Mahfud MD: Government Extends Papua Special Autonomy Fund

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD stated that the government would extend the Papua Special Autonomy fund policy. "Special autonomy does not need to be extended, it has been in effect since 2001 and does not need to be extended. "There is no change in the state administration structure and the relationship between the central and regional governments. The law will not be extended," Mahfud said as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, March 31. According to him, in the extension of the Special Autonomy Fund, the government will revise a number of regulations, including the revision of a number of articles in the Papua Province Special Autonomy Law. The revised draft has now been submitted to the DPR. "We are going to revise article 76, which is to divide the province, maybe three provinces will be added to become five, through a revision of the law instead of an extension of the law. Revision of 2 articles. Article 34 on funds and article 76 about pemekaran, "said Mahfud when he was the keynote speaker for the BPK Opinion Workshop regarding the online management of the Special Autonomy Fund for Papua and West Papua Provinces. As a realization of Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2020, he continued, the Government also issued Presidential Decree No. 20 of 2020 concerning the Integrated Acceleration Coordination Team. Welfare Development in Papua and West Papua Provinces, and forming a Legal Team to carry out research on the use of the Papua and West Papua Special Autonomy Fund. So far, said the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, the government considers development in Papua to be still ineffective.

The reasons, among others, are not conducive to the security situation, the high number of corruption cases and the lack of integration of a number of government programs. Therefore, Mahfud asked that oversight of the use of state finances should be improved. Special Autonomy funds will increase, then the aspirations for law enforcement are very strong from the community. And cooperation between the government and BPK is very important, "said Mahfud. Regarding Papua, Mahfud acknowledged that there were still a number of issues at issue, but the government continued to try to resolve a number of these problems. "There are those who say, especially the Free Papua Organization which is separatist with its various organizations saying that Papua is not part of Indonesia. Papua has the right to become its own state and nation. So we want to emphasize that the relationship between Papua and the Republic of Indonesia is final. It cannot be contested, and will be held right with all the necessary costs. Even though social, economic, political and financial, we will defend it, "said Mahfud MD