Minister Of Home Affairs Tito: Special Autonomy Fund Is Beneficial For Papua's Development

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian said the Special Autonomy Fund (Otsus) is very beneficial for Papua's development. So that the extension and increase of the Papua Special Autonomy Fund budget is expected to be discussed soon.

"In the interest of sustainable development in Papua, because the Special Autonomy Fund plays a very important role, more than 60 percent for Papua comes from the Special Autonomy Fund", said Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian at the Special Committee Meeting of the Papua Special Autonomy Fund with the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Thursday, June 24.

The Papua Special Autonomy Fund will expire this year and must be immediately extended for the next 20 years which is planned to increase from two percent to 2.25 percent of the General Allocation Fund (DAU).

The plan to increase the budget for the Papua Special Autonomy Fund is included in the Bill on the Second Amendment to Law no. 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Province of Papua.

Minister of Home Affairs Tito stated that the plan to increase the Papua Special Autonomy Fund to 2.25 percent was not entirely in the form of block grants or central government assistance that were not accompanied by certain conditions.

"Various parties in Papua want one percent of the block grant and 1.25 percent of the earmarked specific grant", said the Minister of Home Affairs.

He said the request for the Special Autonomy Fund in the form of an earmark-specific grant, which later in the provision of public services would be determined by the central government, was aimed at making the welfare development of Papua more optimal.

Therefore, the Minister of Home Affairs emphasized that the extension and increase of the Special Autonomy Fund budget must be timely considering its very important role so that if it is not timely, it will affect the budget cycle.

"There is a budget cycle that is taken into consideration because if the discussion is not on time, this will have an impact on the budget cycle", said the Minister of Home Affairs.

He explained that if there was no decision to extend and increase the Papua Special Autonomy Fund, the posture of the Papua Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) would be reduced.

This will certainly greatly affect the development process in Papua, both in terms of education to health and affirmation for indigenous Papuans.

"If the Special Autonomy Fund is not budgeted at two percent or 2.25 percent, it will result in a much reduced APBD posture", he said.

Tito also suggested that the discussion of the bill on the second amendment to Law no. 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Papua Province can be done through the formation of a working committee (Panja).

"We suggest that a Panja be formed so that it is more focused and more technical and they are really dedicated to it. We will monitor crucial matters and bridge the gap”, said the Minister of Home Affairs.

For information, the allocation of the Papua and West Papua Special Autonomy Fund in the 2021 state budget (APBN) reached IDR 7.8 trillion or higher than in 2020, which was IDR 7.6 trillion.