The existence of KST Papua in fact is not at all a significant obstacle and has an impact on how the Government’s efforts to continue distributing aid to drought victims in Puncak Papua.
The Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) Admiral Yudo Margono revealed a fact regarding the latest news and conditions related to the Government’s efforts to distribute aid to residents as victims of the drought that hit Central Papua Province.
According to him, it turns out that all this time efforts to distribute aid carried out by the Government have been hampered due to the extreme and foggy weather in that location. Furthermore, the TNI leader emphasized that the existence of Separatist and Terrorist Groups there was in no way a significant obstacle in distributing aid to the community.
This is a clarification of the existence of various issues that had circulated to the public regarding the appearance that the efforts to distribute aid carried out by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia were actually hampered because of the Papua KST. Even though the reality on the ground is not at all the case, the obstacles that occur are precisely because of extreme weather.
It is known that the weather in Central Papua Province is currently not good due to winter, so that the area there is often thick fog. Of course, the presence of extreme weather was quite an obstacle for the security forces to distribute aid to drought-affected residents in Puncak Regency.
Even though it was constrained by the extreme weather on Cenderawasih Earth, this did not dampen the hard work and enthusiasm of all parties involved in distributing the assistance in the form of food and logistics.
10 tons of food assistance from the Government through the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) and also 8 tons of assistance from the TNI have been fully disbursed. Now, the TNI is assisting in the distribution of other assistance originating from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).
Previously, the Head of BNPB and also the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) had conducted an on-site inspection. After this review, the Indonesian National Armed Forces itself has a very strong commitment to fully support and prepare defense equipment to assist in solving the drought problem in Puncak Papua.
All security personnel from joint personnel such as the TNI, the Indonesian National Police (Polri) to the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) have also been prepared and they are all on standby at the location to carry out security. The main thing to focus on is doing humanitarian assistance.
It was also explained that in an effort to resolve this drought, all parties have played an active and involved role, such as from the local Regional Government (Pemda), namely the Regent, the local Regional Head, to community leaders and religious leaders.
On the other hand, Vice President KH. Ma’ruf Amin also said that the Government continues to carry out regular evaluations of how the situation is developing in Central Papua, especially in the Agandugume District area and also in the Lambewi District.
Regarding how the assistance has been distributed itself, assistance in the first phase has been carried out, then currently there is an emergency response period which is set for one week with an agreement from the Government of the Republic of Indonesia that it will increase the amount of aid distribution to be increased to 2 (two) weeks.
Efforts to deal with drought emergencies as well as extreme cold weather in Central Papua Province are continuing to be carried out by the Government. As the latest development, BNPB has now sent a number of logistical assistance and also equipment with a total of 5,228 kilograms (kg).
All of the assistance was sent in stages through 2 (two) airports, namely 3,844 kilograms (kg) sent through Sinak Airport and the remaining 1,384 kg sent through Agandugume Airport. This support in the form of logistical assistance will continue during the drought emergency response period in Puncak Regency.
Not only that, but the BNPB itself will also continue to monitor it so that all logistics distribution can reach all residents who need it safely and smoothly. Supervision is important to be carried out to ensure that all efforts to distribute aid to residents who are victims of the drought in Puncak Papua can receive and receive this assistance, which has also been emphasized that even with the presence of KST Papua there, there are absolutely separatist groups. This was not a significant obstacle because security was very tight by the security forces.
