Customary leader of Yoka Village claims that Papua’s special autonomy has not failed

Customary leader of Yoka Village

12 villages in Jayapura City, the capital of Papua Province have unanimously supported that Special Autonomy Volume II should be extended.

Jayapura (ANTARA) – One of the traditional leaders or Ondoafi of Yoka Village, Jayapura City, Titus Mebri claims that the implementation of Law Number 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy (Otsus) in Papua Province has not completely failed as some have argued.

“There are parties who think that so far Otsus has failed, but in reality Otsus has not failed. There is a lot of clear evidence that Otsus has succeeded in changing people’s welfare slowly,” said Ondoafi, Yoka Village, Titus Membri in Jayapura City, Tuesday.

According to him, through Otsus, development in Papua has been so rapid, regional expansion has shortened the span of government control and enabled Papuans living in villages to receive education from basic to tertiary education.

Including health services, with the presence of a number of health workers in the villages and many Papuan children who are now medical personnel, mantri, nurses to doctors.

For this reason, Titus asked all parties to join hands to support the sustainability of Otsus, which was later called Otsus volume II in Papua.

“Given that Otsus has so far brought about many changes for Papua. If there is no Otsus and only hope for the APBD and APBN, Papua will be left behind many other regions in Indonesia. This is assessed from a funding perspective, while from a partiality side it will be left behind,” he said.

Regarding the current Special Autonomy, Titus suggested to do an evaluation of its weaknesses and strengths, so that later the sustainability of Otsus could be maximized and could make Papuans more advanced and not marginalized.

“We have to support the implementation of Otsus. If it is considered a failure, it is not the special autonomy but the people who have the authority, and that must be underlined and evaluated,” he said.

In fact, Titus claimed that 12 villages in Jayapura City, the capital of Papua Province have unanimously supported that Special Autonomy Volume II should be extended.

“Nobody refuses, we all support, if there are people who reject it personally, it does not represent Papua. We want development, want to progress like other regions,” Customary leader of Yoka Village, Titus Membri said.