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WEST PAPUA TODAY

Dutch New

Guinea to Irian

'Victorious'

As the Japanese saw their fortunes slipping toward the end of the second world war, they openly encouraged anti-colonialist movements and, in a last-ditch effort to maintain eroding Indonesian support, promised independence after the war. Nationalist conferences were held and the political infrastructure for an independence movement was in place by the time Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.

On August 17, nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta declared merdeka, "independence."

The Dutch were unwilling to relinquish the territory, however, and it took four years of fighting on Java and the threat of a cut-off of Marshall Plan funds to Holland to make the declaration stick. The Dutch formally ceded sovereignty on December 27, 1949, and on August 17, 1950—five years after the original proclamation—the Republic of Indonesia was born. The Dutch East Indies were now independent—all of the Indies, that is, except western New Guinea.

Colonial holdover

The 1946 Linggadjati Agreement, signed by Dutch and Indonesian representatives, states that the Dutch were to relinquish the "whole territory of Netherlands India." But as fighting flared anew before the agreement could be implemented, the Dutch considered it null and void. For their part, Indonesian nationalists always believed that West Papua was an integral part of their country.

In the final document ceding control of Indonesia, the status of West Papua was purposely left vague. The Indonesians were anxious to get on with building their country, certain that the West Papua question would eventually be resolved in their favor. They took to heart Dutch negotiator Dr. Van Mook's assurances that "it is absolutely not the government's intention to shut West New Guinea out of Indonesia."

Holland soon found an excuse to withhold her half of New Guinea, however, when Indonesia turned its agreed-upon federal structure into a unitary republic with power concentrated in the capital and the president. The Dutch regarded this as a breach of the Round Table Agreements that had led to Indonesia's independence. But it was the internal politics of Holland, more than any other factor, that led to the retention of Netherlands New Guinea.

The monument to West Papua's independence in Jakarta.

Right-wing parties at home insisted that the Dutch flag remain planted in at least one portion of the former colony, and the presence of oil around Sorong was most certainly a factor as well. By portraying West Papua as an anti-communist bastion in the Pacific, the Dutch also sought and received U.S. backing.

Dutch conservatives wrung support from the Labor Party to obtain the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to exclude West Papua from the Transfer of Sovereignty. Australia, also headed at this time by a coalition of conservatives, supported Holland. In 1952, the Dutch parliament even amended the constitution to incorporate West New Guinea (as well as Surinam and the Antilles) into the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

While the young Indonesian nation struggled to consolidate its scattered islands and peoples, the Dutch tried to make up for their years of neglect of West Papua. In the 1930s, 200 Europeans lived in West Papua. In 1949, following Indonesian independence, this figure leaped to 8,500—including thousands of Eurasians who fled here, worried about retribution in the young and still volatile Republic. A Dutch exodus from the rest of the archipelago also swelled West Papua's expatriate population. Newcomers settled in areas around Manokwari, Sorong and, particularly, Hollandia.

Before the war, Dutch posts along the coast were widely scattered and controlled little beyond their immediate vicinity, and the only inland post was one at the Wissel (Paniai) Lakes, established in 1938. This situation quickly changed after 1949. During the 1950s the Dutch set up a number of new centers in the highlands, and began to take oil out of the Sorong area, nutmeg and mace from Fakfak, crocodile skins and copra from Merauke, and copra from the Raja Empat Islands and the Bird's Head. A new sawmill at Manokwari began to exploit West Papua's huge forest reserves. The lion's share of exports headed to Holland and Singapore.

But the cash inflow from exports was dwarfed by Holland's massive subsidies to West Papua. While as late as 1957 less than a quarter of West Papua's population fell under any sort of administrative control, by 1961 the total had risen to two thirds, with 52 percent of government positions (mainly at the lower levels, of course) filled by Papuans and Melanesians.

President Sukarno and the Indonesian nation viewed these Dutch activities with dismay but at first could do little but make vociferous demands that Holland leave. To make matters worse, Dutch elections held in May of 1959 put into power the most conservative and uncompromising coalition since the war.

Early 1960s: the 'Irian problem'

It has often been written that Sukarno focused on the "Irian problem" to rally his nation behind him and draw attention away from pressing domestic problems. Economic conditions in newly independent Indonesia were troubling, and it was only on the strength of Sukarno's personal charisma and oratory that he was able to maintain the delicate balancing act that kept the Army, the Muslims and the Communists in check. But regardless of his motives, Indonesians were very much behind him on the Irian issue.

Sukarno at first tried to work within the United Nations to resolve the Irian question by diplomatic means. His appeal failed, in part because Indonesia was receiving Soviet military aid and the growing strength of the Indonesian communist party scared off potential western allies. When the United Nations rejected Sukarno's demands, he pulled out of the body and nationalized all remaining Dutch-owned businesses.

Failed diplomacy left only one option—the military. Organized by General Suharto, who was given widespread powers as major-general early in 1962, Indonesia began a campaign to infiltrate 1,500 troops into West Papua in order to spur the villagers to rebellion. The campaign was a resounding failure, but it showed Indonesia's determination.

While sporadic fighting continued, Indonesia kept up the diplomatic pressure. The key to her eventual success was the United States. Fearing that a protracted military action against the Dutch would draw Indonesia even further into the Soviet fold, the Americans finally decided to support Indonesia in its claim to West Papua.

The 'Act of Free Choice'

Soon, Holland saw her only alternatives as an escalating war without U.S. or European support, or relinquishment of West New Guinea. Following mediation talks in the United States, the so-called New York Agreement of 1962 provided for a U.N. transition team to administer West New Guinea in preparation for an eventual plebiscite, the "Act of Free Choice." In 1963 the U.N. handed the territory over to the Indonesians, and it became Irian Barat (West Irian).

In 1969, instead of a referendum, the Indonesian government chose some 1,000 representatives who eventually voted unanimously to join the republic, and in August of 1969, Irian Barat formally joined Indonesia. In 1973, President Suharto officially renamed the province: Irian Jaya, or '"Victorious Irian." The methods chosen by the Indonesian government have been often criticized, but considering the state of affairs in West Papua at the time, it would have been difficult to administer a true plebiscite.

The Indonesianization of West New Guinea did not progress smoothly. In 1967, aircraft were used against Arfak tribesmen near Manokwari and rebellions broke out on Biak and around Enarotali, near the Paniai Lakes. And a number of early Indonesian government policies were misguided—such as Operasi Koteka, designed to get the highlanders to quit wearing their penis sheaths.

Dissatisfaction led to local unrest, and in areas an independence movement arose: the Organisasi Papua Merdeka ("Free Papua Movement"). The OPM was formed as the result of blunt actions by the government and unrealistic expectations of self-rule, fanned by the Dutch. When the Dutch saw the tenability of their position in West Papua fading, they quickly set up elected councils and other trappings of self-rule—with the full knowledge that Indonesian rule was inevitable, and perhaps even desirable. Today, military commanders are still reluctant to open certain areas of West Papua to tourism because of OPM activity.

One of the most controversial of Indonesia's West Papuan policies has been its transmigration program, begun in the 1960s, wherein the government has been relocating people from overpopulated Java to Sumatra, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes) and West Papua.

Initially, transmigration encountered some problems, such as relocating Javanese rice farmers on land that was used as a hunting and gathering ground by the local population. Moreover, the land was often not even fertile enough to grow rice. The government now takes traditional land rights into account when settling transmigrants, and the sites are chosen with greater care. It has also dramatically scaled down the program.

A more recent and encouraging change, initiated in early 2000 by the new government of President Wahid, has been to change the name of Irian Jaya to West Papua.

While most of West Papua's infrastructure is lacking, there are several areas in this province with more than adequate facilities, including accommodations and transportation, and basic tourism infrastructure.

Regular air services are an important part of West Papua's modernization. This Merpati Twin-Otter is at the Karubaga Airstrip.