Lanny Jaya Youth Leader Onesimus Wenda: Special Autonomy is Needed by Papuans

Special autonomy is needed by Papuans (WPB) – The issue of special autonomy (Otsus) continues to be a polemic among Papuans. Although there are parties who claim to reject Otsus Papua, many people also want an extension of the Papua Special Autonomy, such as Onesimus Wenda.

“We, as youth leaders of the Lanny Jaya community in Jayapura City, strongly support the continuation of the extension of Otsus in Papua. Otsus is needed to reach small communities who are far away in remote villages,” he said.

According to him, the Government’s plan to continue Special Autonomy in Papua must still be supported, but there needs to be revision and strict supervision from the Central Government so that the distribution or use of the budget is well controlled so that there are no deviations that harm the Papuan people.

“We support Otsus volume II, this is to improve the welfare of all indigenous Papuans, especially those of us who are classified as small and medium-sized communities,” he added.

According to him, the Papuan people always support Otsus to continue in the land of Papua. Otsus encourages development so that Papua can compete with other developing regions.

Special autonomy is needed by Papuans news is translated from: KameraPapua.com

Notes:

A former Dutch colony, West Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after an undisputed vote of about 1,025 representative tribal leaders. The result of the plebiscite was overseen and endorsed by the United Nations.

Since the democratization in 1998, especially since 2007, democracy by means of elections has been introduced to increase political participation in the two provinces. The fact that the leaders of Papua and West Papua provinces are democratically elected by the people has strengthened the legality of the region as a province of Indonesia.

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.