Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Many residents in Papua are still living in poverty although the government has disbursed Rp 57 trillion (US$4.9 billion) in special autonomy, or Otsus, funds to the province since 2002.
"Such abundant funding could neither reduce the poverty level nor increase the human development index [HDI] in Papua. The funds channeled since 2002 to date have not yet been successful to move Papua from its current position as the province with the lowest HDI in Indonesia despite improvements," said Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) member Rizal Djalil after a public lecture at the University of Cenderawasih in Jayapura, on Wednesday.
Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, Papua regional secretary Hery Dosinaen, University of Cenderawasih rector Karel Sesa and other academic community members attended the lecture.
Citing reports, Rizal said Papua's HDI stood at 65.86 in 2012, up from 60.1 in 2002. The data showed that Otsus funds provided by the government to Papua positively impacted residents' standard of living and quality of life but not in a significant way.
"Each Otsus disbursement of Rp 1 million increases Papua's HDI by only 0.000001521, or approaching zero. In other words, increased Otsus funds have no significant impact on improving HDI in Papua," said Rizal.
In Papua, 30.66 percent of the population is currently considered impoverished. Rizal said the government should re-examine the Law No.21/2001 on Papua special autonomy based on results of a comprehensive evaluation on the implementation of special autonomy in the province.(ebf)