Vice President Affirms Papua Part Of The Republic Of Indonesia, Rejects Assistance

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka chaired a BP3OKP plenary meeting at the Manokwari State Finance Building, West Papua, Tuesday (4/11/2025). ANTARA/HO-Secretariat Vice President

JAKARTA - Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka emphasized that he did not want the assumption that the Papua region was a place of exile, but part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) which must be given special attention.

On two different occasions, namely when chairing the BP3OKP plenary meeting and meeting traditional leaders in a series of working visits in Manokwari, West Papua, Tuesday, Gibran emphasized that the government is committed to accelerating development in Papua.

"I also emphasize that Papua is not a place of exile or disposal. Ladies and gentlemen, you may have often read the news about me. 'Oh Gibran was exiled in Papua. No, that's not true. Papua is part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, and we must pay special attention," said Vice President Gibran when meeting Papuan traditional leaders in Manokwari, West Papua, Tuesday, November 4.

Gibran explained that his working visit in Manokwari, West Papua, after visiting Jayapura and Merauke in the previous month, was a follow-up to President Prabowo's directives to accelerate development in Papua.

While chairing a plenary meeting, Gibran requested that two special government institutions be formed, namely the Steering Committee for the Acceleration of Special Autonomy Development for Papua (BP3OKP) and the Executive Committee for the Acceleration of Special Autonomy Development in Papua, could explore local economic potential.

According to him, Papua has various distinctive commodities, such as coffee and sago, to tourism and fisheries. Therefore, Gibran asked the development of agricultural and plantation commodities to cooperate with the Red and White Village Cooperative.

"Please develop it in the future by cooperating with the Red and White Cooperative. For capital problems, access to capital can cooperate with Mekaar PNM, KUR, as well as cooperation with the private sector," said Gibran.

In his directive, the Vice President emphasized that development in Papua is sustainable and cannot be completed in just a short time.

Therefore, decision making in each program must be based on data and evaluation results in the field.

"For example, we just take one of them, Central Papua. We will attack later on education issues. We can intervene together, we will gang up on the MBG program, School Revitalization, KIP, Scholarships, School Buses," he said.