Earlier this month the Executive Committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania called for quality education to empower people in Papua.
Their call has been echoed by Papua’s Peace Network (JDP) coordinator.
Father Neles Tebay says that prioritising only infrastructure will not be enough in developing Papua and must be balanced with the empowerment of its human resources.
He said that without skilled human resources, the Papuan people would only become “spectators” of various economic achievements happening in their own home.
“In some areas, locals can only watch economic activities happening in [other] villages, because they don’t have access to ongoing development or cannot get involved because they don’t have skills. They are alienated from activities in their kampung,” Neles said.
“If this continues, the government’s efforts to develop Papua will be fruitless […] This is what President Jokowi must pay attention to,” he added.
Jakarta has recently unveiled plans for major roads, rail and hydro-development in Papua and West Papua.
“We appreciate the infrastructure development initiated by the President [Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo].”
“We also feel he has given a lot of attention to Papua. It is only President Jokowi who has visited Papua twice a year, something that was never done by our previous presidents,” Neles said in Jayapura meeting with Jokowi along with 12 other Papuan leaders.
Despite its rich resources, Papua is among the poorest regions in Indonesia and shootings of civilians is very common, activists say.
According to the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, there have been 16 shootings in Papua since August last year — none of the perpetrators have been caught.
The latest was on 1 August in which one person was killed and seven injured.
Source
- Jakarta Post
- Scoop
- RNZ
- UCLA
- UCA News
- IMAGE: West Papua Daily
