Accredited by Sinta Rank 2 based on Ristekdikti No.10/E/KPT/2019 59 Analysis of Strategic Variables for the Development of Indonesia – Papua New Guinea Border Area * MATHEUS MIKA GIDEON RUMBIAK, 1 AKHMAD FAUZI, 1 DEDI BUDIMAN HAKIM, 1 LALA KOLOPAKING *, 1 Institut Pertanian Bogor, Bogor, Indonesia Correspondance author: matheusrumbiak271@gmail.com * Article Article History Received: 04/09/2021 Reviewed: 02/06/2022 Accepted: 27/06/2022 Published: 27/06/2022 DOI: doi.org/10.29313/mimbar.v0i0.8 438` This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Volume : 38 No. : 1 Month : June Year : 2022 Pages : 59-68 Abstract The Republic of Indonesia (RI) - Papua New Guinea (PNG) border area is one of the national borders on the island of Papua and is located very strategically from a cultural, social, economic and political perspective. This region is an underdeveloped area with various complexities of problems in it. Therefore, it is crucial to develop the region in the context of improving people's welfare and maintaining states sovereignty. This study aims to analyze strategic variables in the development of the RI-PNG border area with a prospective analysis approach using the MICMAC (Matrix of Cross Impact Analysis) method. The results show that the key variables that have strong influence and little dependence on the development of the RI-PNG border area are customary leadership, regulation, border governance, budget support and public infrastructure. These variables are also the driving variables that affect the overall development system. Keywords: Development; Border Region; MICMAC @ 2022 Mimbar: Jurnal Sosial dan Pembangunan, Unisba Press. All rights reserved. Introduction Administratively, there are five autonomous regions in Papua Province which are directly adjacent to the state of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The autonomous regions in question are Merauke Regency, Boven Digoel Regency, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Keerom Regency, and Jayapura City. These border areas are included in the category of areas that have a high level of poverty, inter-regional inequality, and high economic cost. This is then main problem that causes the state border areas in Papua Province to be classified as isolated and underdeveloped areas. Of the five autonomous regions, the Bintang Mountains Regency is the most underdeveloped area, both in terms of human resources and infrastructure aspects. Data from the Central Statistics Agency for Indonesia in 2019 shows that the lowest HDI is in the Pegunungan Bintang Regency of 46.48, while the highest is Jayapura City of 80.16 (BPS, 2020).