Jayapura, Jubi – More than 100 Indigenous Papuan women traders spent the night outside the Southwest Papua Governor’s Office in Sorong, demanding that Governor Elisa Kambu fulfill promises made more than a year ago to support their businesses.
The traders, many of whom slept on tarpaulins, mats, or thin carpets in the office courtyard, said they would remain at the governor’s office until they were granted a meeting. Some slept directly on the ground near the main flagpole, while others stayed awake through the night to care for children they had brought with them.
The overnight sit-in followed a protest march on Wednesday from Taman Deo to the governor’s office, where participants carried banners demanding greater government support for Indigenous Papuan women traders.
After arriving at the office, the demonstrators held speeches and a public forum outlining their demands. However, they said no provincial officials met with them throughout the day, prompting the group to remain overnight in the hope of speaking directly with the governor the following morning.
The protesters came not only from Sorong but also from five regencies across Southwest Papua Province.
Representatives said the demonstration was intended to remind Governor Kambu of his pledge to allocate a concrete share of the province’s Special Autonomy (Otsus) funds to Indigenous Papuan women traders, arguing that the benefits of the program have yet to improve their livelihoods in any meaningful way.
Levina Duwit, chair of the Sorong Papuan Women Traders Association (P2MP-KS), said it has been one year and two months since the governor promised business capital assistance and the construction of a dedicated market for Indigenous Papuan vendors.
According to Duwit, Kambu made the commitment during a public dialogue with traders on April 25, 2025, promising short-term support through business grants and operational assistance, as well as a long-term plan to build a market dedicated to locally produced Papuan commodities.
“However, the Governor of Southwest Papua has yet to fully deliver on those promises,” Duwit said in an electronic message on Thursday.
She acknowledged that the provincial government had introduced a business grant program, disbursed between December 2025 and January 2026, and had begun constructing several market facilities. However, she argued that the programs had been implemented unevenly and without adequately addressing the concerns of Papuan women traders.
Duwit said the Rp10.125 billion business assistance program launched late last year failed to reach many intended beneficiaries because members of the traders’ association were largely excluded from the selection process. Of the 2,448 business operators listed as recipients, only 494 were registered Indigenous Papuan women traders affiliated with P2MP-KS.
She also criticized the construction of new market complexes, saying the projects were carried out without consultation with the association, resulting in facilities that do not meet the practical needs of Papuan women traders.
Legal counsel for the Sorong Papuan Women Traders Association (P2MP-KS), Papuan human rights lawyer Yohanis Mambrasar, said the group had repeatedly sought formal discussions with the provincial government to establish a more transparent and accountable support system for Indigenous Papuan traders.
Instead, he said, the relevant government agencies had failed to respond and continued to impose complex administrative requirements that effectively excluded many Indigenous Papuan women traders from accessing business assistance.
“We have repeatedly written to and invited the relevant agencies to coordinate with us, but there has been no positive response. Instead, the bureaucracy continues to maintain highly complicated administrative requirements,” Mambrasar said.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, the traders returned to the Southwest Papua Governor’s Office with a proposed policy framework outlining five recommendations aimed at reforming government support for Indigenous Papuan traders.
The proposal calls on Governor Elisa Kambu and the Speaker of the Southwest Papua Legislative Council to sign a memorandum of understanding guaranteeing an annual allocation of between Rp3 billion and Rp6 billion for business capital assistance to Indigenous Papuan traders.
Under the proposal, Rp3 billion would be managed directly by the provincial government, while a Rp6 billion allocation would be distributed to regencies and Sorong City, with each local administration receiving Rp1 billion to support traders.
The traders also propose transferring responsibility for managing business assistance programs from the Cooperative and MSME Office and the Trade Office to an independent institution dedicated to supporting Indigenous Papuan women traders, arguing that such a body would reduce bureaucratic obstacles and improve accountability.
In addition, they are seeking guaranteed market stalls for Indigenous Papuan women traders at the temporary market replacing Remu Market in Kilometer 10, as well as fair allocation of stalls once the new Remu Market is completed. They say the allocation should be based on verified data on existing traders.
The proposal also calls on the provincial government to publicly disclose the 2025 budget realization report for its business grant program for Indigenous Papuan micro and small enterprises. The traders say access to the document would enable public scrutiny of how the funds have been allocated and spent.
One of the protesters who spent the night outside the governor’s office said the group would continue its protest until Governor Elisa Kambu personally responded to their demands.
“We will not go home until we meet Governor Elisa Kambu face to face. We have brought this five-point proposal because we want justice, and we need a written commitment so that promises of business capital and proper market facilities do not simply disappear as they did last year,” the trader said. (*)
