President’s Special Staff Launches Five Action Plans for Papua, West Papua

Presidential Special Staffer Billy Mambrasar and Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa. (Photo: Documentation)

Special Staff to the Indonesian President Billy Mambrasar introduced the five Main Programs for the Acceleration of Development in Papua Province and West Papua Province in a webinar with theme “Untukmu Indonesiaku (For you Indonesia) – Developing Indonesia in a Sustainable Manner from the East” in Jakarta, Thursday (29/4/).

The program, which will be driven by Papuan youths (OAP), is an embodiment of Presidential Instruction Number 9 of 2020.

“President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s commitment to advancing Papua and the Papuan people has not changed. Therefore, he issued Presidential Instruction Number 9 of 2020 on the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua, in which Papuans will be the main target of the improvement program,” said Billy in his release.

The program called Bring Change or BAPER is expected to help solve problems in Papua and West Papua provinces, especially in terms of welfare and development of indigenous Papuans.

The five programs are: first, creating young Papuan entrepreneurs through the establishment of the Papua Youth Creative Hub and the management of the training ecosystem and business capital by Papua Muda Inspirasi (PMI).

This program will be directly monitored by the President and is expected to produce 100 young entrepreneurs from Papua and West Papua in the MSME sector, startups, and creative industry.

Second, creating one hundred thousand Millennial Farmers which are currently being implemented in ten provinces, including Papua and West Papua. The program, which was launched by Ministry of Agriculture, is expected to produce 20 thousand farmers in the two easternmost provinces of Indonesia and 80 thousand farmers in eight other provinces.

This program is a combination of technical training, capital and networking with the market.

Third, launching the Papuan Talent Management (MTP) website which contains the best talents of Papuan children. They will be given training on an ongoing basis and link to job opportunities in various sectors, both the private sector and government.

This MTP will be managed directly under the supervision of Ministry of Home Affairs under the Director General for Regional Autonomy.

Fourth, establishing non-formal learning centers to provide access to education aims to acquire skills to survive that are adapted to the local context in the Papua and West Papua regions.

This program is integrated with the program of Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology as the supporting entity.

Fifth, launching an application and website to receive input and the best policy suggestions for the Papuans, especially young people, called “Policy Bootcamp for Papua”.

This website will be managed by the Papua Desk of Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (PPN Ministry/Bappenas) coordinating with the Presidential Staff Office of the Republic of Indonesia.

The integration aims to add input from the community and directly implemented in cross-ministerial/institutional work programs.

“We hope that the intervention of this program will create thousands of new jobs for the Papuans and they will create multiple positive impacts economically on Papua and West Papua,” said Billy.

These positive impacts include a reduction in the unemployment rate, a reduction in the poverty rate, and an increase in the welfare of the people of Papua and West Papua.

He expressed belief that the webinar will have a big impact on society to help build a sustainable Indonesia.

“Let’s create a Golden Indonesia before 2045 for development progress from Aceh to Papua,” Billy added. (DND/AIT/TAR) (EST/MMB)