invited all parties to remain faithful in carrying out their church service duties well. Apart from that, he also plays a role in ensuring that all parties are able to maintain the atmosphere of harmony, harmony, peace and prosperity which has been well established so far at the internal level for the entire congregation itself.
Moreover, the data shows that Earth of Cenderawasih itself always has a good religious harmony index from year to year. Therefore, it is hoped that all parties will be able to continue to maintain the atmosphere of harmony that has been established so far so that Papua remains harmonious and remains peaceful.
There is enthusiasm for building churches in the Easternmost Province in the country, as has also been stated by the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia (Wapres RI), KH. Ma’ruf Amin said that the role of religious leaders themselves can be the key to success in creating a more advanced and prosperous Land of Papua.
Not half-hearted, he even said that the role of religious leaders, church leaders and pastors could be the key or game changer. How could it not be, because the very important role of religious leaders lies in their being very close to the community.
Through this closeness, the communication that exists between the two is also considered to be able to run much more effectively. Primarily in an effort to provide understanding to the community, either through education or outreach. The reason is that priests or religious leaders are also among the community leaders, who have quite a big influence in providing guidance and various understandings to the community.
The important role played by religious figures can have an increasingly strong impact on society, if it is also accompanied by good collaboration between the central government, local regional government (Pemda) and other traditional leaders.
So, in the future, the mission of accelerating welfare development in the Land of Papua will clearly be achieved much more optimally. When all parties are able to fight together in building society, it will also bring success.
It cannot be denied that since the reign of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Vice President, KH. Ma’ruf Amin, indeed the implementation of development in all regions in Papua has received very great attention. This is because the government is very aware that Papua is a religious society, where the role of the church as an institution and religious figures is very influential.
One of the efforts to develop society in Papua by the Indonesian Government is to build and rehabilitate churches through the handover of funds which is monitored in a very transparent manner and is open to the public.
)* The author is a Papuan student living in Manado