POLITICS – The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, caused an increase in the unemployment rate by 0.37 percent compared to 2019, but from 2015 to 2022, West Papua’s unemployment rate continued to decline, reaching 5.37 percent in 2022, although there was an increase in unemployment in the period 2014 and 2022, the Government has made great efforts to reduce unemployment which rose dramatically to 8.08 percent in 2015 which then fell to 5.37 percent in 2022, the unemployment rate in West Papua can still be considered “Good” because it is below the national unemployment rate of around 5.86 percent in 2022.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is an important indicator to measure the successful development of the quality of life of the population, the Human Development Index measures the quality of human life based on three main dimensions, namely health, education, and income, the Human Development Index is divided into four categories, namely:
- Very High if Human Development Index ≥ 80
- High if the Human Development Index is between 70 and 79
- Medium if the Human Development Index is between 60 to 69
- Low if the Human Development Index is ≤ 60.
The Human Development Index of West Papua Province has consistently increased every year from 2014 to 2022, indicating an improvement in the quality of life of West Papuans and in 2014, West Papua’s Human Development Index was 61.28 and increased to 65.89 in 2022, despite the increase West Papua still remains in the Medium Human Development Index category, which is the same category from 2014 to 2022.
To see the economic development of a region, the most appropriate measure is Economic Growth which can be seen from the growth rate of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of a region, this GRDP growth is measured at constant prices to describe pure economic growth without being affected by price changes, in the period 2014 to 2022 there are three different phases in the growth rate of West Papua’s Gross Regional Domestic Product.
- From 2014 to 2018, the growth of Gross Regional Domestic Product tends to be stable and ranges from 4-6 percent each year,
- From 2018 to 2021, there was a slowdown in economic growth until it reached an economic contraction in West Papua,
- From 2021 to 2022, there is an economic recovery in West Papua and is characterized by positive growth again in the rate of Gross Regional Domestic Product.
In 2019 growth slowed to only positive 2.66 percent and peaked in 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, which caused economic contraction to negative 0.76 percent in 2020 and negative 0.51 percent in 2021, from a number of national strategic indicators above, it appears that a joint effort is needed to advance West Papua. West Papua is not a marginalized region but an inseparable part of the Indonesian nation in terms of development, both in physical and social terms that have taken place throughout Indonesia, including in West Papua.
Existing development should be further enhanced and improved by the incoming Government, innovation and sophisticated thinking should also be applied in West Papua to encourage holistic progress in the region. The development of West Papua must not stop here but must be given more attention to the vision of the incoming Government and must still follow the principle of equitable development.
