TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Policymakers press ahead with plan for another Papua province
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.
Change Size
L
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
Jakarta’s push for redistricting had intensified following the enactment of a new law on Papuan special autonomy last year that bypasses the requirement for the government to consult with the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), which represents indigenous peoples, and local legislative council (DPRP) before the creation of new provinces there.
Same reason, patterns
Policymakers now want to carve the newest province of Southwest Papua out of West Papua for the same reason, Home Minister Tito Karnavian said recently.
Critics once again lambasted policymakers for pressing ahead with the latest redistricting plan at a faster clip without listening to the voices of indigenous Papuans who have opposed the plan from the get go.
"The formation of the province must be taken seriously by conducting an intensive study and the lawmaking process should not be rushed and must be deliberative and transparent and involve meaningful public participation," National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) researcher Cahyo Pamungkas said.
He also said that the formation of Southwest Papua should be accompanied by a mechanism to prevent the depopulation of indigenous Papuans.
Read also: Policymakers face legal obstacles in redrawing Papua's electoral districts as deadline nears
If Southwest Papua is established, the President has six months to appoint an interim governor who will hold on to their seat until a definite leader is elected in the 2024 gubernatorial race. The scheme is also applicable for the three recently created provinces in Papua.
Deputy Home Minister John Wempi Wetipo said recently that the acting governors of all new provinces would be appointed from among echelon I officials at the ministry, such as directors general.
Violence, conflicts
Papuan expert at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Gabriel Lele, who is part of UGM team that studied the establishment of three new previous provinces in Papua, said that the bill should regulate efforts to improve the welfare of indigenous Papuans, as well as their customary, socio-political and economic rights. He said policymakers should resolve long ongoing discrimination against Papuans – and alleged human rights abuses – rather than forming another new province.
"This legislation can be a trigger for new conflicts instead,” said Gabriel, who is part of a UGM team that studied the establishment of three new previous provinces in Papua.
Read also: Ten civilians killed in 'KKB ambush' in Papua
Al Araf of human rights watchdog Imparsial was of the same opinion, saying that such a top-down approach to policymaking might trigger new conflicts in Papua.
"The government must learn that their current policies so far have not resolved the problems in Papua due to minimum public participation. Dialogue, instead, [between the community and the government] may be able to solve the Papua problem," he said.
Rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) recorded at least eight incidents of violence, including shootings, by the military in Papua region from January to August that claimed the lives of seven people. It has also accused the police of using excessive force against 118 civilians in some parts of the easternmost region from January to July, in which three people were killed.
