JakartaPost-Apr 19, 2022
The House of Representatives is pushing to quickly pass a set of bills that will create new provinces in Papua, despite criticism that the government has been neglecting indigenous people’s voices in the bill’s deliberation process. In a plenary session last week, lawmakers unanimously endorsed three bills that will stipulate the establishment of the provinces of South Papua, Central Papua and Papua Central Highlands. If the bills are passed, they will redraw the administrative territory of the existing Papua and West Papua provinces. Home Minister Tito Karnavian explained that the establishment of new administrative regions in Papua was aimed at accelerating development in Indonesia’s easternmost region, noting that cities in West Papua had flourished after the government formed the new province in 2004. Protests against the plan to form new provinces have occurred in various areas in Papua. Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) researcher Cahyo Pamungkas said in a statement, “The [proposed] policy to establish new provinces in Papua will further stoke Papuans’ distrust of the central government and will further complicate the effort to end conflict in Papua.” He said that previous attempts to break up the provincial administration in Papua, which resulted in the eventual establishment of West Papua, were met with strong opposition from Papuans and created a “counterproductive situation” amid the ongoing conflict in the region. Read more at:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/04/19/house-pushes-for-three-new-provinces-in-papua.html.
