Lerry P. | Papuan Student
Special Autonomy (Otsus) Papua was born with the aim of the welfare of the indigenous Papuan people. Through Otsus, indigenous Papuans can become masters in their own area who give rise to hope and solutions for the future of the nation. During the era of President Joko Widodo’s administration, various breakthroughs were made through the Special Autonomy for Papua, including infrastructure development to improve connectivity between regions. President Joko Widodo’s attention by giving more attention to encourage infrastructure in Papua to be more advanced.
According to the Deputy Minister of PUPR, John Wempi Wetipo, if anyone thinks that Otsus has failed, it is not because of Otsus itself, but rather because regional officials are not transparent and cannot implement Otsus. Meanwhile Freedy Numbery, a senior Papuan figure, added that the concept and policy of Special Autonomy was a great step taken by the state for Papua. However, the regulations are great, but if they are not followed by a good bureaucracy, then it becomes a mess.
“Otsus is a great idea for Papuan children, therefore the right approach and better supervision are needed”
It is undeniable that Otsus has brought many benefits to the Papuan people, ranging from access to food, economic access, education, health services, housing, clean water supply, communication, and other infrastructure sharing.
The Central Government did not play around in improving the Special Autonomy. So far, since it was implemented from 2000 to the present, for 20 years the amount of Special Autonomy funds for Papua has reached Rp 126.9 trillion, which is mainly focused on 30 percent for the education sector and 15 percent for the health and nutrition sector. The amount of the Special Autonomy fund shows the commitment of the Government of Indonesia to the development of Papua.
Meanwhile, a member of the DPD for the West Papua electoral district, M Sanusi Rahaningmas, explained that the welfare of Papua is highly dependent on the Special Autonomy for Papua. During this journey, the people of West Papua have learned a lot from the special autonomy program.
Special Autonomy and the welfare of Papua are two things that cannot be separated.
The President’s Millennial Special Staff (Staffsus), Billy Mambrasar, assessed that the Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus) program had succeeded in improving the quality of life of the Papuan people. Billy and his friends have conducted a survey of 550 Papuan millennial children. The results of the survey showed that 67 percent of Papuan millennial children stated that Otsus had not failed but needed improvement. While the other 20 percent said it had not been successful, and the rest said there should be improvements.
Based on this data, most of the Papuan people consider Otsus to have a positive impact and hope that Otsus will continue with improvements. Therefore, according to Billy, monitoring and evaluation of the special autonomy program needs to be carried out on an ongoing basis, so that local governments can work according to their standards and with the right steps.
