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.