Indonesia govt blamed for stagnant special autonomy in Papua

News Update from RNZI

Posted at 22:29 on 31 March, 2008 UTC

A delegation of politicians from Indonesia’s Papua province has been to Jakarta to further pressure the central government to help improve Special Autonomy in their region.

The Jakarta post reports that Papua legislature members, led by chief councilor Jimmy Demianus, held separate meetings with the House of Representatives and Regional Representative Council leadership.

Many Papuans believe Special Autonomy, established in 2001, has failed to address problems such as human rights violations, natural resource management, health, poverty and security.

Mr Demianus has warned that Papua’s problems will become more complex if Jakarta did not improve the implementation of Special Autonomy.

He blamed Jakarta for the stagnation of special autonomy in Papua and neighbouring West Papua province, saying they can’t properly implement autonomy without technical and operational guidance from central government.

Recently, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu admitted that despite huge special autonomy funds being allocated over the last seven years, most Papuans remain poor and uneducated.

He said that most of the funds have been used to finance bureaucracy.