Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Third province in Indonesia Papua unlikely to help service delivery - academic

Posted at 03:38 on 28 September, 2012 UTC

An academic says it’s doubtful whether the creation of a third province in Indonesia’s Papua region would help improve service delivery for Papuans.

Indonesian lawmakers are opposed to the government moratorium on the creation of new administrative regions in place since 2009.

Discussion this week in the House of Representatives included calls to prioritise previously shelved plans for the creation of a South Papua province.

Jim Elmslie of the West Papua Project at Sydney University says there is little enthusiasm for a third province among ordinary Papuans after their region was split into two provinces a decade ago.

“After 2000 there was a rapid there was a rapid escalation in the number of regencies (from 9) until there’s now about 33. So the bureaucracy has proliferated enormously. But the delivery of services in basic things like health and education has if anything dropped.”

The West Papua Project at Sydney University,, Jim Elmslie.