Synchronizing data is necessary for accountability because the scholarship recipients must be enrolled students
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - Home Minister Tito Karnavian said he has urged the Papua Provincial Government to provide accurate and valid data of all special autonomy scholarship recipients whose enrollment status at receiving universities remains valid.

Karnavian highlighted the importance of the availability of accurate and valid data of the enrolled Papuan students, as its absence has caused the payments of their tuition fees to get delayed in 2022.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of President Joko Widodo's official visit to Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Friday, Karnavian said he had received reports on the inaccurate and invalid data.

"We are still waiting for the availability of accurate data to prevent students, whose enrollment status has become invalid, from receiving the scholarship funds," he remarked.

Soon after the accurate and valid data of enrolled students has been available, their 2022 tuition fees will be paid, he remarked, adding that the unavailability of accurate and valid data had been the root cause of the problem of delayed tuition fee payments.

"Synchronizing data is necessary for accountability because the scholarship recipients must be enrolled students," Karnavian noted, adding that starting from 2023, tuition fees would no longer be paid by the provincial government but by the city and district administrations.

Due to the unavailability of accurate and valid data, the Papua administration has yet to pay the 2022 tuition fees of some 1,717 special autonomy scholarship recipients to the receiving universities.

ANTARA had reported earlier on how the Indonesian government has consistently demonstrated its strong commitment to boosting the development of the country's eastern regions, including Papua and West Papua provinces.

The Papua special autonomy law has paved the way for fund flows from the central government to Papua and West Papua since 2001.

The Finance Ministry's data has indicated that during the implementation of the Papua special autonomy law, the government had disbursed Rp138.65 trillion for Papua and West Papua as special autonomy funds and additional funds for infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, the total regional transfer and village funds that the government distributed in the two provinces between 2002 and 2021 had been recorded at Rp702.3 trillion, according to People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Bambang Soesatyo.

Despite central funding, the two provinces are still struggling to improve the quality of their human capital, as evidenced by their scores on Indonesia's 2020 Human Development Index, which were below the national average of 71.94.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) revealed that Papua and West Papua scored 60.44 and 65.09, respectively, on the index. Their scores were lower than Aceh Province that chalked up 71.94.

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Translator: Evarukdijati, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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