TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has stated the central and the regional governments will evaluate the policy and the implementation of the special autonomy (otsus) of Papua.

“We will hold a discussion between the central government and the administration of Papua,” said the President at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Friday, Oct. 11.

According to Jokowi, the most fundamental thing is that the special autonomy status and funds were beneficial to Papuans.

“To provide welfare and prosperity to the people and improve the quality of human resources in Papua,” he added.

Jokowi asserted the government will carry out thorough evaluation and corrections based on the progress thus far. “We will evaluate what we can still improve, what we must improve.”

Previously, a researcher of Alpha Research Database Indonesia, Ferdy Hasiman, assessed the accelerated development in Papua was slow despite the disbursement of the general allocation funds (DAU), the special allocation funds (DAK), and the Otsus funds. He presumed this was because the assistance was distributed to elites and bureaucrats of the province, instead of people at the grassroots.

Referring to the Central Statistics Agency' (BPS) data, the number of the poor in Papua was recorded at 28.54 percent per September 2016. The figure slightly dropped to 27.62 percent in 2017 and 27.74 percent in 2018. “The data show that the poverty rate in Papua province is the highest among Indonesia’s 34 provinces,” said Ferdy.

ANTARA