The passing of the bills as laws demonstrated the government’s commitment to accelerating development in the Papua region.
After the laws are passed, the central government is subsequently tasked with establishing the provincial administration.
Currently, the central government continues to conceive policies and derivative laws for the three new Papuan provinces, including designating the new provincial governments and establishing the first provincial legislatures.
Apart from proposing the most suitable legal basis for the new provincial administration, the Home Affairs Ministry will also collaborate with relevant stakeholders to manage the provincial apparatus in the three new provinces, including implementing affirmative action for Papuan natives as state employees.
Prompt action to set up the provincial administrations is necessary, so that the new provinces will soon have in place a complete apparatus to start their work to fulfil obligations to serve the people.
One of the three new provinces for which the legal basis was recently finalised is Central Papua Province, with Nabire District, located north of the province, designated as the provincial capital.
Central Papua autonomy
Central Papua Province was carved up from the western part of Papua Province. The new province comprises eight districts: Nabire, Paniai, Mimika, Dogiyai, Intan Jaya, Deiyai, Puncak, and Puncak Jaya.
The province, to the north, is bordered by the districts of Waropen and Mamberamo Raya and Cenderawasih Bay, all in Papua Province.
The eastern part of the province borders the districts of Lanny Jaya, Nduga, and Tolikara, all within the newly established Papua Highland Province and Asmat District in the new South Papua Province.
As the Aru Sea forms the southern border of the province, the western part of the province is bordered by the districts of Kaimana and Teluk Wondama in West Papua Province.
Despite being carved out from the autonomous Papua province, Central Papua Province will not lose its special autonomy status, according to Law No. 2 of 2021 on Special Autonomy of Papua.
Law No. 2 of 2021 ensures special autonomy status for all provinces in the Papua region, including newly established provinces. The special autonomy status means that Papuan provinces are able to regulate the province according to the aspirations and customs of the Papuan people.
As the end of the New Order ushered the Reform Era, the House of Representatives and the president at that time concurred to awarding special autonomy status to the Papuan region following comprehensive research involving various stakeholders.
After the House of Representatives passed the Papuan autonomy bill as law in 2001, President Megawati Soekarnoputri signed Law No. 21 of 2001 on Special Autonomy for Papua Province on November 21 that year.
To bolster development in the Papua region, Soekarnoputri then enacted Presidential Decision No. 1 of 2003 that divided the region into two provinces: Papua and West Papua.
Some 19 years later, the government passed Law No. 2 of 2021 that amended the 2001 special autonomy law to perfect the autonomous status for provinces in Papua.
Central Papua and customary region
The establishment of new provinces in the Papua region is an implication of the decision to carve new provinces according to customary regions recognised by Papuan natives, according to Home Ministry’s Director of Special Autonomy Region Management Valentinus Sudarjanto Sumito.
The new province of Central Papua corresponds to the native Mee Pago customary region, where the Mee people live.
The Mee people are centred around Paniai, Tage and Tigi lakes, Kamu Valley (now in Dogiyai), and Mapiha/Mapisa Mountain, so the coast in the province’s south and mountain forms the geographic characteristics of the province.
The Mee people are known to possess high wisdom, critical and logical thinking, comprehension of their own community to differentiate themselves from other groups and are observant of the ancestors’ customs and rules.
According to the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Population Census in 2020, Central Papua’s population reached 1,391,123 people, with the districts of Mimika, Paniai, and Puncak Jaya being the top three districts, with the most population in the new province.
In descending order, the population in Mimika District reaches 311,969 people, while Paniai has 220,410 people; Puncak Jaya recorded 224,527 people; Nabire’s population reaches 169,136 people; Intan Jaya, with 135,043 people; Dogiyai, with 116,206 people; Puncak, with 114,741 people; and Deiyai, with 99,091 people.
The BPS also projected population growth in districts that form the Central Papua Province to reach a total of 1,408,991 by 2021, with Mimika being the most populous district, yet Puncak Jaya overtook Paniai as the second most populous region.
In detail, the projected population in Mimika by 2021 was 316,295 people; 227,641 people in Puncak Jaya, and 223,467 people in Paniai. Furthermore, the projected population in Nabire was 170,914 people; Intan Jaya, 136,916 people; Dogiyai, 117,818 people; Puncak, 115,474 people, and Deiyai, 100,466 people.
Concrete and prompt actions to establish three new provinces in Papua is not the last effort the central government would take to bolster development in Papua.
The central government will also rev up efforts to establish a regional administration in the new provinces to ensure the new authority can promptly work for the people and realise the residents' aspirations.
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Jayapura, Jubi – The Manado Military Court III – 17 in North Sulawesi on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, has sentenced to prison two Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers who killed two residents of Timika, Mimika Regency, Papua. The defendants, Second Lt. Inf. Gabriel Bowie Wijaya and Chief Pvt. Sugi Harnoto, were sentenced to seven and six years in prison respectively, and dismissed from military service.
Director of the Papuan Human Rights Advocates Association (PAHAM) Gustaf R Kawer appreciated the verdict. “This is important as it can be a lesson for organic and non-organic troops in Papua to be more careful in carrying out their duties, pay more attention to local custom, and always uphold a sense of humanity,” said Kawer to Jubi via WhatsApp message on Monday, July 11, 2022.
Kawer is the attorney for the families of the two shooting victims, Eden Bebari and Roni Wandik. He said Gabriel and Sugi were charged with murder as stipulated in Article 338 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code, as well as the use of collective force to commit violence that took the lives of others as stipulated in Article 170 paragraph (2) of the 3rd Criminal Code. Kawer emphasized that these acts were crimes against humanity.
“We hope that in the future, strong allegations of violations like this will be resolved through the Human Rights Court so that the superiors who give orders and other perpetrators involved can also be prosecuted, not only the lower ranks,” he said.
Kawer further added that after various human rights violations that occurred in Papua, there had been no compensation, restitution, and rehabilitation for the families of the victims. “The state must be responsible in fulfilling the right of the victims and families of victims of human rights violations. They continue to live with the trauma even though the court has sentenced the perpetrators,” he said.
Eden Bebari and Roni Wandik were shot dead on April 13, 2020, while fishing in the PT Freeport Indonesia tailings disposal area in Mimika Regency, Papua. They got shot by four TNI soldiers, including Gabriel and Sugi, who were members of the XIII/Merdeka Regional Military Command being seconded in Papua. (*)
Jayapura, Jubi – Member of the Commission for Government, Politics, Law, Human Rights, and Security at the Papuan Legislative Council, Laurenzus Kadepa, said an independent team was needed to investigate the recent chaos in Paniai Regency that resulted in one resident died and two others were injured.
Chaos and destruction of the Paniai Regent’s Office occurred on July 5, 2022. The incident occurred during a meeting of the Village Head Election Deliberative Body. According to the police, a number of committees who were dissatisfied vented their frustration by destroying facilities at the regent’s office. Police officers who were at the location fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.
In the event, one resident died and two others were injured. The victim is believed to have died from a gunshot wound. However, the police said, from the post-mortem at the Paniai Hospital, the victim died as a result of a sharp object cut in the abdomen, not because he was shot, as alleged by various parties.
“An independent investigation must be held to uncover the alleged shooting that occurred at the Paniai Regent’s office on July 5. The Paniai Administration and the Paniai Police must be open to the investigation,” said Laurenzus Kadepa when contacted by Jubi via phone call on Monday, July 11, 2022.
Laurenzus Kadepa, who is a lawmaker from the constituencies of Paniai, Deiyai, Dogiyai, Mimika, Intan Jaya, and Nabire, said that various parties in Papua were now focusing on resolving the Bloody Paniai case. The case that occurred on December 8, 2014, has been determined as an alleged gross human rights violation by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
He regretted that a similar problem had occurred again in Paniai. He said that the security forces in Papua always prioritize the use of weapons whenever there is a problem, large or small. The regional head is also considered ignorant about the condition of the people.
On the other hand, Kadepa said, people sometimes vent their anger by destroying government facilities or other public facilities. “These things are wrong. My suggestion is for the authorities to investigate and make the case clear. And for all parties, please stop killing civilians as if their lives are worthless,” said Kadepa. (*)
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