Jakarta – Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has just completed his working visit to Papua Province and the Papua Highlands Province. The visit aimed to monitor development progress and challenges in eastern Indonesia, in accordance with the President’s directive. Theofransus Litaay, Advisory Board Member of the Strategic Papua Analysis, conveyed this in an official statement.
In Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province, on Thursday (January 15, 2026), Vice President Gibran reviewed the free nutritious meal program for students and teaching and learning activities in schools. He also held direct dialogue with students and teachers to obtain first-hand information on the need to improve the quality of education in Papua.
In addition to education, Vice President Gibran also focused on strengthening the local economy, particularly the fisheries sector, a mainstay of the community in the Saireri Traditional Territory. At the Fandoi Fish Market, he witnessed the important role of local fishermen and assessed the cold storage facility built during the Jokowi administration as a significant economic asset. This facility allows for the safe storage of catches for wider distribution. On that occasion, the Vice President also provided social assistance, which was welcomed by the fishermen.
The visit continued to Wamena, the capital of the Papua Highlands Province, where Vice President Gibran focused on improving the community’s welfare. The formation of this new province is expected to focus budget absorption to accelerate development, considering that several regencies in the region still have Human Development Indexes (HDI) that need to be improved.
In Wamena, Vice President Gibran employed a social communication approach through sports, playing soccer with youth and local officials. This activity was warmly received by the community and raised hopes for the development of high-performance sports facilities in the future. Furthermore, the Vice President highlighted the region’s superior product, Papuan coffee, in the hope that it would open wider market access for specialty coffee varieties such as Wamena, Nduga, and Yahukimo.
In terms of funding, the government demonstrated its commitment through the increasingly accountable management of the Special Autonomy Fund (Otsus) under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, with special attention to women and indigenous communities. The Papua Strategic Analysis (APS) hopes the central government will continue to strengthen the capacity of regional Civil Servants (ASN) through training and knowledge exchange with other regions with advanced service delivery.
Improvements in education, health, the local economy, and physical and digital infrastructure are essential, including improvements to provincial hospitals and the construction of high-quality district hospitals. Especially in Highland Papua, where the majority of the population is engaged in traditional agriculture, strengthening the village economy with a focus on empowering women farmers is crucial. The presence of agricultural extension workers specifically for mountainous regions and the establishment of a mountain agriculture faculty in Wamena are expected to provide long-term solutions to optimize local potential, such as Hipere and sweet potatoes, long consumed by the Baliem Valley community.
