Papua Sowing Seeds of Hope
This month the Indonesian people are celebrating the anniversary of their independence. Hopefully, with the spirit of the proclamation of independence, the OAP can free themselves from the shackles of backwardness.
Papua is apparently not a stepchild of the state. The barriers have been removed step by step for the freedom of the indigenous Papuans or Orang Asli Papua (OAP) from the shackles of poverty, backwardness, illiteracy and all forms of manifested grip of unjust power.
The main capital to realize material and spiritual prosperity has been the state\'s determination and goodwill to revise Law No. 21/2001 concerning the special autonomy status of Papua by issuing Law No. 2/2021.
The state\'s political goodwill has resulted in more elaborately defined political commitments that were previously perceived to be vague in the Special Autonomy Law.
The state has affirmed to protect and uphold dignity, and honors the basic rights of the OAP in the economic, political, sociocultural and legal fields, as well as accelerating the development and improving public services in the Papuan region for the sake of sustainable welfare.
The state\'s affirmed goodwill is contained in three aspects. First, the government has augmented the special autonomy fund from 2 to 2.25 percent of the general allocation fund from the state budget. In order to increase the effectiveness, the fiscal scheme is disbursed based on performance, not as a lump sum as has been the case over the last two decades.
The specified transfer scheme of the special autonomy allocation funds aims to fund activities of national priority that become regional interests. It is hoped that the use of funds will be more effectively beneficial for the OAP.
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The process will require the local governments to submit work plans to the central government based on regional development programs at hand.
The revised Special Autonomy Law also confirms that the use of 1.25 percent of special autonomy funds is allocated for education, health and community economic empowerment. At least 30 percent of the amount is apportioned for education and 20 percent for health.
In addition, the special autonomy fund can extend until 2041. For the next period, the special funds are given 50 percent of the profit sharing from oil mining and 50 percent from natural gas mining.
Second, the revised Papua Special Autonomy Law mandates the establishment of a special agency chaired by the vice president who is directly responsible to the President. Its members will consist of several Cabinet ministers and a representative from each province in Papua.
The special agency is assigned to deal with chronic diseases of local bureaucracies governance through synchronization, harmonization and evaluation.
Given the importance of its role, it is better for the Papua desks scattered in several ministries and other institutions to be incorporated into the special agency.
The special agency should be firm -- not lukewarm -- in its political intentions. Don\'t let it be like a similar body that was formed around 2010. This work unit does aim to accelerate the development of the OAP.
The special agency may be led by a fully dedicated and hard worker and supported by a comprehensive concept, but an inconsistent political attitude will bear results far from optimal.
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Third, the two easternmost provinces are granted extraordinary privileges in the case of administrative proliferation at the provincial, regency or municipal level. The scheme can be carried out without having to go through the “new administrative under preparation” stage as administered in the Regional Government Law. As the process is not complicated, its realization is expected to take a shorter time.
However, the revised Special Autonomy Law has yet to touch or address more clearly three important aspects. First, it does not mention at all an establishment of a fact-finding and reconciliatory commission. Its establishment would be important to clarify the history of Papua in order to construct the local cultural and social values of the OAP in the landscape of national diversity.
Second, the existence of local political parties is obscured, which might leave the aspirations and interests of the community being unable to be channeled, given that a political party carries the main task of accommodating and channeling the aspirations of the community.
Without the presence of political parties, local people might express their aspirations and interests according to their own tastes and ways, with them possibly ending up in hardline organizations.
The political parties would serve as an institution to help in shaping up government staffer candidates, who are essentially required to have a clear ideology, capacity to educate cadres, moral, managerial competence and integrity.
Third, with the main objective of the revision of the Special Autonomy Law aiming to align the indigenous Papuans with those in other regions, the local governments -- by adhering to the principles of diversity -- need to outline a policy on the arrival of newcomers.
In the last 10 years, the OAP have seen massive arrivals of people from outside with them bringing their own traditions, customs, particularistic values and later constructing symbols representing their respective hegemony. The phenomenon has begun to intervene with the existence and preservation of the indigenous Papuans’ cultural and social values.
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Newcomers are expected to make adaptions and refrain from flaunting hegemonic symbols that would disturb and push the indigenous Papuans deeper into painful conscience.
This month the Indonesian people are celebrating the anniversary of their independence. Hopefully, with the spirit of the proclamation of independence, the OAP can free themselves from the shackles of backwardness.
Hopefully, the Special Autonomy Law will be able to remove the simmering rebellious inclinations inside the Papuans.
The revised Special Autonomy Law is expected to facilitate a smooth headway -- not a muddy, bushy and thorny impasse-leading path --for the OAP to walk free without shackles of backwardness.
Hopefully, the Special Autonomy Law will be able to remove the simmering rebellious inclinations inside the Papuans as a result of unjust treatment and human rights violations.
J KRISTIADI, CSIS Senior Researcher
This article was translated by Musthofid.