Raja Ampat's Deputy District Head Orideki Iriano Burdam noted that the success of Otsus cannot be measured by the amount of money that the central government distributes to Papua and West Papua alone.
What is most crucial is the authority of regional governments to maximize Otsus based on the potential and characteristic in each region, he stated during a deliberation meeting here on Tuesday.
According to Burdam, for two decades, Otsus for Papua and West Papua Provinces, especially in Raja Ampat, had not been optimal.
This is due to the fact that every special region regulation drafts (perdasus) encountered hurdles in various regulations.
Development of the tourism industry in Raja Ampat should be managed independently by the region's government and local residents without awaiting the instruction from various related ministries.
"The experience of Special Autonomy within the first 20 years cannot be repeated for the next 20 years," he remarked.
"More interferences from the central government causes the execution of programs and activities in regions to be nonoptimal," he stated.
Echoing Burdam's view, Pegunungan Arfak District Head Yosias Saroi noted that involvement of the central government in the development of Pegunungan Arfak hinders natural resource management.
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The potential natural resources in Pegunungan Arfak had not been managed independently by the local indigenous community.
This is because they have to wait for the permit process from related ministries and non-ministerial institutions in the central government, he explained.
"In my region, there is gold potential, but waiting for the management permit is a long process that reaches related ministries. It even gets stuck by the regulation in the central government," he stated.
Saroi expects that the authority can be given to regional governments, so that the management and utilization of Otsus can be adjusted with the potential and characteristics of regions.
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Translator: Hans Arnold K, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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