Papua Governor Lukas Enembe (Jubi/Alexander Loen)
Jayapura, Jubi – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe has rejected a proposal for a transmigration program submitted by the Ministry of Rural and Isolated Regional Development and Transmigration.
The transmigration program in Papua will have adverse impact on communities , in particular indigenous Papuans, Enembe said.
There are fears that the indigenous Papuans would become increasingly marginalized and a minority on their own land, resulting in social unrest.
“The Jokowi administration should not create new problems in Papua. The transmigration program will allow immigrants from many regions come to Papua, therefore the indigenous Papuans would be marginalized and become minorities in farming, and become poor in their own land,” Enembe said on Sunday (2/11).
The population number in Papua is very small comparing the total population of Java Island, but it doesn’t mean the Papua Government could agree with the set-up program by the Central Government because the problems complexity among Papuans. Furthermore, the governor said no spaces are vacant in Papua. Every inch of lands in Papua is belongs to its tribes. It is the communal land.
“If there must be a transmigration program in Papua, it should be made to the local transmigration. It means to concern on the people in the remote areas by building the houses, opening the job opportunities, assisting them in farming, giving them incentives and providing them the farming areas. Not necessary bringing people from Java,” Enembe said.
The renouncement of transmigration program in Papua by the Governor Enembe is not the first time, it was also pursued by the former governor. (Alexander Loen/rom)
