"Until now the approach used is welfare and not military, because a military approach is only useful for dealing with crimes," Djoko said at a meeting with community and religious leaders and members of the Papuan legislative assembly (DPRP) and the Papuan People Council (MRP) here on Monday.
He stated that he had come to Papua not because of the recent violent incidents, but because of his duty to learn about what happened in the region.
"Indeed it is not easy to unite the views of different parties, but the most important thing is how to unite Papua peacefully so that the province could catch up with other regions," Djoko noted.
He added that the government hoped to "bring Papua in harmony with the Unitary State of Indonesia".
Regarding the implementation of special autonomy in Papua, Djoko said the program had not yet been able to meet public expectations.
In view of that, he added, the implementation of the program would continue to be evaluated, which had led to the issuance of Presidential Instruction Number 5 of 2005 and the establishment of the UP4B (Papua and West Papua Development Acceleration Unit) in 2011.
The meeting was also attended by defense forces commander Admiral Agus Suhartono, national police chief General Timur Pradopo, and National Intelligence Agency chief Marciano Norman.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
