Special autonomy has been very helpful for development in Papua

West Papua Blog – Gerson Yulianus Hassor, who is one of the tribal leaders in Jayapura, responded to the issue of rejection of the Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus).

According to him, Otsus has been very helpful for development in all fields in Papua, so he thinks that a group of people who reject Otsus are wrong.

He suspected that there were people who deliberately used the community to convey his rejection of Special Autonomy Volume II.

“If there is no Otsus, what do you want to be? Many Papuan children who go to school for free to overseas use special autonomy funds. Those who say that Otsus failed are wrong. In fact, Otsus is very useful for the people of Papua and an important note is that Otsus that has been running so far must be evaluated so that it is more optimal. Not to be rejected or considered a failure, “he said.

He added that the Papuan people should be proud because the central government gave Otsus.

“It is not only money that the central government has given to Papua, but an authority that the government has currently established for indigenous Papuans from various sectors,” he said.

According to him, one example is the great opportunity for Papuan people to get all services.

“So, if you say that Otsus failed, that’s a mistake. Otsus has been very good at helping the Papuan people. It’s just that it has to be evaluated and revised, so that it can be shared, “he said.

Notes

During the Abdurrahman Wahid administration in 2000, aside from changing the province name from “Irian Jaya” to “Papua”, Papua gained a “Special Autonomy” status, a political compromise between Papuans and the central government.

The political will of politicians in Jakarta to proceed with the implementation of the Special Autonomy was formalized in 2001 with the special autonomy law.

Special autonomy is part of democratic means to address aspiration of Papuan people. In late 2001, Indonesian government introduced a “special autonomy” bill for West Papua. The bill, which was drafted mostly by indigenous Papuans, passed the Indonesian parliament as Law No. 21 in November 2001.