PAPUA PEGUNUNGAN – As one of the efforts to accelerate the development of the welfare of the Province of Papua Mountains based on socio-culture, Acting Governor of Papua Mountains Dr. Velix Vernando Wanggai established cooperation with the Papua Provincial Government in managing the Papuan Customary House in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Jakarta.
Acting Governor Velix Wanggai believes that Papua Mountains is the younger brother of Papua Province, so step together in a socio-cultural unity with Papua Province as the oldest Kaka in the Land of Papua.
Located at the Papuan Customary House in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Acting Governor of Papua Mountains Velix Wanggai and Assistant II of the Regional Secretariat of the Papua Provincial Government Yohanes Walilo, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Utilization of Papuan Customary Houses in the Socio-Cultural Management of Papua Mountains and the two Provincial Governments agreed that although administratively different, they are bound in:
- One Ecological Unit,
- Cultural Unity,
- Unity of Regional Connectivity.
Velix Wanggai emphasized that the Papuan people are grateful to have had a Papuan Customary House in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah since 1975 as a socio-cultural house that symbolizes the identity, identity and cultural characteristics of the Papuan people.
Acting Governor Velix Wanggai expressed his great appreciation to the Acting Governor of Papua Ridwan Rumasukun, together with the Head of the Papua Provincial Liaison Agency, Alex Kapissa, who has rearranged the Papuan platform so that it looks more attractive to the international and national public, and the results of this renovation encourage the attractiveness of the Papuan platform which is visited by an average of around 500 visitors every day, both from abroad and within the country.
According to Velix Wanggai, this Memorandum of Understanding is intended to build communication and strengthen information about everything related to the culture of Papua Mountains that has been and will be placed in the Papua Provincial Customary House at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and thus aims to inform the cultural objects of Papua Mountains that have been in the Papua Customary House at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and can be strengthened through the addition of information and cultural objects.
Velix Wanggai added an explanation that there are 4 main aspects in the scope of cooperation, namely:
- Assistance for the maintenance of mountainous Papuan cultural infrastructure facilities at the Papua Customary House in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, especially the Silimo area (honai complex).
- Optimization of Anjungan Papua as a marketing place for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises products from the Papua Mountains Province.
- Socio-cultural promotion of Papua Mountains including exhibition events, cultural attractions, and other cultural arts activities.
- Capacity building of human resources from Papua Mountains in socio-cultural aspects, creative economy, tourism, and other economic sectors.
Chairman of the Papuan People’s Assembly of the Mountains, Agus Hubi, fully supports the collaborative process of utilizing the Papuan Customary House at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah as a concrete form of socio-cultural unity of the Land of Papua even though it is administratively different and the Papuan Customary House is a shared house that promotes the culture of the Papuan people in Jakarta to the National and International levels, this platform is a symbol of togetherness from diverse community identities in the journey of Papuan civilization.
In the view of Acting Governor Velix Wanggai, the Papuan Customary House is the home of all Papuan children and with this cooperation agreement it is hoped that it will provide benefits for the main Papua and Papua Mountains, this is the first step of the Papua Provincial Government to build a foundation for the socio-cultural development of the Papuan Mountains community, because it remembers the socio-cultural identity in Papua Mountains which is typically good:
- Art objects,
- Folklore,
- Painting,
- Traditional Custom House.
With this collaboration, the Provincial Government of Papua Mountains will complete or build any new objects that we will build in this Papuan Customary House and hopefully, become a means of promoting both culture, creative economy, natural resource products of red fruit coffee and other horticultural businesses. This place will also be a good forum for tourism promotion, especially since it has been declared that Papua Mountains is a Festival Province and considering that a calendar of festival events has been compiled from March to December 2024, namely:
- Regional Language Festival,
- Coffee Festival,
- Reggae Music Festival,
- Red Grass Festival,
- Baliem Valley Cultural Festival,
- Noken Street Fashion Festival,
- Papua Mountains Chrismast Week Festival.
Velix Wanggai emphasized that the Papua Mountains Province wants to develop the institutional capacity of managers, apparatus, State Civil Apparatus, cultural arts activists so that they can actualize in Jakarta as the center of industry and business in the future, “This is our hub point for capacity building, we expand our business social network, so that it benefits the people in the Papua Mountains and we hope to accelerate welfare development in Papua mountains based on local wisdom,” said Acting Governor Velix Wanggai.
For future continuation, the Provincial Government of Papua and Papua Mountains will prepare a detailed cooperation agreement in the utilization of the Papuan Customary House, both the management of the replication of the silimo area (typical honai traditional house), the storage of cultural art objects, the preparation of various regular cultural attractions as well as the promotion of culture and other creative economies and as a New Autonomous Region, the utilization of the Papua Platform at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah is part of the cultural development of Papua Mountains in order to strengthen regional identity, community identity and regional pride at the National and International levels.