Throughout the year 2020, Papua received an allocation of education budget as much as Rp1.62 trillion out of the total Papua’s Special Autonomy funds (dana Otonomi Khusus) of Rp5.29 trillion. Meanwhile, the West Papua region received around Rp470 billion of the total Special Autonomy fund of Rp1.7 trillion.
The Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Makarim said his party had never received any data on the spending of Papua’s Special Autonomy funds for the education development.
According to Law No. 21 of 2001, the Special Autonomy Fund is indeed prioritized to finance education programs, health programs, and infrastructure provision in the country. Therefore, the question is, “did the allocation of the fund go well?” Find the answer in the following paragraphs.
The Problems
Another statement regarding problems of the Special Autonomy fund is also revealed by a member of Pansus (Panitia Khusus) or the Special Committee for Special Autonomy in Papua Guspardi Gaus, the fund expended by the Central Government for West Papua has not been effective enough to improve the society’s welfare and overcome inequality in the regions.
The Special Committee for Papua Special Autonomy of the House of Representatives has made a working visit to the Cenderawasih land back on May 3rd, 2021. The result showed that the Special Autonomy fund was mismanaged, and there was a “tug of war” among the Papuan elites themselves.
Another problem is the odd behavior of most of Papua’s regional heads when being approached regarding the Special Autonomy fund spending for their land. Even about 60% of them are in Jakarta instead, leaving the impression of the problem complexity in Papua that has involved the local government itself.
Gaus suggested not interpreting the fund as merely a money factor as the financial support spent for the Special Autonomy in Papua within the year 2002 – 2021 is as much as Rp138.65 trillion.
Moreover, Rp953 trillion was spent for accelerating improvement in various sectors in Papua and West Papua. The allocation of funds for districts and villages is Rp702.3 trillion, and expenditures of ministries are Rp251.29 trillion between the years 2005 and 2021.
The fact tells us that over Rp1,000 trillion has been obtained from a large variety of sources. Unfortunately, the reality says otherwise; the funds have not accomplished the goal of accelerating Papua’s development in many sectors.
Based on the data submitted by Bappenas, Gaus also highlighted the very minimal allocation of the fund in a couple of aspects, i.e. which was merely as high as 4.28% for the education sector and 7.43% for the wellbeing sector.
Meanwhile, it reached only 3.52% for education development and 2.56% for health development in West Papua. On the contrary, the country’s official constitution has mandated that the allocation be 30% for education and 15% for health sector spending.
The Solutions
Therefore, it is clear that there should be specific supervision or audit on the Special Autonomy Funds’ spending so that the transparency and credibility of the fund management can run as expected.
To implement that, the government needs to get deeply involved in identifying the Papuan people’s real needs and pay close attention to the indigenous Papuans’ dignity and rights. Likewise, it is also crucial to reform the governance of Special Autonomy funds with a way more integrated monitoring system.
In a recent meeting in Manokwari, West Papua, The Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) together with the Regional Government and Government Internal Supervisory Apparatus (APIP) have been committed to overseeing regional financial accountability regarding the spending of the Special Autonomy funds in the area.
The Deputy Head of BPKP for Supervision of Government Agencies for Political, Legal, Security, Human Development and Culture (Polhukam PMK), Iwan Taufiq Purwanto, stated that there were still various problems related to the use of the Special Autonomy Funds and the Regional Incentive Funds (Dana Insentif Daerah). The problems include the misallocation of the funds, inadequate audit on the spending, the use of the remaining Special Autonomy Funds that have not been realized in the previous period, and the present.
The Conclusion
The country’s law has clearly mandated 30% of education spending and 15% for health spending. However, the mismanagement of the funds has caused the development in many sectors, especially education, to slow down. In return, it has also resulted in the Papua Human Development Index (IPM) which remains the lowest in Indonesia, that is 60.84, according to the data of Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) in 2019.
In the end, the main purpose of the Special Autonomy funds in both Papua and West Papua is expected to be achieved with maximum results. It can be properly accounted for following the provisions of the applicable laws. It means all parties should be involved and cooperate to realize the main purpose.
