Papua’s special autonomy policy or OTSUS Papua is now 20 years old since the issuance of Law Number 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Papua Province. At that time, the sentiment of injustice received by Papua had given rise to various turmoils in the past that led to the process of gdisintegration.
This is a response to the socio-economic injustice experienced by the Papuan people. Such weakness triggers demands for the right to enjoy the results of development fairly for the Papuan people. What are the causes and developments of Otsus Papua?
Reform Movement of Otsus Papua
The economic crisis experienced by Indonesia in 1998 prompted the birth of a reform movement that changed the national political, social and economic landscape. The momentum for major change was used by the people and elites in Irian Jaya to reform relations between the Centers and Irian Jaya. regions that have the same development priorities as other regions in Indonesia.
In 2000-2001, the Papuan delegation fought for a “special autonomy” policy for Papua. After going through a comprehensive study and involving various related parties, the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) and the President at that time gave approval to issue a special autonomy policy (Otsus).
Government Decision
Then in 2003, President Megawati also issued Presidential Decree (Keppres) No. 1 of 2003 which divided Papua Province into two, namely Papua and West Papua in order to encourage the land of Papua to be developed and equal to other regions. Currently, the government is refining the Special Autonomy for Papua in order to give maximum efforts in developing Papua. Special Autonomy for Papua and West Papua was actually born with the spirit of building Papua by accelerating all aspects to make it better.
The turmoil that has been experienced, politically, is expected to be quelled through this policy. This policy is also considered to be able to answer various aspirations and demands that the government pay more attention to Papua’s development. There are four priority programs of Otsus Papua to spur the development of the people and the Papua region, namely education, health, people’s economic empowerment, and infrastructure development.
Positive Impact
After Law Number 21 of 2001 was issued and started to be implemented on January 1, 2002, there have been many positive changes and improvements in welfare that have occurred in Papua as a result of the special autonomy policy. After running for approximately twenty years, the Human Development Index (HDI) increased quite significantly, from 54.45 in 2010 to 60.84 in 2019 for Papua (an increase of 6.4), and from 59.6 in 2010 to 64, 7 in 2019 for West Papua (an increase of 4.9). The average increase is better than the national average of 0.53 per year.
The number of poor people in Papua has also decreased from 50 percent in 1999 to 27.74 percent for Papua and 23.01 percent for West Papua in 2019. In the field of education, statistical data shows that there is an increase in the quality of education in the provinces of Papua and West Papua although it is not significant.
Expected years of schooling (HLS) in Papua Province increased from 9.94 years in 2014 to 11.05 years in 2019 (1.11 years), while in West Papua the HLS increased from 11.87 years to 12.53 years from 2014 to 2019 (0.66 years). Meanwhile, the average length of schooling (RLS) in Papua Province increased by 0.89 years from 5.76 years in 2014 to 6.65 years in 2019 and for West Papua Province it increased by 0.31 years from 6.96 years in 2014. to 7.27 years in 2019.
Furthermore, judging from the illiteracy rate, the decline in illiteracy rates in the provinces of Papua and West Papua is quite significant. On average a decline of 1.69 percent per year for Papua and 0.64 percent per year for West Papua, the total national illiteracy rate decreased by 0.43 percent per year.
Infrastructure Development
In relation to infrastructure development in Papua and West Papua, it can be seen from the statistics on the percentage of access to proper drinking water that there is also an increase. The average increase in access to safe drinking water is 1.73 percent per year for Papua and 4.07 percent per year for West Papua. In addition to access to proper drinking water, there is also an increase in access to proper sanitation in Papua with an increase of 1 .55 percent per year and in West Papua with a percentage of 4.13 percent per year, while the national figure is recorded at 2.42 percent per year.
Those are an Overview of Causes and Development of OTSUS Papua. This special autonomy policy is a policy that is expected not only to solve conflict problems but also to accelerate development in Papua.
