Refan W. | Papuan Observer
Special Autonomy (Otsus) for Papua is a government policy that is able to revive Papua, thanks to the existence of special autonomy, not a few young Papuans can pursue higher education both at home and abroad.
The Special Staff (Stafsus) of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, as well as the CEO of the Kitong Bisa Foundation, Billy Mambrasar, considered that the Otsus program was an important program. Because with this policy, the younger generations in Papua and West Papua can become more educated, so they have a chance of success or higher aspirations.
In the virtual discussion opportunity, Billy said that the enthusiasm for the special autonomy allocation was the highest for education. He also admitted that he came from an underprivileged family, but could pursue higher education using the special autonomy fund.
“The best investment is in humans. Because by doing so, civilization will automatically be awakened.”
He also hopes that in the future, Papuan human development through education in the Special Autonomy Program will not be reduced.
Billy explained that investing in human development is the right step, because they are the ones who will build their own civilization. The existence of Presidential Instruction Number 9 of 2020 shows the government’s commitment to development, by involving all components of the people.
He continued, Billy assessed that the realization of the special autonomy program would take a long time. This is because even developed countries are still in the process of building their civilizations.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Jabodetabek Bintuni Student Association, Malkin Kosepa said that the government had guaranteed that the special autonomy was not lost, only that it was evaluating improvements, so that the people of Papua and West Papua would really feel it.
Malkin said, currently Otsus is being evaluated, not ending, as long as the law is not repealed, it will continue to be canceled. Given special powers by the state, but its implementation needs to be thoroughly evaluated.
The government has also passed the Papua Special Autonomy Law (UU) through Law No. 21/2001 and West Papua Special Autonomy through Law No. 35/2008. The law was made to accelerate and catch up with development from other regions.
He said that the spirit of determining the status of Otsus is to give the widest possible authority to local governments to formulate, compile and design development strategies needed by the Papuan people so that their rights are protected.
On a different occasion, the Secretary General (Sekjen) of the National Papuan Student Alliance (AMP), Rajid Patiran, assessed that if Otsus still has problems, not then referendum issues will arise. In fact, now the most important thing is to build the welfare of the Papuan people.
Therefore, the Special Autonomy Fund and development in Papua and West Papua must harmonize human resource development and physical infrastructure development.
Rajid also considered that special autonomy needs to be evaluated so that policies at the provincial to regency level can be uniform because there is often dualism.
