House pushes for three new provinces in Papua

Papuan students protest against the Indonesian government's plan to develop new administrative areas in the country's easternmost Papua province, in Malang, East Java on March 21, 2022. - AFP

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The House of Representatives is pushing to quickly pass a set of bills that will create new provinces in Papua, despite criticism that the government has been neglecting indigenous people’s voices in the bill’s deliberation process.

In a plenary session last week, lawmakers unanimously endorsed three bills that will stipulate the establishment of the provinces of South Papua, Central Papua and Papua Central Highlands.