House endorses new regencies in Papua
House endorses new regencies in Papua
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday endorsed a bill on
the formation of 14 new regencies in Papua in a bid to cut red
tape and increase the people's welfare in the sparsely-populated,
large province.
The House also passed into law a bill on the formation of the
Banjar mayoralty in Ciamis regency, West Java.
The endorsements were conducted during a House plenary meeting
attended by home affairs minister Hari Sabarno, Papua Governor
Jaap Salossa, chief of the Trikora Military Command overseeing
Papua, Gen. M. Simbolon, and other high-ranking officials from
the two provinces.
The 14 new regencies are Karmi, Kerom, South Sorong, Raja
Ampat, Pegunungan Bintang, Yahokimo, Tolikara, Waropen, Kaimana,
Boven Digul, Mappi, Asmat, Teluk Bintuni, and Teluk Mondama.
"The new regencies and the mayoralty are formed to accommodate
the people's political aspirations and to implement the policy on
decentralization," Hari told the plenary session presided over by
Deputy House speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in Jakarta.
The establishment of the 14 new regencies in Papua is
apparently part of a plan to divide the province into three
provincial administrations.
Since the issuance of Law No. 22/1999 on regional
administrations, a great number of new regencies and mayoralties
have been formed in line with regional autonomy.
The latest was designating Riau Islands as a new province.
The minister, however, warned of possible conflict that might
occur during the establishment of the new regencies and the city
of Banjar, including the presence of rival community groups, the
regencies' borders, the capital city, the setting-up of
legislative bodies and financial matters.
Papua Governor Jaap Salossa hailed the formation of the new
regencies in the country's easternmost province, saying it was
needed to speed up development programs.
"With the new regencies, Papuan people are challenged to show
their ability and skills in developing the new regencies. We have
no financial problems but we have a limited number of
professional human resources to manage the administration both at
provincial and regional levels," he said.
Salossa said it was not the right time to divide the province
in three because the Papuan people were not ready to do so.
"We are concentrating on how to introduce modernity and
sciences to Papuans, especially those living in forest areas and
to fight against poverty that still affects 70 percent of more
than 2 million people. We have no other alternatives but to speed
up the development program in all fields in all regencies," he
said.