President Jokowi has adopted the welfare approach through various forms of development. The problem that arouse in Papua to date is (the lack of) welfare, marked by the lowest human development index in West Papua
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government has prioritized welfare, anthropological, and evaluation approaches in handling the issues in Papua and West Papua.

Deputy V for Political, Legal, Security, and Human Rights of the Presidential Staff Office Jaleswari Pramodhawardani remarked that the approaches were directed at boosting the welfare for tackling the primary issue impacting the provinces of Papua and West Papua.

"President Jokowi has adopted the welfare approach through various forms of development. The problem that arouse in Papua to date is (the lack of) welfare, marked by the lowest human development index in West Papua," Pramodhawardani noted in a statement here on Tuesday.

Developments in the two provinces comprise the Trans Papua road project, one-price fuel policy, and divestment of 51 percent of PT Freeport Indonesia’s shares.

Pramodhawardani remarked that before the implementation of the one-price fuel oil policy, Papuans had to pay a higher price for fuel oil as compared to those in Java and Sumatra.

"I had to say that the single-price fuel oil policy is not only a matter of bringing down the price, but it also implied the efforts to materialize justice for all people of Indonesia," she stated.

The government had issued Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 9 of 2017 on accelerating welfare development in Papua and West Papua. The Inpres expired in 2019 and will be renewed.

The head of state ordered to give serious attention to the areas of education, health, local economic empowerment, infrastructure, digitalization, legal and administration management.

"We know that people see Papua only in terms of the issue of human rights and violence. There is less concern on the fulfillment of Papuans’ basic rights, and this must be stepped up," she emphasized.

Pramodhawardani cited the increased Human Development Index (HDI) in the two provinces during the past five years as the government’s success to boost welfare of the Papuans.

The HDI in Papua rose, from 57.25 percent in 2015 to 60.84 percent, whereas the index in West Papua increased, from 61.73 percent in 2015 to 64.7 percent in 2019.
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