By: Rebecca Marian) *
President Jokowi’s love for Papua seems unquestionable. Under President Jokowi’s leadership, the government continues to carry out various developments on the Earth of Cenderawasih. In addition, Jokowi is the only President who frequently visits Papua because he wants to know very well the problems in the field.
On the occasion of his visit to Papua, Deputy Chairman of the MPR, Fadel Muhammad, acknowledged that developments in Papua were extraordinary. After seeing Timika, Wamena, Sentani and Jayapura, the development is also very encouraging.
In this province, Fadel assessed that there are many potentials that can be developed, such as tourism, fisheries and animal husbandry.
Commitment to the welfare of Papua is also proven by the continuation of Special Autonomy (Otsus) for Papua. Where the implementation of Otsus by the central government is considered as an approach to improve welfare, while reducing the gap between Papua and other provinces.
Because, in the special autonomy, more authority is given to the regions, as well as respect for the basic rights of indigenous Papuans. The community was directly involved in supervising it.
According to the Chairperson of the Papua LIRA Youth, Steve R Mara, if there is a deficiency or rejection it is natural, because this is part of the criticism to make Otsus better. This is simply a different perspective where the central government thinks that Otsus is for the welfare of the Papuan people, while other parties see it as not optimal. In fact, large funds have been rolled out.
Albert Ali Kabiay as Chair of the Papua Province Mandala Trikora Youth DPD added that Otsus was here to answer problems in Papua. As the antithesis that when the new order was all centralized. It also encourages the development of human resources, health, the Papuan economy.
Albert assessed that, with great authority, it should have become a stepping stone for indigenous Papuans for the welfare of the region and society.
In addition, Albert also encouraged transparency from the provincial government regarding the special autonomy fund. In addition, there are also improvements in the distribution of the Special Autonomy budget in the regions, given the different locations for coastal and mountainous areas. Especially at this time, even though it has been given the authority and large funds for the human development index (HDI) of Papua, it is still quite behind, even though the HDI figures in Papua still show an increase from year to year.
Of course, this should be a concern to stick together to push forward Otsus to continue.
Papuan youth leaders, Izak R Hikoyabi, said that the policies taken by President Jokowi were considered to bring hope and progress for Papua. The reason is, the central government is considered to have provided many positive concerns for the land of Cenderawasih.
Izak also assessed that there are several things in the change of Papuan society. One of them is the flexibility in managing the special autonomy fund (Otsus) budget for the Papuan government.
He revealed that the steps taken by President Jokowi were effective steps by taking a dialogue approach to unravel problems and formulate alternative solutions.
According to Izak, national integration and the Republic of Indonesia are set in stone as a foundation built on the basis of welfare and justice on a legal system that respects the socio-cultural context.
A number of strategic steps have proven changes for Papua, such as infrastructure, education, social, economy and others.
It should be noted, however, that the government continues to carry out development for the Eastern Indonesia region, especially infrastructure development starting from toll roads, airports and ports as well as tourist areas.
The central government has decided that the Papua Special Autonomy, especially the distribution of the special autonomy fund, will be continued through the submission of a revision of the Papua Special Autonomy Law which is now included in the DPR Prolegnas for the 2019-2024 period. Through this revision, it is hoped that various problems stemming from the weakness of the special autonomy regulation and its derivative regulations can be corrected so that Otsus can provide the maximum benefit for the Papuan people and the various deviations that have occurred previously can be avoided.
Therefore, the momentum of the revision of the Papua Special Autonomy Law must be a means to revitalize the implementation of the Papua Special Autonomy so that it has a direct impact on the welfare of the people of Papua and West Papua.
The Papua Special Autonomy Policy deserves to be continued, because this policy has proven that the Papua province can accelerate development both in terms of infrastructure and human resource (HR) development.
) * The author is a Papuan student living in Jakarta
