Government Committed to Erasing Disparities by Advancing Papua as an Integral Part of the Republic of Indonesia
By: Devaryo Valarie )*
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) is strongly committed to erasing disparities throughout the country, one of its efforts is by accelerating development and advancing Papua because it is an integral part that cannot be separated from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
Indeed, Papua itself is one of the parts of Indonesia that has become integral and inseparable from the Republic of Indonesia. Therefore, because the government continues to strive to realize the mandate of the constitution, it is certain that disparities must be eliminated by fully encouraging the acceleration of development and progress in the region nicknamed Bumi Cenderawasih.
The reason is, if Papua succeeds in experiencing progress, then it is not impossible that this will also have a very positive impact on the development of Indonesia, because in reality whatever happens there will also have an impact on this nation because it is an integral part that cannot be separated at all.
Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia (Wapres RI), K.H. Ma’ruf Amin said that until now there are still various limitations in Papua, such as access to the education sector, health and economic disparities.
Therefore, the Government continues to be committed to strongly encouraging the acceleration of development in the Papua region. However, the government’s steps do not only stop at efforts to accelerate development but in one direction only, but the strategy continues to involve the active role of the local community.
It is still one of the challenges when it comes to issues in Papua, namely regarding the equal distribution of human development, especially in increasing the equal distribution of education and training to all remote areas.
Because there are still limited access to several of these sectors, the Indonesian Government has never stopped to always provide serious and extra attention by further accelerating development and expanding basic services for all Papuan people.
So far, the Indonesian Government has continued to take various intervention steps to fulfill the basic needs of all indigenous Papuans (OAP) in particular. One of them is the establishment of the Papua Development Steering Committee.
With the establishment of the Papua Steering Committee, this is one of the many concrete steps taken by the government to accelerate development there. The reason is, the Agency will coordinate all development programs so that they are always in accordance with the Papuan Development Acceleration Master Plan (RIPPP) that has been issued.
The main focus of the government in implementing the Bumi Cenderawasih development acceleration approach is the involvement of all indigenous Papuans (OAP) and focusing on education, health, and empowerment of the local community economy and security so that all of them are able to provide very real benefits for them.
All programs implemented by the government are able to reduce the inequality or gap between one region in Indonesia and another, and can further increase national economic growth.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Regional Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia (DPD RI), AA LaNyalla Mahmud Mattalitti gave a very positive response and highly appreciated the hard work of the Papua Barat Daya Provincial Government (Pemprov) in developing the Sorong Special Economic Zone (KEK).
Not without reason, because with the existence of the Sorong KEK, it will clearly become one of the instruments and locomotives for accelerating development, especially the economic sector in Tanah Papua which is an approach to welfare for the complex problems in Bumi Cenderawasih.
Precisely because the problems in Papua have been very complex, it requires a holistic and sustainable approach. One approach that the government uses is the welfare approach.
If economic welfare increases, it will be able to reduce inequality and disparities in the region. Therefore, it is important for all parties to be able to unite the rhythm in their perspectives to show real contributions in building Special Economic Zones.
On the other hand, Deputy IV for State Defense Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Kemenko Polhukam), Rear Admiral of the Indonesian National Army (TNI) Kisdiyanto said that handling conflicts in a humane manner is one of the government’s activities in the national priority program, including in Papua.
There are several root causes of the conflict in Papua, one of which is the issue of welfare disparity. To overcome this, one of the government’s methods is to allocate Special Autonomy (Otsus) funds of up to 2.25 percent of the national general allocation fund to be able to answer the root causes of the conflict by narrowing the welfare gap.
The strong commitment of the Indonesian Government to be able to eliminate disparities by continuing to encourage accelerated development in an effort to advance the Land of Papua has never been a joke. Moreover, Bumi Cenderawasih itself has a final status as an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia that cannot be separated.
)* The author is a student from Papua living in Surabaya
