Young Papuan figure, Charles Kossay, views that various national developments in Bumi Cenderawasih continue to increase in each period of government. In fact, according to him, attention to Papua in the era of President Joko Widodo’s administration was among the best.
This young Papuan figure believes that President Joko Widodo’s attention to Bumi Cenderawasih is quite large. One of them is reflected in the many visits by heads of state to Papua to directly absorb the aspirations of the people.
“Since taking office in the first and second terms, President Joko Widodo has visited Papua 17 times,” said Charles.
He assessed that President Jokowi’s commitment to developing the Papua region can be seen by the issuance of various types of regulations. For example, Presidential Decree No. 24 of 2023 concerning plans to accelerate Papua’s development in 2022-2041.
Not only regulations, Charles also appreciated other policies in Papua, especially regional expansion and the extension of Special Autonomy or Special Autonomy.
“The Special Autonomy shows the state’s partiality and recognition of the special features of Papua in the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia with 4 main focuses of development in the infrastructure health sector, prosperity in the form of a people’s economy,” he added.
He continued that the Special Autonomy Law is special because it is the legal umbrella for the existence of the Papuan People’s Council (MRP).
“One of the core and attractions of this law is the formation of the Papuan People’s Assembly, which has the task and authority to provide special consideration and approval to the Papua provincial government,” he said.
Steve Mara as Chair of the Melanesian Youth Diplomacy Forum also expressed the same thing. He assessed that development in the era of President Jokowi has been very massive, especially in the fields of infrastructure and human resources.
Furthermore, Steve considers that the various strategies currently being intensively implemented by the Government show that Government Development is not Javacentric.
“The construction of bridges, the construction of the Papuan Stadium and Transpapua have shown that the current government is serious about developing Papua and shows that Indonesia’s development is no longer Java-centric development,” said Steve.
Not to forget, the Chair of the Melanesian Youth Diplomacy Forum invited all elements of Papuan society to support and maintain the national development program so that it can run according to plan.
“My hope is that what this government has done, let’s look after it together so that this accelerated development will also have an impact on human resource development and also economic growth in Papua,” he said.
