West Papua Governor Says Ministry Of Home Affairs Approves OPD Downsizing

Acting Governor Of West Papua Paulus Waterpauw/ANTARA

MANOKWARI - Acting Governor of West Papua Paulus Waterpauw said the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) had approved the proposed downsizing of regional apparatus organizations (OPD) within the scope of the local provincial government.

"The downsizing proposal letter was signed, last night I received it," said Paulus Waterpauw in Manokwari as reported by ANTARA, Friday, September 15.

He explained that the downsizing of 47 OPDs to 30 OPD refers to Article 4 paragraph (3) and Article 24 of Government Regulation Number 106 of 2021 concerning Authority and Institutional Implementation of Papua's Special Autonomy Policy.

The downsizing intends to streamline regional financial capabilities after West Papua is expanded into two provinces, namely Southwest Papua.

"Because the structure is too big while the budget is getting less," he said.

In addition, said Waterpauw, reducing the number of OPDs facilitates the process of monitoring the implementation of work programs and the performance of provincial government officials.

Before the proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the provincial government first evaluated the post-expansion regional fiscal capabilities.

"This is important because the supervision of the performance of each OPD becomes easier," said Waterpauw.

The technicalities of the merger of a number of OPDs that have main tasks related to each other are temporarily discussed by the Regional Secretary (Sekda) of West Papua and the team.

The provincial government continues to coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the State Civil Apparatus Commission (KASN), and the National Civil Service Agency (BKN) so that OPD crossing does not violate statutory regulations.

"Because my position as acting is not a definitive governor," said Waterpauw.

The OPD downsizing proposal is contained in the West Papua Governor's Letter Number 820.1/149/GPB/2023 dated January 26, 2023, which contains the merger and elimination of a number of agencies such as the Education Office combined with the Youth and Sports Service, the Industry and Trade Office combined with the Cooperatives and MSMEs Service.

Then the Forestry Service was merged with the Environment and Land Service, as well as the Regional Revenue Agency combined with the Investment Service and One Stop Integrated Service.

"The OPD, which has a main task of interconnection, is what we combine," said Paulus Waterpauw.

West Papua Ombudsman Representative Head Musa Yosep Sombuk assesses that the OPD's downsizing within the provincial government is in line with the spirit of bureaucratic reform, so that public services are of higher quality.

However, the governor must formulate a mechanism for placing positions in two OPDs that are combined into one to prevent maladministration.

"Inefficient bureaucracy has resulted in slow government service performance," said Musa.