By : Charles Tabuni )*
The government continues to make breakthroughs to overcome economic disparities and to further improve the welfare of all indigenous Papuan communities (OAP).
A young figure and Papuan activist, Charles Kossay, explained that since taking office in the first term until now in the second term, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has even visited the Land of Papua 17 times in person.
This shows how strong the Head of State’s commitment is to development on Cenderawasih Earth. Apart from that, this commitment was also continued with the issuance of various supporting policies such as Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 8 of 2017 concerning the Acceleration of Development for the Provinces of Papua and West Papua, where in the Presidential Instruction all relevant Ministries or Institutions were tasked with formulating a breakthrough background to overcome the problem. development gaps and further improve the welfare of the OAP community.
Several other strategies implemented by the Government are the ratification of Presidential Decree (Kepres) Number 20 of 2020 concerning the Integrated Coordination Team for the Acceleration of Welfare Development for Papua and West Papua Provinces, the ratification of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 24 of 2023 concerning Plans for Accelerating Development of Papua in 2022 until 2041 and Extension of Special Autonomy Number 21 of 2021 and the expansion of the Province into 6 Provinces.
It cannot be denied that the existence of Special Autonomy (Otsus) shows that there is partiality and full recognition from the state regarding Papua’s special position in the position of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) with four main focuses, namely development in the health sector, infrastructure, welfare and realizing the economy. populist.
Apart from that, the Central Government also accommodates the formation of the Papuan People’s Council (MRP) which has the task and authority to provide special consideration and approval to the Papua Provincial Government (Pemprov).
The existence of the policy to extend Special Autonomy also confirms that the Indonesian Government has provided very broad space for all people in Bumi Cenderawasih to be able to participate in national development, especially throughout the Land of Papua.
During President Joko Widodo’s leadership from 2014 until now, it has shown how the state’s full attention to the people and Papua Province is indeed very high.
The approach to development taken is very holistic and based on focusing on the welfare of citizens, this can be shown by how the Head of State has a very high intensity of visits to Cenderawasih Earth.
Then, with the democratic party to elect the next leader of this nation in 2024, the Papuan Young Leader hopes that the holders of leadership positions in the next five years can continue to continue the national policies that are currently being implemented very well by President Joko Widodo.
It is hoped that the breakthroughs that have been made by the current government to build Bumi Cenderawasih will be able to be continued by the next leadership after the implementation of political contestation in the 2024 General Election.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the Melanesian Youth Diplomacy Forum, Steve Mara, sees that development on Bumi Cenderawasih has currently been carried out very massively by the Indonesian Government. He believes that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has carried out a lot of development, both in terms of infrastructure and improving the quality of human resources (HR) in the Land of Papua.
If we look at the infrastructure development carried out by the Indonesian Government so far, such as road construction and the existence of Trans Papua, it is clear that all of these things show how the state is very serious in its efforts to accelerate development in Cenderawasih Earth and also shows that the concept of development is now What is being done is no longer Javacentric, but has changed to an Indonesiacentric concept.
All of these things show the very strong commitment that the Indonesian government currently has to continue to accelerate development in the easternmost province of the country, and also shows how the government has now taken various steps to make the best breakthroughs to develop this nation.
Therefore, all development efforts that have been intensified so far by the Government through various breakthroughs should continue to be maintained together so that accelerated development can continue to have an impact on improving the quality of human resources and supporting Papua’s economic growth.
Another important thing that must be underlined is that all the real evidence of the presence of the state and the seriousness of the Indonesian Government in developing Papua, indicates that indeed Papua itself has become an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia and is final and cannot be contested anymore.
In an effort to overcome the economic gap and also to further improve the welfare of all people in Papua, the Indonesian Government has made a breakthrough policy and strategy which is considered by Papuan leaders to be very good and needs to be continued by the leadership of the next President.
)* The author is a Papuan student living in Jakarta
