The Jakarta Post, February 21, 2007
Papua, Jakarta should address regional division
Neles Tebay, Jayapura
While the Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua has still not yet taken
root, there are growing aspirations for the division of Papua into smaller provinces.
Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri pushed forward the division of Papua into
separate provinces with her Presidential Instruction No. 1/2003.
The creation of Central Irian Jaya province was postponed due to conflict amongst the
Papuans, but West Irian Jaya province came into existence -- even without having a
legal basis -- thanks to the strong support of the government in Jakarta.
The demand for the creation of Southwest Papua province was delivered to the
provincial legislative council on Jan. 15, 2007. If approved, the new province's territory
would include one municipality and four regencies from the West Irian Jaya.
On Feb. 12, 2007, the goal of forming South Papua province was declared in
Merauke. The province's territory would include the Papuan regencies of Merauke,
Mappi, Asmat, and Boven Digul.
Separately, a motion for the formation of Central Irian Jaya province has resurfaced,
and is being debated in Nabire. A special committee for the establishment of
Bomberay province has already been formed. It is envisioned that Bomberay would
cover the West Irian Jaya regencies of Fakfak, Kaimana and Bintuni, and Mimika in
Papua.
In responding to these demands, the proper implementation of the special autonomy
law should be the prime consideration.
The creation of new provinces only can be supported by Jakarta and Papua if the
autonomy law can take full effect in all provinces. If regional divisions obstruct the
enforcement of the law, then Jakarta and Papua must have the courage to oppose
aspirations for the creation of new provinces.
Poverty eradication should be the second, but no less important, criterion to consider.
Today some 440,578 families, or 81.52 percent of Papuan families, are categorized as
poor.
Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu has announced that some 72.72 percent of people
in the province live in poverty or even absolute poverty. This shows that local people
have not benefited from decades of exploitation of the province's natural resources
such as oil, gold, copper, forests, and fish by multinational and domestic companies.
The governor was correct when he called this situation ironic, but he needs to reflect
on what he did to improve Papuans' welfare when he led the province between 1993
and 1998.
Jakarta and Papua must ensure that the whopping special autonomy fund will not be
spent on building new government offices and buying new cars for government officials
in the new provinces. The money must be spent on poverty alleviation.
There should be a third criterion for the division of Papua: the empowerment of the
newly created regencies.
In the six years since the enactment of the special autonomy law, 15 new regencies
were formed in Papua on top of the 12 old regencies and two municipalities. It looks
as if more regencies will be created in the future.
There is the undoubted fact that all the newly created regencies still suffer from a lack
of human resources and basic infrastructure. Many jobs in the regencies remain
vacant. The regencies, then, need skilled and qualified public servants to properly run
government offices.
The regencies need clean, good government to provide the best services to the public.
But this remains elusive. Besides, the regencies are still fully dependent on the
provincial government for financial support.
In such a situation, it would be wise for the central and provincial government to first,
empower the newly formed regencies; and second, create new provinces based upon
these strong regencies. New provinces should only be formed in Papua if both Jakarta
and the provincial government are convinced it would empower the regencies.
There may be more criteria for allowing new provinces to exist in Papua. But the point
is that Jakarta and Papua need some kind of criteria for judgment. Those criteria
should not be decided unilaterally by one party.
Each party must be committed to using the same criteria for all aspiring new
provinces, lest they spark unnecessary disputes.
The formation of West Irian Jaya is a lesson for both the central and Papuan
governments as they face the current flood of demands for new provinces in the
territory. Uneasy relations between Papua and West Irian Jaya are the consequence
of the central government earlier pushing of its wishes for regional division on Papua.
Conflict between Jakarta and Papua will continue unless they manage to reach
agreement on criteria for approving the formation of new provinces. It will be
impoverished Papuans who will bear the brunt of any political conflict over regional
division.
It's time for the Papuan legislative council, the Papua People's Assembly (MRP), the
governor and the central government to hold talks and formulate criteria to realize
aspirations the for creation of new provinces.
The writer is a lecturer at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in
Abepura, Jayapura.
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