Apolo Safanpo

The Province of South Papua, along with two other provinces, was established through the approval of a bill on new autonomous regions on 25 July 2022. Nominations on the governors of the provinces began immediately as soon as the bill was approved. Chairman of the Cooperatives Council of Papua Paskalis Kossay and member of parliament Komaruddin Watubun nominated Safanpo for the post in early August 2022. Safanpo's candidacy grew stronger over time, mostly due to his involvement in the Papua bill and his Asmat origins. Safanpo's nomination as the Governor of South Papua was further strengthened after the Minister of Home Affairs installed him as the expert staff for governance on 9 November 2022. He was made as the acting governor of South Papua two days later.

The final choice for the post of rector was made through an election, in which all 36 members of the university's senate were eligible to vote. The Minister of Research and Higher Studies, which was represented in the senate by a delegate, has a share of 19 votes. Safanpo won the final election with 38 votes, defeating Fatem with 13 votes and Salossa with 4 votes. Safanpo was inaugurated as the university's rector by Nasir on 14 September 2017.

Safanpo is married to Katharina Ade Irma Suryany Safanpo and has seven children. His older brother, Thomas Eppe Safanpo, was the incumbent deputy regent of Asmat since 2016.

Karel Sesa, the rector of the Cenderawasih University who was elected in 2013, died suddenly in 2015 due to medical complications. Upon his death, the Minister of Research and Higher Education Mohammad Nasir appointed Onesimus Sahuleka, the first vice rector of the university, as the acting rector for a two-year term. Despite his relatively long term as acting rector, Sahuleka failed to held an election for a definitive rector during his term, and his term was extended for six months. An election was finally held in September 2017.

Aside from his job in the Cenderawasih University, Safanpo also worked as expert advisor, staff, or member on various bureaucratic and political institutions such as the Bintang Mountains parliament, the Environmental Impact Management Agency of Papua, the People's Representative Council of Papua, the Papuan Environmental Agency, the General Elections Commission of Papua, and the Papuan People's Assembly. Safanpo was briefly involved in politics during the 2005 Asmat regent elections, where he was nominated as a candidate for the regent of Asmat by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and became one of the party's campaigner.

After graduating from the Sebelas Maret University, Safanpo joined the Faculty of Engineering of Cenderawasih University as a lecturer. He was named as the head of the civil engineering department in the faculty in 2003 and served in that position for several years before being named as the third vice dean of the faculty in 2005. After several years holding the post of vice dean, Safanpo was promoted as the dean of the faculty in 2012.

Safanpo continued his studies during his career as a lecturer at the Cenderawasih University. Safanpo received a graduate degree in engineering from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology in 2002 and a doctorate in engineering from the Diponegoro University in 2016.

Upon graduating from high school, Safanpo entered the Faculty of Engineering of the Sebelas Maret University in 1993 and studied civil engineering. Safanpo joined the Union of Catholic University Students of the Republic of Indonesia as well as the university's catholic association during his time in the university. He was also appointed as the assistant to four different lecturers while he was in the fourth semester. Safanpo eventually graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in engineering (S.T.) in 1999.

Apolo Safanpo (born 24 April 1975) is an Indonesian academician and bureaucrat who is serving as the Governor of South Papua in an acting capacity since 11 November 2022. He also held office in the Ministry of Home Affairs as the minister's expert staff for governance since 9 November 2022. Before working in the bureaucracy, Apolo was an academician in the Cenderawasih University, with his highest office being the university's rector from 2017 until 2022.

Safanpo was born on 24 April 1975 in Agats, a town in the Merauke region of the province of Irian Jaya. Safanpo's mother died while he was seven years old. As his father was a soldier who had to be stationed outside Irian Jaya, Safanpo was brought up by his grandparents.