LURAH RUFEI KOTA SORONG: “GOVERNMENT ALREADY ATTENTIONS ENOUGH THE PEOPLE OF PAPUA”

The Papua Special Autonomy Policy (Otsus) is a meeting point for the middle ground to strengthen Papuan integration as well as a bridge to pursue peace and build prosperity in the Land of Papua.

Ignatius Rendy Freider, Rufei Village Head, Kab. Sorong said that Otsus was very important to accelerate the development process, especially human resources, health, infrastructure and economic empowerment of indigenous Papuans. "In addition to Otsus itself, the Government has provided quite a lot of assistance to the Papuan people," said Rendy.

According to him, the Papuan people who think that the implementation of Otsus has failed and shout against Otsus should not blame the Central Government, but can question local officials because they are the ones who are given the task and responsibility to manage the Otsus funds. "The central government must not give up only providing the Special Autonomy funds, but must ensure that the funds can actually be received equally by all Papuan people," explained Rendy.

Rendy suggested that the Otsus fund management scheme could be implemented as the regional financial system which is currently being implemented by the Indonesian Minister of Home Affairs, Tito Karnavian, which refers to Permendagri Number 70 of 2019 where after the funds are given, regional officials as managers are required to collect data starting from planning to implementation then send it online in the information system so that the entire process can be known transparently.

Talking about the success of Otsus over the past 20 years, Rendy assessed that the Government has paid enough attention to the Papuan people. For example, there is a CPNS acceptance formation where 80% is for OAP and 20% is for Non OAP. Not to mention with the affirmation of special education in Papua and West Papua, the standard of assessment at the time of selection was lowered from the national standard so that the Government has actually opened up wide opportunities for the OAP community to advance.

The Lurah Rufei also hopes that the Papuan people can be wiser in responding to the plan to extend this Special Autonomy. "If there is a shortage, let's evaluate it together so that in the future it can be better," hoped Rendy.

As a government official, Rendy appealed and invited the Papuan people, especially those living in the Rufei village, to support and succeed in the government's plan to continue Otsus Volume II, both for Papua and West Papua.

SOURCE: https://melanesianinfo.com/lurah-rufei-kota-sorong-government-already-sufficient-memhatic-al-society-papua/