By: Jeremiah Kogoya )*
In his meeting with 61 figures from Papua and West Papua, they had expressed their aspirations to President Jokowi. Abisai Rollo who represented him hoped that they would get a chance to improve their capacity so that they could participate in development.
Abisai himself has considered Jokowi as a friend of the people of Papua, their arrival at the State Palace also brings hope with investment in the field of Human Resources, so the negative stigma is no longer placed on the people of Papua.
The meeting between Papuan and West Papuan community leaders and President Jokowi, resulted in several requests, one of which was to ask for more Papuans and West Papuans to become echelon 1 and 2 officials. Then, they also requested that Jokowi issue an Inpres on the appointment of honorary in Papua and West Papua become Prospective Civil Servants (CPNS).
The president also welcomed the aspirations of the figures conveyed by Abisai, who mostly focused on improving Human Resources (HR). He also said that HR could be the key.
The former Surakarta mayor also revealed his experience when meeting with Papuan students abroad. He acknowledged that students from Papua have undoubted quality qualities.
Jokowi said he was proud when he had the opportunity to go to California in America, when he met 12 students from Papua, they were not only smart but very smart. In addition, when he traveled to New Zealand, Jokowi also had a chance to meet more than 10 students from Tanah Papua who were all smart.
Regarding the proposal, Jokowi also promised to use his authority to encourage SOEs and other companies to employ young Papuan workers.
In the first stage, Jokowi promised to allocate employment opportunities for 1000 Young Papuan Scholars. In addition, the Head of State will also open wider opportunities for Papuan ASNs to be able to contribute more to development by placing Papuan sons and daughters at the echelon level of a number of ministries and state institutions.
The existence of Papuan Students who study abroad will certainly be proof that Papuan youth are ready to contribute to the country based on their scientific discipline.
If the proposal is approved, it means we must remove the stigma that Papuans are more inferior than people on Java, instead we should be sure that each region in Indonesia must have superior seeds ready to work and serve for the Republic of Indonesia, regardless of the Suku, Nation, Race and Religion.
Honorary staff in Papua, of course, hope for welfare for their lives, especially if there are those who have served more than 10 years, of course, the hope of having a Civil Service Number is increasingly ingrained.
Of course it is not impossible, with the strengthening of human resources in Papua, the Papuan people will be able to compete intellectually and show good performance in various lines of development.
Of course Papua has a dark side, where issues related to termination of employment, make it difficult for Papuans to send their children to school.
Meanwhile, Head of Mimika District Health Office Alfred Douw said, most of the honorary workers who worked at the Puskesmas in Mimika were honorary who did not have a collective decree but only stated by the Office, alias was appointed only based on the decision of the Office head.
The hope is that if an honorary worker is found on official duty, it is not a matter of the health office (DHO), if the head of the service that appoints him must pay.
Meanwhile, requests related to the issuance of the Presidential Instruction on honorary appointments in Papua and West Papua became ASN, including positions in echelon 1, 2 and 3 positions, Jokowi said it would be processed later along with other provinces outside Java.
With an increase in human resources in Papua, it certainly will increase opportunities for the people of Papua to get strategic positions in their positions, it is not impossible that an increase in human resources will also contribute to increasing their income.
)* The writer is a Papuan student living in Jakarta