Three Papuan figures have been appointed as ministers and deputy ministers in the Prabowo-Gibran Red and White Cabinet.
They are Bahlil Lahadalia who is believed to be the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and Natalius Pigai who serves as Minister of Human Rights. Meanwhile, Ribka Haluk is the first mountainous Papuan woman to be given the trust to serve as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.
“Bahlil Lahadalia as minister of energy and mineral resources,” said Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto when announcing his cabinet, Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Sunday (20/10). Bahlil is not new to the cabinet, as he was Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources under President Jokowi. Previously, he was also the Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM.
Currently, he also serves as Chairman of the Golkar Party. Bahlil was appointed as chairman around August 2024 through the Munaslub replacing Airlangga Hartarto. The man born in Fakfak, West Papua is an activist who graduated from the Islamic Student Association (HmI). In addition, he also served as Chairman of HIPMI for the 2015-2019 period.
Meanwhile, Natalius Pigai, a Papuan human rights activist, was appointed Minister of Human Rights. In the 2024 presidential election, Pigai served as the Prabowo-Gibran TKN Legal Defense Team. Pigai himself is a former Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission for the 2012-2017 period. When he served as a member of Komnas HAM, he was a member of the Monitoring and Investigation Subcommission. Citing the 2014 Annual Report of Komnas HAM. At that time, Pigai handled around 1,400 of the 3,600 cases of complaints filed with Komnas HAM.
In addition to being a Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, Pigai was also involved in activities at other institutions such as the Sejati Foundation, which focuses on the rights of marginalized communities in Papua, Dayak, Sasak and Aceh in 1999-2002.
In addition to being active in a number of NGOs, he also served as a ministerial staffer (Ir Alhilal Hamdi and Yacob Nuwa Wea) at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration of the Republic of Indonesia 1999-2004 and his last position was as a structural employee and researcher in the field of Manpower with a specialization in Internal and International Migration.