Papua New Guinea Law, bridges a bright future for the Land of Papua

Papua, the easternmost region of Indonesia and known as the Earth of Cenderawasih, has the attraction of abundant natural resources. Copper, gold and silver are contained in the Land of Papua.

The natural beauty of this area at the eastern end of Indonesia is also much untouched by human hands. Social and cultural diversity in Papua is also unique.

However, Papua's potential, both natural wealth and beauty, including the richness of the tribes and customs of the Papuan people, has not been fully developed. In addition, several areas in Papua have not been touched by development. The distribution of Papua's population is also not proportional to its area.
 
Seeing the various potentials of the Land of Papua, the Government accommodated the aspirations of various parties to draft a Bill (RUU) for the establishment of the three New Autonomous Regions (DOB) for Papua, namely the Bill on the Establishment of the South Papua Province, the Bill on the Establishment of the Central Papua Province, and the Bill on the Establishment of the Papua Province. Mountains.

On April 7, 2022, the Legislative Body of the House of Representatives received a report from the Working Committee (Panja) on the three Papua New Guinea Bills, which later approved the Papua New Guinea Bill as an initiative of the DPR-RI in the Plenary Meeting of Decision Making on the Results of the Harmonization of the Bill for the formation of the three Papua New Guineans.

This expansion in the Land of Papua is believed to be the key to improving the welfare of the Papuan people and helping accelerate the pace of economic development. Given the vast territory of Papua, the expansion of the three new Papua New Guinean autonomous regions will accelerate public services. The regional government center that will be born will be easier to reach the community in providing public services.

Not only that, the expansion of the Papua New Guinea will also be followed by the construction of supporting facilities to improve the capacity of the people in Papua, such as educational facilities that will improve the standard of living of the people for the welfare of the Papuan people.
 
The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (MenkoPolhukam), Mahfud MD, explained that the Papua New Guinea Bill was not without reason. Many Papuans have expressed their aspirations regarding the division of provinces in Papua, which previously only numbered two, namely Papua Province and West Papua Province.

"The demand for the formation of a new autonomous region in Papua is not without realistic and strategic reasons, considering the geographical, demographic, and socio-cultural conditions in Papua," explained the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, during a coffee morning event with the theme 'The Draft Law New Autonomous Regions (DOB) in Papua' which was held at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.

In addition to the realization of the aspirations of the Papuan people, according to Mahfud, the new DOB Bill is Indonesia's strategic interest which in the future is considered to be strengthening the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. The division of the province in the Land of Papua is considered to be able to increase the pace of accelerated development of the welfare of the local Papuan community.

After going through a fairly long and tortuous process, the new autonomous region bill finally found a bright spot in the discussion of the Parliament Building. On June 30, 2022, the new DOB Bill was officially ratified at the Plenary Meeting of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR-RI) into the new DOB Law (UU). The ratification of the new autonomous region law is also an official sign of the three new provinces in Papua, namely South Papua, Central Papua, and Papua Mountains.

The enactment of the new autonomous region law is expected to be a hope for local Papuan communities to get accelerated development and improvement. A member of the DPR RI for the Electoral District (Dapil) of Papua, Mesakh Mirin, hopes that the new autonomous region law will open access to development in the regions that will have an impact on the welfare of the Papuan people.

"The hope is that this new province can provide great benefits for the people of Papua because so far there are only two provinces, Papua and West Papua, so that reaching and accessing transportation from district to province is very difficult," he said.

Since September 5, the formation of the three Papua New Guineans has been led by the Ministry of Home Affairs, led directly by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, John Wempi Wetipo, by delegating the Papua New Guinea Task Force (Satgas).

The implementation of this formation is also supported by various ministries and institutions related to the government of the Papua Province as the parent province along with the city and district governments.

With a total of 5 provinces in the Land of Papua, it seems that the Papua New Guinea will be a breath of fresh air that ignites the fire of hope for the Papuan people to be able to get out of isolation due to the difficulty of access to Earth of Cenderawasih to manage all the abundant natural resources in the eastern tip of Indonesia.

SOURCE: https://jubi.id/advertorial/2022/uu-dob-papua-jembatani-masa- Depan-merdeka-tanah-papua/