Wamena, 14/5 (Jubi) – Jayawijaya Regent Wempi Wetipo said that banks discriminate against Papuans applying for loans.
He further said the banks in Papua should empower the Papuans while the government is supporting in the provision of public facilities to the people. But it’s not working in Jayawijaya.
“Actually there are funds for SMEs but the banks seem unfair. They always make it complicated for Papuans who apply loans. On the contrary they always approve loan proposals by non-Papuans no matter how much the amount is,” Wetipo said.
He said the government actually provided the SMEs funds for Papuans. If the banks have problems with the Papuans’ proposals, he asked them to be transparent and ask the government for advise, so that it could give the opportunity to the people.
“If they could ask us for advise. The government provided those facilities, the SMEs funds for the people, why should they make it difficult,” he said.
Furthermore he said in order to improve the people’s economic in Papua, they need to change their point of view that the amount of five million might not be sufficient for Papuans to start their business, even though it worked for other regions.
Meanwhile a native businesswoman, Hetty Penggu confirmed the discriminatory practice. She said she applied for a loan of 3 billion rupiah to build eight shops, but her proposal was not approved, with the bank arguing that it should be processed through the bank’s head office. But she found out recently that another businessman’s proposal was approved by the local bank.
“My credit proposal at that time was rejected because they said they couldn’t processed the amount of 3 billion. But the fact is they could processed the credit proposal of 8 billion for a non-Papuan,” she said (13/5).
She said she got the information from her husband who has relations with many non-Papuan businessmen. She said she was upset for what has happened because many parties talked about the empowerment for Papuans but the reality on the ground is totally different. (Jubi/Ronny Hisage/rom)
