JAKARTA: President Prabowo Subianto has announced the creation of the Executive Committee for the Acceleration of Papua Development, naming several key officials who will support the implementation of development programmes in the region during a mini Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday (Oct 8).
In a swearing-in ceremony at the State Palace, Prabowo named Velix Wanggai, an indigenous Papuan who served as acting governor of Papua Highlands province from November 2023 until April of this year, to lead the new development authority.
The committee will be in charge of assisting the Papua Special Autonomy Acceleration Board (BP3OKP), mandated under the 2021 Papua Special Autonomy Law, in its mission to drive faster development in the resource-rich yet historically underdeveloped region, State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi announced.
“The officials inaugurated by the President today will serve on the Executive Committee, which supports the BP3OKP led by the Vice President,” Prasetyo told reporters.
A seasoned technocrat, Velix has held various positions in government, including as special staffer to former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2009, deputy at the Vice Presidential Secretariat under then-vice president Ma’ruf Amin in 2024, and most recently, director general for transmigration, economic development and community empowerment at the Transmigration Ministry.
Among those who will be helping Velix in the committee are John Wempi Wetipo, a former deputy home minister who unsuccessfully ran for Central Papua governor in last year’s election; three-star retired military general Ignatius Yoko Triyono; and Paulus Waterpauw, a former Papua Police chief who was appointed as acting West Papua governor between 2022 and 2024.
Other names include Deputy Home Minister Ribka Haluk; former three-star military general Ali Hamdan Bogra; former presidential special staff for education and innovation, Gracia Josaphat Jobel Mambrasar; former two-term Merakue regent John Gluba Gepze; local celebrity Johnson Estrella Sihasale; and Yanni, a former member of Papua Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) from the Gerindra Party.
The appointments come as Prabowo begins to place greater focus on Papua’s development, including by assigning Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka to directly oversee development programmes and address ongoing human rights issues in its easternmost region.
Gibran’s new role aligns with the 2021 special autonomy law, which tasks the sitting vice president with leading the BP3OKP, which is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the special autonomy and various development programmes in Papua.
In July, Gibran said he had begun preparations for the role by dispatching teams to Sorong in West Papua and Merauke in South Papua to assess local needs, deliver school supplies and laptops and evaluate the state of the free nutritious meals program in the region.
Speaking after his inauguration, Velix said the committee would work under the President’s authority to manage Papua’s development, adding they will focus on agendas in line with Prabowo’s Asta Cita vision for Papua, and monitor and implement them together with sectoral ministers and the six governors.
“We want to stress that the President is deeply committed to directly overseeing Papua’s development. Managing Papua involves a comprehensive, integrated approach, considering global and national contexts, aligning policies across ministries and the private sector, and coordinating down to provincial and regency levels.”
“We will work closely with sectoral ministers and all six governors to build trust and make the state’s presence felt, reaching our brothers and sisters in coastal, mountainous, landlocked and wetland regions,” he added.
Velix highlighted the diverse composition of the executive committee, which includes senior Papuan figures, experts from military and police backgrounds and professionals with experience in bureaucracy and the creative economy.
“This means that we will touch all social nodes and all segments of society, from youth communities to [those concerned with] complex high politics issues,” Velix said.
The new appointees failed to address the potential overlap in remit between the Palace appointees and the board led by VP Gibran.
Papua, while home to some of the country’s most valuable natural resources, continues to lag behind other regions in infrastructure and human capital development.
Previous leaders have tried, and largely failed, to supercharge the pace of development, including Gibran’s own father, former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who made the biggest overtures to the region in recent history.
During Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony, the President also expanded his already large Cabinet, appointing Akhmad Wiyagus as Deputy Home Minister and Benjamin Paulus Octavianus as Deputy Health Minister.
Meanwhile, Danantara chief operating officer Dony Oskaria was named as the head of the newly established SOEs Regulatory Agency (BP BUMN), marking the official transformation of the SOEs Ministry into a lower regulatory agency under a revised law passed by the House of Representatives last week.
Prabowo also swore in 10 ambassadors-elect and one deputy ambassador-elect, including Hotmangaradja Pandjaitan in Singapore; Amrih Jinangkung to the Netherlands; Iman Hascarya Kusumo to Malaysia; and Irene as Deputy Ambassador to China.
In a bid to strengthen his inner circle, Prabowo also named Dirgayuza Setiawan, his former speechwriter, as Special Assistant for Communications and Policy Analysis.
He also named Agung Gumilar Saputra, a graduate of Taruna Nusantara, a military-founded boarding school that has shaped Prabowo’s close circle, as Special Assistant for Strategic Data Analysis. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
