President Jokowi inaugurates TVRI’s West Papua station

TVRI West Papua station

Manokwari, W Papua (ANTARA) – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated public broadcaster TVRI’s West Papua station on Wednesday and said he expected it to serve as a credible source of positive information on Indonesia and regional developments in Papua.

TVRI’s presence, including its 30th station in West Papua province, would enable Indonesians across the archipelago to know of events and regional developments taking place in Papua, President Widodo said at the online inaugural ceremony.

“In return, through TVRI, Papuan communities will also be able to keep (themselves) informed about other Indonesian regions,” he noted.

At the inaugural event, held the same day Indonesians commemorated the Youth Pledge Day, President Jokowi also urged youths across the country to set aside their differences and strengthen national unity and cooperation for the sake of the nation’s progress and development.

During Wednesday’s event, West Papua Governor Dominggus Mandacan inaugurated the TVRI office building, located in Arfai neighborhood of Manokwari, the capital of West Papua province. (INE)

TVRI West Papua station

Notes:

A former Dutch colony, West Papua has formally returned to Indonesia in 1969.

The undisputed vote of about 1,025 representative tribal leaders has chosen to join Indonesia.

The United Nations endorsed the result of the plebiscite and the world recognized West Papua as part Indonesia.

West Papuan people have elected the leaders of Papua and West Papua provinces.

The election in West Papua has strengthened the legality of the region as a province of Indonesia.

Since 2007, Abdurrahman Wahid administration changed the name from Irian Jaya to Papua.

Papua gained a “Special Autonomy” status, a political compromise between Papuans and the central government.

In 2001, politicians in Jakarta agreed to proceed with the implementation of the Special Autonomy.

However, Free West Papua separatist groups that seek to break away from Indonesia and establish new countries continue to challenge peaceful development by terror and intimidation.

Clash between secessionist and unionist in Papua and West Papua provinces is observable.

West Papuan Indonesia nationalist together with their brothers and sisters from many different ethnic groups are calmly defending the region from separatist threat.

However West Papua separatists continue add fuel to burn the region into violent communal conflict. For example they killed 19 innocent workers in December 2018 and 30 civilians in September 2019.