Papua Youth Group Supports the Creation of Three New Provinces in Papua

TheIndonesia.id - A Papua youth group has reaffirmed its suppors on the Indonesian government’s plan to create three new provinces in Papua after the House of Representatives previously reached an agreement on the bill.

The national representative board of Pemuda Adat Papua met the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD in Jakarta on Thursday, April 28, to discuss the establishment of new provinces in Papua and to show their support on the plan.

“We fully support the central government with the creation of New Autonomous Regions [or DOB] in Papua to improve the prosperity of people and to encourage equal development there. And for that matter, we ask Mr. President to speed up the [creation] of DOB in Papua to create a safe, peaceful, and conducive situations,” head of the representative board Jan Christian Arebo said.

According to the bill, the new provinces will be Central Papua, Central Mountain Papua, and South Papua – in addition to the existing Papua and West Papua provinces.

Besides communicating the group’s support, Arebo also emphasized that the majority of Papuans are loyal to Indonesia, and not all of them are calling for independence referendum.

After the meeting, the chief security minister said the government is planning to accelerate process, and all necessary steps for it are currently underway.

“The caretaker is currently being considered, but what matters most is passing the bill in the coming period, and then the President will issue the presidential regulation,” Mahfud explained.

He also said that all the suggestions regarding the matter from the youth group will be put forward to President Joko Widodo.