Bark painting wallets at Asei village in Jayapura, a modern adaptation of a traditional craft in the area dating back to at least the 1600s (Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images)
On 12 April, the Indonesian parliament announced plans to establish three new provinces in West Papua. Currently, the western part of the island of New Guinea consists of two provinces: West Papua Province and Papua Province. The plan is to break down these two administrative regions into five, with the addition of the South Papua Province, Central Papua Province, and the Papua Central Highlands Province.
These designs for proliferation have ramifications far beyond altering arbitrary lines on a map. The creation of new administrative districts entails the necessity to establish government apparatus, set up military posts, and construct new infrastructure – all of which might exacerbate violent conflict in the region.
Not long ago, Indonesia’s recently-appointed Commander of Armed Forces General Andika Perkasa proposed a novel, “humanist” approach to handling political conflicts in West Papua. Rather than clamping down harder on armed combatants with gunfire, he has declared an aim to gradually resolve conflict by “territorial development operations”, involving the deployment of personnel to carry out teaching, healthcare and infrastructure-building missions to establish rapport with local Papuan communities, hoping to steer them away from the independence cause.
Aside from the fact that relations between Indonesian armed forces and Papuan people might have already soured to the point of being irreparable, what is omitted from Perkasa’s plans is that these operations require a lot more troops than those that are presently stationed in West Papua. Just one month after his appointment, Perkasa announced his plans to establish an additional eight military district commands (Kodim) in the region, an increase from 22 to 30. It is estimated that each Kodim consists of 700–900 personnel, meaning an additional 6,400 armed troops in what is already the most heavily-militarised area in Indonesia.
Consequently, establishing new provinces might also entail the proliferation of new military regions (Kodam) at the provincial level to coordinate the numerous Kodim on cities and regencies, meaning that even more military personnel are required to fill out posts on every different administrative levels. While under the new strategy these troops are expected to mostly carry out civic duties instead of being engaged in physical combat, the number of armed conflicts between the Indonesian military and West Papua National Liberation Army have increased in recent years along with the growing number of troops deployed in West Papua.
The arbitrarily divided administrative regions could also exacerbate what have been recognised by senior Papuan political activists as violent disputes between local tribes.
From a purely technocratic standpoint, breaking down the region into smaller, more manageable administrative areas is presented as a catalyst to promote good governance and induce development. Plans for proliferation were already introduced by amending the Papuan Special Autonomy Bill in 2021. Among other changes, the amendment will increase the allocation of the Special Autonomy Fund to Papuan Provinces from 2 to 2.25 per cent of the national General Allocation Fund (GAF). The government had also extended the revenue-sharing framework for oil and gas enterprises in West Papua, where the local government receives 70 per cent of the revenue, from 2026 to 2041.
Ever since the Special Autonomy Law for Papua (Otsus) was introduced in 2001, the region has indeed seen noticeable improvements. Although the 2021 Human Development Index still ranks the provinces of Papua (60.62) and West Papua (65.26) to be the lowest in the country, their overall growth from 2010 to 2019 surpassed the Indonesian national average of 0.53 points per year. The gulf between development within West Papua and the rest of the country was very large to begin with but has been catching up.
Yet the grievances of indigenous Papuan people go beyond these quantifiable improvements. In its heyday, the 2001 Otsus was dubbed the “prosperity approach”, where the central government in Jakarta funded projects in the region by mostly building infrastructure, such as roads. However, these funds ended up fuelling tensions as military presence became even more pronounced in their role of safeguarding construction work and business ventures such as mining and plantations.
Furthermore, the implementation of the Special Autonomy Law has largely ignored the political rights of West Papuans to self-govern. One key facet of the original bill was the formation of the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), a coalition of Papuan tribal chiefs tasked with arbitration and speaking on behalf of indigenous Papuans. While MRP’s role has largely been consultative over the years, they claim to be excluded from talks of establishing the three new provinces, with Indonesian human rights lawyer in-exile and current head of Amnesty Australia’s strategic campaigns Veronika Koman describing the move as “a product by Jakarta, for Jakarta”.
Seeing that the Indonesian government has largely bypassed mechanisms of representative democracy they set themselves, protests opposing the proliferation broke out in major Papuan cities such as Jayapura, Wamena, and Timika. Two people were killed in Yakuhimo Regency while six others were injured when security forces opened fire in March 2022. Earlier this year, a petition rejecting the Otsus amendment was circulated among local Papua residents, and managed to gather 718,179 signatures.
The total reserved funds used for the late payment of tuition fees and living costs reached Rp300 billion, the agency's head, Aryoko A.F. Rumaropen, said in a press statement on Wednesday.
Of the total students, 204 are studying at universities in the United States, 68 are pursuing higher education in Australia, 59 in New Zealand, 17 in Canada, and 7 in Japan, he informed.
The Papuan students have not only taken up undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs, but also vocational and professional programs, he added.
"We have gradually paid the tuition fees and living costs for our students in Japan, New Zealand, and Australia," he said.
Rumaropen further said that all students' tuition fees and living costs from January to April 2022 is paid this week. He then urged the students to send their study progress reports on a regular basis to the agency.
Related news: Minister Mahfud reiterates President's focus on Papua, West Papua
The reports are important because the authorities use them as a basis for paying their tuition fees and living costs, he explained.
ANTARA has reported earlier about how the Indonesian government has consistently demonstrated its strong commitment to boosting the development of the country's eastern regions, including Papua and West Papua provinces.
The Papua special autonomy law has paved the way for fund flows from the central government to Papua and West Papua since 2001.
The Finance Ministry's data has indicated that during the implementation of the Papua special autonomy law, the government disbursed Rp138.65 trillion for Papua and West Papua as special autonomy funds and additional funds for infrastructure projects.
Related news: VP discusses reconciliation, sustainable development with PGGP members
Meanwhile, the total regional transfer and village funds that the government distributed in the two provinces between 2002 and 2021 have been recorded at Rp702.3 trillion, according to People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Bambang Soesatyo.
Despite central funding, the two provinces are still struggling to improve the quality of their human capital, as evidenced by their scores on Indonesia's 2020 Human Development Index, which were below the national average of 71.94.
Related news: Scholarships handed to 89 university students in West Papua's Sorong
Related news: Some 82 percent Papuans press for new autonomous regions: Minister
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Papua and West Papua scored 60.44 and 65.09, respectively, on the index. Their scores were lower than Aceh province, which chalked up 71.94.
BPS data released in February this year further showed that the poverty rates in Papua and West Papua were recorded at 26.8 percent and 21.7 percent, respectively.
Development outcomes also remained inequitable for native Papuan communities as was evident from their low income level and lack of access to education and health services, it said.
In the midst of this challenging reality, the government has hinted at its intention to extend the allocation of special autonomy funds for Papua and West Papua by another two decades to accelerate efforts to close the development gap and usher prosperity for all communities in the region. (INE)
EDITED BY INE
A construction worker was killed in an attack by armed separatists in Indonesia's restive Papua province in reprisal for the recent killing of two rebels by security forces, police said.
The shooting took place in Erogama, a remote village in Puncak district, police spokesman Ahmad Mustofa Kamal said on April 26.
Samsul Sattu, 45, originally from Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi province, was shot while drinking coffee outside his home with two friends on April 25.
The shooting was likely in response to the killing of two West Papua National Liberation Army and Free Papua Movement (TPNPB-OPM) members last week by security forces, said Kamal.
TPNPB-OPM commander Luki Murib and Badaki Kogoya were both killed on April 23 in the same village as Sattu.
Kamal said Murib was killed because he was involved in the murder of the Papua regional intelligence chief, Brigadier-General I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, on April 25, 2021, in Beoga, Papua.
The killing of the intelligence chief, the highest-ranking officer to die in the decades-old separatist insurgency, sparked an escalation in the conflict — with more troops deployed — that has claimed the lives of dozens of people including civilians.
Father John Bunay, coordinator of the Papua Peace Network, said civilians are becoming increasingly vulnerable in the conflict.
“There’s an impression that by sending more police and military personnel to the region, Jakarta doesn’t want to resolve the problem in Papua, which makes local people more uncomfortable and vulnerable,” he told UCA News.
“We hope President Joko Widodo can scale back security forces in the region and give dialogue a chance.”
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The government has said it will comply with the Constitutional Court’s upcoming decision on a petition for judicial review filed by the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) last year that challenge several provisions in the 2021 Papua Special Autonomy Law.
The statement came after President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo’s meeting on Monday (April 25)with representatives from the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) that extensively discussed the 2021 law, which amended a previous law on special autonomy in Papua.
The 2021 amendment includes a provision that allows the House of Representatives and the government to create new provinces, municipalities and regencies in the country’s easternmost region without the approval of the MRP or regional legislative councils (DPRP).
In the law’s previous edition, the creation of new administrative areas required green-lighting by the two institutions.
The MRP filed its petition last year challenging several some provisions in the 2021 amendment, including those that allowed bypassing MRP and DPRP approval in establishing new administrative regions in Papua.
Monday’s meeting marked the first time the President had met with the MRP after the House endorsed three new bills earlier this month on the creation of the new provinces of South Papua, Central Papua and the Papua Central Highlands.
The MRP had previously called on the House and the government to postpone the bills’ deliberation citing the ongoing legal process. It also stressed that establishing new provinces in the region was “not the only [solution] to bring prosperity to Papuans”.
According to a statement released on Monday by the MRP, the President said the government would comply with the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding the 2021 law, but stopped short of confirming that the government would postpone its plan to form the new provinces.
“Regarding the process to amend the Papuan Special Autonomy Law, according to the reports that I have received, it was conducted with the involvement of the House, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) as well as DPRPs and the MRP,” Jokowi said, as quoted in the MRP’s statement.
“If there are provisions that are under judicial review at the Constitutional Court, we will respect and comply with the court’s decision.”
Jakarta Jubi TV – President Joko Widodo met with the delegations from the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) and the West Papuan People’s Assembly (MRPB) in Jakarta on Monday, April 25, 2022. During the meeting, the President was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, and the Deputy V of the Presidential Staff Office.
Mahfud MD in an online press conference said the meeting discussed the Papuan people’s aspirations on the Special Autonomy Law and the Papua Province expansion. However, no decision was made at the meeting.
“The meeting went well, information was exchanged, and there were no new decisions. The MRP invited the President to stop by their office when he visited Papua and the President said yes,” he said.
“The President told the MRP delegates, regarding the Special Autonomy Law that was being reviewed by the Constitutional Court, the government respects the legal process. In the end, it’s the Court’s verdict we must respect,” Mahfud said.
Meanwhile, regarding the formation of new autonomous regions in Papua, Mahfud said there were indeed pros and cons but, according to him, there was not a thing in this country that was immediately agreed upon by everyone.
“Therefore, the President explained that the expansion plan was based on the data that the demand for expansion across the archipelago was actually high. There are 354 applications for expansion, and for Papua’s interests, we grant it to three provinces,” said Mahfud.
“According to the results of a survey conducted by the presidential institution, 82 percent of the people in Papua ask for expansion. And if we talk about protests there, there are many protests rejecting the plan but there are also many protests supporting the plan,” he claimed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.