"One of our biggest weaknesses is that many officials create Jakarta-centric or Java-centric policies," he pointed out here on Wednesday.
Citing an example, Effendy highlighted that the way to provide social assistance to the Papuan people is often equated with social aid distribution in Java, when on the contrary, it should be different.
According to the minister, handling a thousand poor people in Papua is more difficult than handling 10 thousand poor people in Jakarta due to the even steeper costs of logistics transportation and limited access.
Drawing attention to another example, he noted that the price of rice in Papua had reached around Rp60 thousand per kg.
Hence, he stated that if social assistance provided to Papuan people is the same as that for the residents of Java, then the results will not be optimal.
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"And that is what is happening now, (since) one of the reasons (poverty) does not decline there is because it is considered the same as dealing with the poor here (Jakarta)," he remarked.
After having inspected the famine in Agandugume District, Central Papua, only small aircraft could land there, and each aircraft could only carry 900 kg of logistics aid or cargo.
In addition, the cost for one rental flight to Agandugume comes up to Rp35 million, with a maximum of nine passengers abroad.
Effendy pointed out that for building schools, even a budget of Rp10 billion will not be sufficient for constructing educational facilities in Papua.
In conclusion, he emphasized that the approach of development in Java Island cannot be applied in the disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions.
Meanwhile, he believed that moving the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara Capital City in East Kalimantan is one way to address inequitable development.
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Translator: Asep F, Kenzu
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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