Revised Special Autonomy Is Believed To Make Papuans Prosperous

Member of the DPR RI from the West Papua Electoral District, Jimmy Demianus Ijie, assessed that the revision of Special Autonomy would prosper the people. As long as the implementation really touches the problems in Papua.

"We have not received the revised draft, indeed yesterday in the plenary session the chairman of the DPR (Puan Maharani) said that he had received a letter from the President regarding the revision of the Papua Special Autonomy Law, but as members of the DPR we have not received the draft," said Jimmy in Webinar Series # 20 entitled "Can the Papua Special Autonomy Revision be able to guarantee the future and welfare of Papua?" organized by PSKP, Friday (18/12). The leadership of the DPR RI itself has received a Presidential Letter (Surpres) regarding the discussion of the Revision of Law (UU) Number 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy (Otsus) for Papua. The letter will be followed up at the next trial period. However, not all members of the DPR RI have accepted the revised draft of Otsus.

"We need authority, does the government really make Otsus a solution to the problems of the Papuan people or not? that's what I have seen so far, "he said. As the DPR RI from the Electoral District of West Papua, continued Jimmy, he kept shouting for the future of society. According to him, the government and the people of Papua need to discuss, sit together to discuss the revision of the Special Autonomy Law.

"This revision cannot be like a patchwork, just come and talk about this article and finish, no. We have to talk about the reasons why the Papuan people conclude that Otsus for the past 20 years has not been successful. That is what we have to sit down and discuss, "he explained. "We see Otsus as a blank check for Papuans. The implementation is unclear, he said, lex specialis, but in fact it is lex generalis. As a former chairman of the West Papua DPRD I spent two periods there, we talked many times to the center but always stuck, ”he continued.

Jimmy again explained that the issue of authority he meant was to regulate or manage natural resources (HR), be it oil and gas, sea and forest. "Actually, the government is serious about not giving Otus to Papua?" he said.

He considered, it is not surprising if the Papuan people think that the existence of Otsus has not had any impact. If you want to be serious, Jimmy suggested that the government learn from the Bosano Provincial Government in Italy, and Alan Islands in Firland. Both countries have successfully implemented Otsus for their people. “Bosano has experienced something like Papua, decades of experiencing Otsus were unsuccessful. Then the Otsus negotiations for the eleventh year were given a referendum. The result was that the majority chose to remain in Italy. It needs to be an example for Indonesia. But it seems that the government has just given the Special Autonomy Law, yes a law without authority is tantamount to nonsense, "he accused. Finally, Jimmy warned that the revision of the Papua Special Autonomy Law should not be rushed, just because it is catching up with a time that will end in 2021.

"If you want a revision, just issue a Perppu. But if you want a serious revision, give us time to conduct studies on several countries that have been successful with Special Autonomy, I think that's an example, "he said. Meanwhile, the Head of Audit for Papua and West Papua Provinces of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Budi Arwan, explained that the issue of revision of the Special Autonomy Law, the Ministry of Home Affairs wants to not only discuss the issue of funds, but also about authority. "We hope that we can get detailed input from local government friends, therefore we ask the governor of the DPRD and the MRP (Papuan People's Council) to provide input regarding what has been evaluated so far regarding the future special autonomy policies to be raised in the revision discussion. UU 21, "said Budi. The Ministry of Home Affairs asks for input from all parties, whether official or not, informal and formal. This is an input to be carried out by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the future.