DPR Passes Bill For The Establishment Of 3 New Provinces In Papua As Law

JAKARTA - The House of Representatives passed three bills (RUUs) related to the formation of a new province in Papua consisting of Central Papua, Highlands Papua, and South Papua into law in a plenary meeting.

The ratification was carried out after all factions in the DPR agreed to the three draft regulations that had previously been agreed upon in Commission II of the DPR.

"Can the Bill on the Formation of the Provinces of South Papua, Central Papua, and the Bill on the Formation of the Papua Mountains Province be approved to be passed into law?" asked Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad as leader of the plenary meeting at the DPR building, Senayan, Jakarta, 30 June.

"Agreed," replied the councilor present.

Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian said that the proposal for the expansion of the province in Papua came from the aspirations of the local community from all parties such as community groups, traditional leaders and regional officials there.

In addition, said Tito, the presence of the division of three new provinces in Papua is solely to carry out the mandate of the Special Autonomy Law for Papua which has been stipulated in July 2021.

"Through these 3 bills, it is hoped that they can become a concrete legal umbrella in the framework of governance in the three provinces in the future with the main aim of accelerating development in Papua, improving the welfare of the Papuan people, especially indigenous Papuans," said Tito.

"On behalf of the government, we have approved this bill to be passed into law," he continued.