Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Dorkas Dwaramuri has been elected chairwoman of the Papua People's Council (MRP) for the period 2011-2016 – she was the first woman ever appointed to the position.
In the MRP leadership election at Hotel Matoa in Jayapura on Monday evening, Dorkas won 48 votes, beating out opponents Herman Saud from the religious element with 29 votes and Timotius Murib from the traditional element with 28 votes. Herman was named MRP deputy and Timotius vice-deputy.
Dorkas said the election result would be conveyed to the Papua and West Papua governors and later to the home minister for approval.
"The election was run in a very democratic manner, and the men of Papua have placed their trust in a women to lead the council. This is something sincere, and I personally respect their choice," Dorkas told The Jakarta Post.
Dorkas said on Tuesday that she was happy to have been chosen to lead the cultural institution. She said she was confident that despite the heavy task of leading the assembly, she would receive assistance from all MRP members in the struggle to uphold the rights of the Papuan people.
A political observer and law lecturer at Cenderawasih University, Yusak Reba, said he was hopeful that the MRP would not get involved in politics in the future, but return to its core authority as regulated by Law No. 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy and Government Regulation No. 54 on the MRP.
"They shouldn't involve themselves in matters beyond their duties," he told the Post in Jayapura on Tuesday.
To meet its objectives over the next five years, Yusak said, the MRP should have a clear working agenda to avoid being labeled as reactive. "It should not function only when a new problem arises, but it should have its own agenda to follow for the next five years," he said.
Yusak said he hoped the MRP's women members and members from traditional organizations would heed the aspirations of the people from their respective communities and include them in the assembly's five-year working agenda.
Yusak also said that Dorkas' appointment as MRP chairwomen constituted a progression of the mind-sets of the current MRP members, because this was the first time a woman had been elected chair.
"It is mature thinking on the part of the MRP members that a leader should not always be a man but anyone who is capable, and they put their trust in a woman who they feel has the capacity to lead the assembly for the next five years. This is a rare occurrence in Papua," he said.
"In the Papuan community so far, men have always been the leaders and have ignored women's capabilities, but something new is happening in the MRP, whereby men have agreed to appoint a woman as their leader," Yusak said.