Conveying Aspirations, Kings and Tribal Leaders of West Papua Meet the Vice President

Kaimana, wapresri.go.id – During a working visit to the Senja City of Kaimana, Vice President (VP) K.H. Ma’ruf Amin, as Chair of the Papua Steering Committee (BPP) held a meeting with kings and tribal leaders in the West Papua region at Kaimana Beach Hotel II, Jalan Utarom, Mai Mai, District of Kaimana, Kaimana Regency, West Papua, Thursday (01/11/2022).

At the event which was also attended by officials from the West Papua Provincial Government and regents throughout West Papua, the VP openly received various inputs and aspirations from the West Papuan tribal leaders.

One of them, the Head of the Oburau Tribe, Hakim Aituarau, who on this occasion said that the West Papua region has become the territory of the Archipelago not only since Indonesian independence, but long since the Majapahit era. For this reason, he hopes that the government can pay more attention to the development of West Papua with all of its customary territories.

“Here, there are 9 kings spread from Fak Fak to Kaimana, in Bintuni, and there are also other terms used in Wondama for kings. But this tribal government system follows the existing system in the archipelago,” he said.

Not only that, along with the formation of new autonomy regions (DOB) in several regions of Papua, Hakim also hopes that the southern part of West Papua, which includes the regencies of Teluk Bintuni, Teluk Wondama, Fak Fak, and Kaimana, can become a separate province.

“Mr. Vice President, our highest hope is that we want to have our own province, Mr. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs also hopefully can record what is our aspiration,” Hakim hoped.

He revealed that development in the southern part of West Papua is currently far behind compared to northern regions such as Manokwari.

“It has been more than 20 years that the province of West Papua has been established, Kaimana is still like this sir, Fak Fak is still the same as before, Wondama is still like yesterday, the same Bintuni feeds us through Oil and Gas is also the same [situation],” he explained.

Furthermore, Hakim also hopes that several areas in the southern part of West Papua can be further divided into several districts.

“Besides that, we also dream of new regencies in our land. [District] Kokas has been fighting for decades to become its own district, but it hasn’t been fulfilled, sir,” he reported.

In addition, Chairman of the Kaimana Customary Council Johan Werfete reported that the Kaimana indigenous people consist of 8 indigenous tribes, and 84 villages.

“So far we have continued to live friendly with everyone from [various regions] of Indonesia who are in Kaimana Regency, because Kaimana is part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” Johan said.

Furthermore, Johan also expressed his gratitude for having been visited by the VP and hoped that the VP’s presence this time would have a real impact on increasing development in Kaimana.

“The Vice President will soon be leaving Kaimana, but we believe that [the Vice President] will leave a very extraordinary gift for us, Kaimana Regency, namely what was conveyed by Hakim Aituarau,” hoped Johan.

Responding to these various inputs, as Chair of the BPP, the VP said that he would note and follow up on the various aspirations that had been conveyed by West Papuan tribal leaders at this meeting.

“The aspirations submitted earlier will become our note and become our discussion,” the VP stated.

Because, said the VP, the government does have a great desire to accelerate the development of Papua. One of them is by forming new autonomous regions in Papua and West Papua.
“So the province of Papua [has] added 3 provinces, in West Papua added 1 province,” he explained.

In fact, said the VP, the government is currently still implementing a moratorium on forming a new Province/Regency throughout Indonesia. However, Papua is an exception, because the government really wants to accelerate the development of the welfare of the Papuan people.

“Many regions [want] to have new provinces, new districts, hundreds of them [submitted] through the DPR (House of Representatives), but I, as Chair of the Regional Autonomy Advisory Council together with the ranks of the [Central] Government, still think that to this day there is still a moratorium, except for Papua,” he explained.

For this reason, he reiterated that the aspirations for regional expansion in West Papua submitted by traditional leaders this time would be considered.

“Meanwhile the 2 provinces [in West Papua] will be added to new provinces to encourage the acceleration of development both in Papua which consists of 4 provinces, as well as in West Papua and Southwest Papua which have been approved including in various districts,” he said.
The regional expansion, continued by the VP, is expected to be a game changer or key to the success of development in Papua. Because according to him, through the expansion of this region, service to the community becomes closer.

“Because we want quick win (accelerated program) in addition to normal development, [the government] wants there to be a quick win in the framework of development in the regions,” he concluded.

Present at this meeting were the Regent of Kaimana Freddy Thie, Regent of Fak Fak Untung Tamsil, Regent of Teluk Wondama Hendrik S. Mambor, Chairman of the Kaimana DPRD Irsan Lie, Assistant for Governance, People’s Welfare and Special Autonomy for West Papua Province Robert R.H. Rumbekwan, Military Commander XVIII/Cassowary Maj. Gen. Gabriel Lema, and Deputy Chief of Police for West Papua Brigadier General Pol. Patrige Rudolf Renwarin.

Besides that, traditional leaders were also present, including the Leader of the Kuri Tribe Philemon Refideso, the Leader of the Napiti Tribe Frans Amerbay, the Leader of the Nyere Tribe Zadrak Maramoy, the Leader of the Koiway Tribe Moh. Sanggey cashier, King of Sran Kaimana Moh. Natsir Aituaraw, King of Nama Tota Randy Asnawi Ombaier, Leader of the Big Biak Tribe Klemens Kmur, Leader of the Fak Fak Fidelis Tuturop Tribe, and Leader of the Madewana Tribe Ofni Manuku.

Meanwhile, the VP was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs John Wempi Wetipo, Head of Vice President’s Secretariat Ahmad Erani Yustika, Special Staff for the VP for Information and Communication Masduki Baidlowi, Special Staff for the VP for Poverty Reduction and Regional Autonomy Muhammad Imam Aziz, Special Staff for the VP for Politics and Relations Institutional Robikin Emhas, as well as the Expert Team of VP Nurdin Tampubolon and Johan Tedja Surya. (NN/LHS-BPMI, Setwapres)