The Jokowi-Ma’ruf government will make Papua and West Papua one of the main priorities in the development of both infrastructure and human resource development. This is done as a commitment to make Papua, an important part of Indonesia.
Deputy V of the Presidential Staff Office, Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, said that in the second term of President Jokowi’s administration, she really wanted to make the education and health sectors a top priority in Papua.
Various measures and policies have been and continue to be taken, such as the Affirmation of Higher Education (ADIK) and Affirmation of Secondary Education (ADEM) programs, where around 600 Papuan sons and daughters study in the best schools.
This is done not only to gain knowledge, but also to get to know and learn from each other. Not only that, the government also want to accelerate the development of the health facility in Papua.
West Papua’s Health Development Has Improved
Budi Gunadi Sadikin, the Minister of Health said that the achievements of health development in the special autonomous regions of Papua and West Papua have improved, but are still hampered by old problems in the health sector.
He said the development of the Human Development Index (HDI) increased from 2002 to 2020 over the last two decades, compared to other states comparable to Papua and compared to the national average.
In Papua, the HDI reached 60.4 from 60.1 in 2002 to 60.4 in 2020, while in West Papua it was measured to be 65.1. Life expectancy (AHH) is a national as well as regional health indicator. In Papua, AHH reached 65.8 in 2020 from 65.2 in 2002 and it was 66.1.
Meanwhile, maternal and child mortality rates in Papua, measured in the light of the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) goals, have improved significantly.
Malnutrition problems were 3.10% and 2.80 percent in 2020, above the national average of 1.2% in Papua. However, he admits that there are still old problems that have plagued him for many years, such as the spread of infectious diseases.
The regions of Papua and West Papua are central to infectious diseases, especially HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. For example, in 2001 malaria case reached 72,198, rose sharply to 216,841 in 2020 and as many as 9,823.
This is exacerbated by the lack of primary services such as health clinics in 160 sub-districts in Papua, even though the ratio of health clinics in both regions is above the national average.
The government want to accelerate that in 2 years all sub-districts in Indonesia have primary services. In addition, Papua also still lacks the number of doctors with only a ratio of 0.3 per 1,000 population. In fact, on average, there is only one doctor in 1,000 population in Asia.
Therefore, the development carried out in Papua by the government is expected to be the basis for a better and more optimistic Papua.
Foreign Governments Will Explain the Situation in West Papua to the World
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Ambassador to New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya, said that governments abroad continued to make various efforts to explain the actual situation in Papua to the international community.
It includes where infrastructure development, human resource development, and democracy had experienced unprecedented leaps and bounds happened before.
Even so, he invites native Papuan sons and daughters who sit in key positions, such as artists, artists, those in government, to jointly build a positive Papuan narrative because the international community has more confidence in information from indigenous Papuans.
He also agrees that social media is a major challenge. Therefore, every time there is a negative narrative, it would be better to clarify it immediately so that it is not given the impression of being true information.
Opinions must be built together and orchestrated. Therefore, it is never too late to provide clarification on misinformation about Papua.
Running the Healthy Papua Program
The government also runs the Healthy Papua program, including easy access to treatment in 8 districts in West Papua, such as Sorong, Wondama Bay, Bintuni Bay, South Manokwari, Arfak Mountains, Maybrat, Tambrauw, and South Sorong.
In addition, there are programs to improve Regional General Hospitals in seven customary areas, strengthening of Health Center Plus, development of the Papua Health Institute, decent housing for the community, handling abandoned children, and handling stunting.
Regarding funding, the Vice President explained that the program for accelerating welfare development in Papua already exists in every ministry/institution that handles it.
All ministries already have (budgets), from the start they thought that the source of funding for accelerated development was to optimize the existing budget. The development will be accelerated starting 2022.
Regarding plans to visit the east part of Indonesia, the Vice President waits for confirmation and coordination from security forces and local governments to immediately visit Papua and West Papua leaders for dialogue on regional welfare efforts.
