Papuans will be better served by administrative reform to improve public
services at the grassroots level than by forming new provinces,
activists say.
“Papuan people up to the district and village
level do not have adequate access to public services. It has nothing to
do with the creation of new provinces. Focus on the improvement of the
services to help the public feel they are being served,” Rev. John Jonga
said in Jayapura on Wednesday.
“Creating new provinces will only
create new problems,” Jonga, a Catholic priest and 2009 recipient of
the Yap Thiam Hien human rights award, recently told The Jakarta Post.
Jonga
said that he had been shocked to learn of the recent demands for
sections of Papua and West Papua to be incorporated into new provinces.
“If
there must be the creation of provinces, it should be carried out one
by one through thorough assessments. Don’t create a new province simply
based on cultural similarities or regions. This tends to create
conflicts between regions in Papua,” he said.
Jonga said that
Papuan elites had not coordinated or thought through their proposals, as
evinced by demands that some regions simultaneously be included in two
proposed provinces: Central Papua and Teluk Cenderawasih.
Describing
those who called for the new provinces as less than conscientious,
Jonga said that elite groups in Papua needed to sit together to search
for an optimal solution.
“Don’t use differences to spark disunity,” Jonga said.
New
provinces would also be obliged to pay for more police, troops and
bureaucrats, Jonga said. “If most funds are spent for governance and
security, when will they reach the people?”
Similar sentiments were voiced by Latifah Anum Siregar, the director of Papua Democracy Alliance (ALDP).
Those
calling for new regions always cited improved public services, Latifah
said, adding that the previous creation of a new autonomous region in
Papua had not improved the welfare of local residents.
Latifah
said that there was no example of a successful case where the creation
of new regions contributed greatly to the welfare of the people.
What
must be done, according to Latifah, was for ineffective bureaucratic
procedures at all levels of government levels to be reviewed and
improved.
“Poor relations between the provincial government and
regencies up to the district level have created frustrations, thereby
sparking the idea to set up their own administrations,” Latifah said.
“This
way of thinking has to be changed, not with the creation of new
autonomous regions, but through improvement of the bureaucratic system.
If the system is not improved, whatever number of autonomous regions are
created will not improve the people’s welfare,” she said.
The proposals to create new regions clearly did not come from the people, Latifah said.
“What
if we ask the people how many new provinces they need. They will answer
they don’t care about the number as long as they can live decently,”
Latifah said.