Paulus Moa

Paulus Moa (10 September 1940 – 6 May 2023) was an Indonesian bureaucrat and politician. He was the acting regent of Manufahi in the now-dissolved province of East Timor in 1994, regent of Sikka from 1998 until 2003, and the deputy speaker of East Nusa Tenggara Regional People's Representative Council from 2004 until 2009.

Early life Moa was born on 10 September 1940 in Wolokoli, a small village in Sikka, Dutch East Indies. He began his education at a Catholic primary school in his village and completed it in 1955. His parents then sent him to the Yapenthom Junior High School in Maumere, the capital of Sikka. His classmates in Yapenthom include future student activist and newspaper manager Robert Puang Sunur.

Moa completed his junior high school education in 1959. Moa, along with Sunur and several classmates, continued their education to Ende, a regency hundreds of kilometers away from Sikka. He then studied at the Syuradikara Catholic High School and graduated in 1962. Upon completing his high school education, he studied governance sciences at the Kupang Home Governance Academy (Akademi Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri, APDN).

Political career In early 1998, while serving as the regional secretary of the Liquiçá regency, Moa was nominated as a candidate for the Regent of Sikka. However, Moa's name was not mentioned during parliamentary lobbies with the East Nusa Tenggara governor, prompting protests from the local populace. Moa's name was eventually added as a nominee by the local parliament following pressures from the governor. At the internal election held on 22 April 1998, Moa won 13 of 25 parliamentary votes, defeating incumbent regent Alexander Idong who only obtained seven votes.

As the Regent of Sikka, Moa introduced a seven-point program that included improving human resources, reducing poverty, improving the environment and spatial planning, utilizing agricultural land, developing agribusiness and agroindustry, improving cooperative programs and developing tourism. During his tenure, he increased the income of Sikka Regency from 2.2 billion to 7 billion and continued the rehabilitation program for the damages that occurred in Sikka due to the 1992 Flores earthquake and tsunami. He also established cooperation with Australian Aid for marine park conservation and with UNICEF for breastfeeding programs in maternal and child health.

Moa's five-year term ended on 22 May 2003. He was nominated for the Nusa Tenggara Regional People's Representative Council in the 2004 Indonesian legislative election. He was elected to the council and became its deputy speaker. Shortly after becoming deputy speaker, Moa was elected as the deputy chairman of Golkar in East Nusa Tenggara. He was reelected for a second term in the 2009 Indonesian legislative election, but failed to retain his deputy speakership. promised free healthcare and education as well as the development of people's economy. During the gubernatorial campaigns, the pair received black campaigns from their opponents, including Moa, who was accused of falsifying his APDN diploma. Tulus was also accused of proselytizing East Nusa Tenggara from a Christian-majority province into a Muslim province. Tulus eventually lost the election, winning in only several regions native to the candidates such as Sikka and Kupang.

Moa ran again as a legislative candidate for the People's Representative Council in the 2019 Indonesian general election. He changed his party allegiance from Golkar to Hanura. He ran as a candidate from the East Nusa Tenggara 1 electoral district, which covers regencies in the Timor island. He failed to win the election.

Personal life and death Moa was a Roman Catholic. He was married to Gerardiana P. Moa, with whom he had four children.

Moa died in Maumere on 6 May 2023, at age 82.