Alberth Yomo, Jayapura – Aspirations gathered from Papuan mothers over the past two and a half years have become the foundation for the MRP (The Papuan People's Assembly) of Papuan Province, through its Women's Working Group, to push for a special regulation aimed at protecting Indigenous women.
Deputy Chair of the MRP (The Papuan People's Assembly) Women's Working Group, Sandra Mambrasar, said the key policy recommendations currently being drafted are the result of consultations and field visits across eight regencies and one municipality in Papua. The data collected reflect the real challenges faced by Papuan women at the grassroots level.
"We gathered data, identified the impacts of development, mapped out critical issues, and then formulated our key policy proposal. All of this comes directly from the voices of women in the field." Sandra Mambrasar said during a public hearing with women's groups in Abepura, Jayapura City, on Firday (27/02/2026).
She explained that collecting these aspirations is part of the MRP's representative function in safeguarding the fundamental rights of Indigenous communities, particularly women.
The field findings, she said, will be translated into policies and regulations that are genuinely responsive to the needs of Papuan women. Education, economic, empowerment, healthcare, and infrastructure have emerged as the primary areas of concern.
The MRP has identified four key sectors requiring urgent attention: the economy, health, education, and basic infrastructure. Education issues, in particular, surfaced in almost all region visited.
Mambrasar highlighted the shortage of teacher in schools following the recruitment of many honorary teachers into government civil service positions. As a result, some schools are now staffed by only one civil servant teacher, while remaining honorary teachers depend on Dana BOS (School Operational Assistance) funds and often experience delays in receiving their wages.
"Many honorary teachers are paid through Dana BOS (School Operational Assistance) funds and sometimes receive their honoraria only once every three months. This clearly affects the quality of education," she said.
Concerns were also raised about the cost of higher education. According to Mambrasar, many Papuan mothers must sell goofs in local markets to finance their children's studies, as educational support remains inadequate.
In the economic sector, the Women's Working Group found low purchasing power and unequal access to assistance programs. Many Papuan women still rely on subsistence farming and natural resources for their livelihoods, while the benefits of OTSUS (Special Autonomy) policies are seen as not fully reaching rural communities.
"How can the Special Autonomy scheme truly reach mothers in the villages?" she asked.
Similar challenges were identified in the health sector. The Women's Working Group noted uneven distribution of healthcare facilities and medical personnel at the community health post level. In many cases, villagers are unaware of the health programs available to them.
Beyond basic services, the MRP also raised concerns about threats to Indigenous living spaces, including investment plan and changes in land status in several areas of Papua. These developments are viewed as having direct implications for women, who often manage household economies.
The MRP Women's Working Group emphasized that protecting Papuan women cannot be the responsibility of a single institution. Collaboration among local governments, academics, civil society organizations, and women's group is essential to ensure that new regulations truly address realities of the ground.
Sandra Mambrasar expressed hope that the discussion forum would mark the beginning of stronger policy for Indigenous Papuan Women.
"This must be the starting point for pushing regulations that genuinely protect Papuan women," she said.
The Director of Papua Institute for Research on Women's and Children's Empowerment (LP3A Papua), Siti Akmianti, noted that the struggle to protect Papuan women has been ongoing for years, yet policy implementation remains far from satisfactory.
She recalled that since 2009, the Papuan women's movement has advocated for the enactment of Special Regional Regulation (Perdasus) No. 1 of 2011 on the recovery of women victims of violence and human right violations. However, many of these policies have yet to be effectively implemented.
"The regulations exist, but the victim protection system remains weak," Siti Akmianti said.
She explained that women's group in Papua, together with the MRP, had formulated ten fundamental rights of Papuan women as an advocacy framework, including the right to personal safety, state protection, healthcare, education, economic independence, and participation in decision-making.
Referring to 2025 data from the national Online Information System for the Protection od Women and Children (Simfoni PPA), she said cases of violence against women and children remain high nationally, with Papua contributing to the statistics.
However, she stressed that official data likely underrepresents the true scale of the problem, as many victims choose not to report abuse.
"Victims do not remain silent because they are unwilling to fight back, but because there is no safe space for them," she said.
Papua Institute for Research on Women's and Children's Empowerment also highlighted ongoing challenges, including the limited number of safe houses, forensic examination cost not fully covered, and legal processes that are not yet victim-sensitive.
Meanwhile, Acting Head of the Papua Provincial Office for Women's Empowerment, Child Protection, Population Control and Family Planning, Selvina Imbiri, underscored the importance of directly listening to women's concerns across regions as a basis for policy planning.
"We come not only to present programs. But to listen-so we can map out the specific challenges in each area," she said.
Imbiri described Papuan women as strategic actors in sustaining household economies and social resilience.
She also emphasized the need to prepare for Indonesia's 2045 demographic bonus by strengthening education, health, and economic systems starting now.
Imbiri acknowledged persistent educational disparities in remote areas, as well as economic realities such as the continued practice of barter trade, indicating uneven access to modern economic systems despite the flow of Special Autonomy and village funds.
During the forum, participants also highlighted the high incidence of violence against women and children, often linked to alcohol consumption.
"We want every voice to be heard so that resulting policies truly address the needs of women at the grassroots level," she said.
Academic call for comprehensive policy
An academic from Cendrawasih University and expert advisor to the MRP, Dr. Yusak Reba, argued that policies on women's protection in Papua require clearer conceptual grounding.
He observed that protection, rights fulfillment, and empowerment are often conflated, resulting in ineffective policy implementation. Protection, he emphasized, must not be merely reactive after violence occurs, but preventive in orientation.
Limited victim-friendly service spaces, the absence of adequate safe houses, and insufficient budget allocation remain major obstacles.
"If regulations exist only on paper without budgetary support, safe houses will never be built," Reba said.
Yusak Reba also pointed to broader social changes in Papua, such as increasing alcohol consumption and youth urbanization, which he believes affect family resilience and women's protection.
He proposed the creation of a single, comprehensive regulation integrating protection, rights fulfillment, and women's empowerment to avoid fragmented policies.
"The ideal safe house is actually a household that has been safe from the beginning," he said.