Special Autonomy Regulations in Papua Province for the Realization of CommunityWelfare

Abstract

: The mandate of 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia which was formulated in Law Number 32 of 2004 about Regional Government regarding the implementation of autonomous regional governments and special autonomy regions is not easy to realize. This is based on the conditions of an area such as geographical conditions, natural wealth, level of soil fertility, total population, quality of population, and number of intellec-tuals. We can take Bali as an example. Bali is an area that has many tourism places such as Jimbaran Beach, Besakih Temple, Uluwatu Temple, Tanah Lot, Kuta Beach and others. The customs, religion and culture of Bali are like a routine for Balinese. As a region that has various types of specificity, Bali actually wants its area to get recognition as an area with special autonomy. However, this specificity has not been granted by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. The province of Papua, which is located on the eastern edge of Indonesia, is the widest province with a wealthiness of natural resources. However, in reality, various policies in centralized governance and development there, have not fully fulfilled the sense of justice, people’s welfare, the realization of law enforcement and respect for human rights in Papua Province, especially for the Papuan. This condition resulted in disparities in almost all sectors of life, especially in education, health, economy, culture and social politics. Therefore, the government tried to overcome these problems by giving special autonomy to the Papua Province. In 2001 the government passed Law Number 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Province of Papua in order to implement equal welfare for the people there. Considering the tendency of more and more regions to wish to become special autonomous regions or special regions, scientific review with discussion of issues on how the basis, criteria and guidelines in granting special autonomy to an area in Indonesia is very necessary. Normative legal research methods are used to answer this problem. The approaches used are statute approach, historical approach, and comparative approach. After the legal material is collected, it is analyzed qualitatively juridically. This research shows that in addition to being regulated in Article 18B of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, it can also be found in Law Number 32 of 2004 concerning Regional Government.