The effectiveness of Papua’s special autonomy must be increased

Special autonomy papua

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Member of Commission I Indonesian Parliament (DPR-RI) Sukamta hopes that the effectiveness of Papua’s Special Autonomy (Otsus) must continue to be increased, for example the Special Autonomy Fund should have a positive impact on human development, physical and social development in Papua.

He explained that so far, looking at the Human Development Index (HDI), it has not shown significant progress. The 2019 HDI Papua alone has the lowest score at 60.84, far below the national HDI score of 71.92.

“If this development is not felt by the lower class people, then they will think that the government does not care about the Papuan people,” said Sukamta in Jakarta, Friday.

According to Sukamta, the Papua special autonomy fund that has been disbursed is quite large, reaching a total of Rp. 126 trillion from 2002 to 2020, and for the 2021 State Budget it has been determined that the Papua special autonomy fund is worth Rp. 7.8 trillion.

This, according to him, is in accordance with the mandate of Law No. 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy that the Special Autonomy Fund is equivalent to 2 percent of the total national general allocation fund ceiling (DAU) and is valid for 20 years.

“We also need to evaluate and continue the Papua Special Autonomy, because only 1-2 years are left. If the special autonomy fund is not continued, it will be very burdensome for Papua, because the special autonomy funds have so far contributed up to 60 percent of the regional budget,” he said.

He also hopes that the approach to Papua will use a more humanitarian approach, so that it is more socially human and adapted to the culture of the Papuan people. Therefore, he hopes that development in Papua will really touch the Papuan people so that dialogue must be promoted.

In addition, Sukamta said that related to security issues, OPM would always raise issues to agitate the Papuan people to undermine the Republic of Indonesia or other countries that have an interest in the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia.

“Papua is only an entry point to disrupt the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia. We hope that the central government will come together to overcome this, be it the security forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other parties so that they can solve the Papua problem comprehensively,” he said.

He gave an example, several countries with an interest in Papua could be approached diplomatically by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to him, to achieve all of this, it is necessary to encourage the optimization of a special Papua desk to coordinate all units to work in one command.

“We hope that human development, physical, cultural, foreign diplomacy, security, intelligence, economic development do not go on independently. If this comprehensive approach is taken, hopefully the Papua problem can be resolved more systematically,” he said.

Notes:

Papuan separatist groups fear the special autonomy Papua because of its success in awakening the Papuan people to develop Papua and leaving behind the bloody conflict that has always been fuelled by separatist groups.