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Policymakers press ahead with plan to create yet another new province in Papua
Lawmakers and the government are pushing to quickly pass legislation to create yet another new province in Papua at the coming plenary meeting despite pushback from experts and activists.
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Papuan students protest against the government's plan to develop new administrative areas in the country's easternmost Papua province, in Malang, East Java on March 21, 2022. (AFP/Putri)
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awmakers and the government are pushing to quickly pass legislation to create yet another new province in Papua at a coming plenary meeting of the House of Representatives despite pushback from experts and activists.
Policymakers aim to bring a bill that will split West Papua province into two new administrations, via the creation of Southwest Papua province, to a plenary session as soon as possible although they have yet to decide when.
This comes after House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs – and the government – last week unanimously endorsed the bill as they reached consensus that Southwest Papua would cover six out of the 13 existing regencies and cities of Papua province, with Sorong city being its new capital.
It took Commission II less than a month to discuss the bill, among the fastest in the House’s history.
Commission II chairman Ahmad Doli Kurnia from the Golkar Party said that lawmakers fast-tracked the deliberation of the bill because the formation of the new province might affect the preparation for the 2024 national and regional elections, kompas.id reported.
The plan follows the July enactment of laws that stipulate the creation of three new provinces – South Papua, Central Papua and Papua Central Highlands – despite objections from indigenous people and activists who feared that doing so would give the central government more power over the resource-rich region. The government insisted that the creation of the three new provinces was intended to help spur development of the outlying region, which is rich in natural resources but remains one the country's poorest regions. At the time, West Papua was left as it was.
Read also: Laws forming new Papuan provinces trigger protests
