Support the Expansion of Papua, Imron Cotan; Equitable Development Efforts

Former Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Australia Imron Cotan said the plan to expand Papua into 6 provinces was an effort to distribute development evenly. This was conveyed while attending the Jabodetabek Papuan Student Workshop at RM Gubug Udang Cibubur, East Jakarta, Wednesday (23/2/2022).

The plan is that the province in Papua will be divided into 6 administrative areas. The six provinces are West Papua, Southwest Papua, Central Papua, Central Mountains, South Papua, and Papua Tabi Saireri.

It is known that the development carried out is felt to have not materialized due to the expansion of the area. Imron supports the plan for the expansion of the Papua region into 6 provinces because it is a solution in realizing equitable development in the Papua region, both from health, infrastructure, education, and other fields.

"The expansion aims to improve welfare, not to divide the people," said Imron Cotan, who was also the Indonesian Ambassador to China.

Imron assessed that the formation of a new autonomous region (DOB) was an opportunity to open up new jobs, as well as reduce the public administration space for the Papuan people.

"So that people get better and faster services," said Imron in front of dozens of Papuan Orang Asli (OAP) students.

He also encouraged young Papuan people to always be eager to gain knowledge in advancing Papua and promised to help OAP students to obtain scholarships from the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"The OAP community must have a brighter future by going to school and President Jokowi also provides job opportunities for OAP graduates in Jabodetabek to be employed in BUMN and the private sector," he said.

Meanwhile in the same place, the Executive Director of the Human Studies Institute, Dr. Rasminto said that in developing Papua, we must prioritize a humanist approach through social culture.

According to him, elements of adat in culture cannot be judged by views that come from other cultures, but from a value system that must exist in their own area.

"Adat is personal, meaning that a certain community's customs can only be understood by getting closer to the cultural values that exist in the indigenous community," said HIS Executive Director Dr. Rasminto.

Furthermore, Rasminto assesses that human development places humans as the ultimate goal of development with an ethnic and cultural-based approach.

"Because of the ethnic and cultural diversity that each region has in Papua, they have different needs," explained Rasminto.

Rasminto emphasized that this workshop was a moment to place Papua's development in a humanistic way.

SOURCE: https://www.millenial.id/support-pemekaran-papua-imron-cotan-Effort-pemerataan-pembinaan