"We must validate the data on OAP, so that the Otsus Fund and DTI are on target," the head of Southwest Papua's Office of Population, Civil Registration, and Villager Empowerment, Adolf Kambuaya, said during the data validation activity in Sorong city on Friday.
Representatives from all regional population and civil registration offices in the province participated in the activity.
Kambuaya informed that his side conducted the activity by referring to Government Regulation No. 106 of 2021 that governs the implementation of Indonesia's special autonomy policy in the Papuan region.
"The regulation stipulates that the Otsus Fund should be distributed to OAP," he pointed out.
To abide by the regulation, the provincial government has committed to formulating and implementing policies by reviewing and taking the validity of OAP data into account in the hopes of accurately distributing the Otsus Fund to the indigenous people.
"The result of the data validation and synchronization will later be conveyed to the Finance Ministry to form the basis for the distribution of the fund," Kambuaya informed.
In addition to validating and synchronizing the data, the provincial government will develop a digital data storage application with the objective of tidying up collected data. This is so that the data can be used as a reference for formulating other OAP-oriented policies.
"Since the Otsus policy is still in effect, we will continue to submit annual OAP data to the central government, considering the number of indigenous people can increase and decrease," he explained.
He then expressed the hope that all population and civil registration offices in all districts and cities of Southwest Papua will prepare valid OAP data, so that the government can use the data to accurately distribute the Otsus Fund and Infrastructure Additional Fund.
Based on available data in 2023, indigenous Papuans account for 259,032 of Southwest Papua's overall population of 611,352.
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Translator: Yuvensius L, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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