Apolo Safanpo was born on 24 April 1975 and is an Indonesian academic and bureaucrat who is serving as the governor of South Papua in an acting capacity from 11 November 2022 until his resignation on 5 August 2024.
20 Facts About Apolo Safanpo
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Apolo Safanpo held office in the Ministry of Home Affairs as the minister's expert staff for governance since 9 November 2022.
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Apolo Safanpo resigned from his position to ran for the definitive governor of South Papua in the 2024 Indonesian local elections, with Paskalis Imadawa as his running mate.
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Apolo Safanpo won the election with a majority of votes and is set to be installed as governor on 7 February 2025.
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Apolo Safanpo was born on 24 April 1975 in Agats, a town in the Merauke region of the province of Irian Jaya.
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Apolo Safanpo began his education at a Catholic elementary school in Agats, which was organized by the Foundation for Education and Schooling of the Evangelical Churches.
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Apolo Safanpo continued his studies at the Saint Yohanes Permandi Junior High School in Agats and enrolled at the Tharuna Darma High School in Jayapura.
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Apolo Safanpo chaired the student council in the Tharuna Darma High School during his studies there.
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Apolo 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.
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Apolo Safanpo was appointed as the assistant to four different lecturers while he was in the fourth semester.
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Apolo Safanpo continued his studies during his career as a lecturer at the Cenderawasih University.
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Apolo 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.
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Apolo Safanpo 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.
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Apolo Safanpo recruited several temporary lecturers from the Bandung Institute of Technology to teach metallurgy in the university.
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Apolo 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.
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Apolo Safanpo won the final election with 38 votes, defeating Fatem with 13 votes and Salossa with 4 votes.
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Apolo Safanpo was inaugurated as the university's rector by Nasir on 14 September 2017.
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Apolo Safanpo's candidacy grew stronger over time, mostly due to his involvement in the Papua bill and his Asmat origins.
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Apolo Safanpo was made as the acting governor of South Papua two days later.
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Apolo Safanpo is married to Katharina Ade Irma Suryany Apolo Safanpo and has seven children.