Improving Papua’s special autonomy

A Papuan student wrote the following article about Papua’s special autonomy. West Papua Blog thinks that an honest expression by native Papuan intellectual is very important for the government and whoever has interest in Papua and West Papua to read. We try to minimize the editing of the article. Please enjoy reading it !

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Indonesia is a country consisted of thousands of tribes. Those tribes have unique characteristic and difference each other. Every tribe is usually live in one territory, province, or island. Besides, some of them migrating to other territory for their own interest. Because of this diversity, Indonesia has to maintain its welfare, justice, and unity that equal to every tribe and territory. One effort that has been done by Indonesian government is giving the special autonomy to some territory that have a very unique characteristic such as Aceh and Papua. The following opinion is focusing on special autonomy in Papua

Basically, the Special Autonomy is a special authority that is recognized and given to the Papua Province to regulate and manage the interests of the local community according to their own initiatives based on the aspirations and basic rights of the people of Papua.

The granting of such authority is done so that the administration and implementation of development in Papua Province can fulfill a sense of justice, accelerate the achievement of people’s welfare, support the realization of law enforcement, and show respect for human rights in West Papua, particularly the Indigenous Papuans.

“Special Autonomy for Papua is able to minimize economic and development gaps in Papua“

The provision of special autonomy funds for Papua, basically supporting the acceleration of the implementation of special autonomy for the Papua Province, in the context of realizing justice, upholding the rule of law, respecting human rights, accelerating economic development, enhancing the welfare and progress of the Papuan people in the framework of equality and balance with the progress of other provinces in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, in the area of Regional Finance, the specificity given to Papua Province related to the implementation of Special Autonomy is the existence of special receipt post in the context of the Implementation of Special Autonomy.

Additional Infrastructure Fund Posts in the Context of the Implementation of Special Autonomy is primarily intended to finance infrastructure development.

The author advises the government not to stop disbursing funds for Papua, because it will have economic impacts, including higher inflation rates, for areas that are already poor.

While the government evaluates Special Autonomy in Papua, government must ensure the Papuan staff empowered and obey the rule. Stringent and transparent is the key to monitoring the budget allocation to avoid any missue.

Other than that, central government should focus on increasing trust with local people. Government of Indonesia already give scholarship abroad for Papuan people to increasing an education, hope they can contribute to educating their communities when they return with approaches deemed suitable for Papuan.

Christoper Kaisiepo

Papua students receiving government scholarships abroad