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Western New Guinea is the
Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea and
consists of two provinces, Papua and West Papua.
It was previously known by various names, including
Netherlands New Guinea (1895–1 October 1962), West New
Guinea (1 October 1962–1 May 1963), West Irian (1 May
1963–1973), and Irian Jaya (1973–2000). The
incorporation of western New Guinea into Indonesia
remains controversial with human rights NGOs, including
some supporters in the United States Congress and other
bodies, as well as many of the territory's indigenous
population. Many indigenous inhabitants and human rights
NGOs refer to it as West Papua.
Western New Guinea was annexed by Indonesia under the
1969 Act of Free Choice in accord with the controversial
1962 New York Agreement. During the rule of President
Suharto from 1965 to 1998, human rights and other
advocates criticized Indonesian government policies in
the province as repressive, and the area received
relatively little attention in Indonesia's development
plans. During the Reformasi period from 1998 to 2001,
Papua and other Indonesian provinces received greater
regional autonomy. In 2001, a law was passed granting
"Special Autonomy" status to Papua, although many of the
law's requirements have either not been implemented or
have been only minimally implemented.[1][2][3]
In
2003, the Indonesian central government declared that
the province would be split into three provinces: Papua
Province, Central Irian Jaya Province, and West Irian
Jaya Province. Opposition to this resulted in the plan
for Central Irian Jaya province being scrapped, and even
the designation of West Irian Jaya Province is still
legally unclear. Despite this, the West Irian Jaya (Irian
Jaya Barat) province was formed on February 6, 2006 and
the name was officially changed to West Papua (Papua
Barat) on February 7, 2007. The independent sovereign
state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) borders Papua Province
to the east.
History
Papuans have inhabited the Australasian continental
island of Papua for over 40,000 years while
Austronesians have been there for several thousand
years. These groups have developed diverse cultures and
languages in situ; there are over 300 languages and two
hundred additional dialects in West New Guinea alone .
On June 13, 1545 Ortiz de Retez, in command of the San
Juan, left port in Tidore, an island of the East Indies
and sailed to reach the northern coast of the island of
New Guinea, which he ventured along as far as the mouth
of the Mamberamo River. He took possession of the land
for the Spanish Crown, in the process giving the island
the name by which it is known today. He called it Nueva
Guinea owing to the resemblance of the local inhabitants
to the peoples of the Guinea coast in West Africa.
Dutch control
In
1828, the Dutch claimed the south coast west of the
141st meridian, and in 1848 added the north coast west
of Humboldt Bay. The border at 141° East was 'marked' on
the coast by iron signpost displaying the Dutch coat of
arms by an expedition in 1881[4]. The Netherlands
established trading posts in the area after Britain and
Germany recognised the Dutch claims in treaties of 1885
and 1895. At much the same time, Britain claimed
south-east New Guinea later known as the Territory of
Papua and Germany claimed the northeast, later known as
the Territory of New Guinea.
In 1923, the Nieuw Guinea Beweging (New Guinea Movement)
was created in the Netherlands by ultra right-wing
supporters calling for Dutchmen to create a tropical
Netherlands in Papua. This prewar movement without full
government support was largely unsuccessful in its
drive, but did coincide with the development of a plan
for Eurasian settlement of the Dutch Indies to establish
Dutch farms in northern West New Guinea. This effort
also failed as most returned to Java disillusioned, and
by 1938 just 50 settlers remained near Hollandia and 258
in Manokwari.
In the early 1930s, the need for a national Papuan
government was discussed by graduates of the Dutch
Protestant Missionary Teachers College in Mei Wondama,
Manokwari. These graduates continued their discussions
among the wider community and quickly succeeded in
cultivating a desire for national unity across the
region and its three hundred languages. The College
Principal Rev. Kijne also composed "Hai Tanahku Papua"
("Oh My Land Papua"), which in 1961 was adopted as the
national anthem.
A
exploration company NNGPM was formed in 1935 by Shell
(40%), Mobil (40%) and Chevron's Far Pacific investments
(20%) to explore West New Guinea. During 1936, Jean Dozy
working for NNGPM reported the world's richest gold and
copper deposits in a mountain near Timika which he named
Ertsberg (Mountain of Ore). Unable to license the find
from the Dutch or indigenous landowners, NNGPM
maintained secrecy of the discovery.
In 1942, the northern coast of West New Guinea and the
nearby islands were occupied by Japan. Allied forces
expelled the Japanese in 1944, and with Papuan approval,
the United States constructed a headquarters for Gen.
Douglas MacArthur at Hollandia (now Jayapura) and over
twenty US bases and hospitals intended as a staging
point for operations taking of the Philippines.
West New Guinean farms supplied food for the half
million US troops. Papuan men went into battle to carry
the wounded, acted as guides and translators, and
provided a range of services, from construction work and
carpentry to serving as machine shop workers and
mechanics.
T
he
Dutch retained possession of West New Guinea from 1945,
but upon reaching Java 4,000 km west they did not find
similar levels of support from the population of Java.
Indonesian leaders Mohammad Hatta and Sukarno had
declared independence weeks before and claimed all Dutch
possessions should become part of the United States of
Indonesia. The dispute continued until the Round Table
Conference, which was held from August to October 1949
at the Hague. Unable to reach a compromise on the matter
of West New Guinea, the conference closed with the
parties agreeing to discuss the West New Guinea issue
within one year.
In December 1950[5] the United Nations requested the
Special Committee on Decolonization to accept
transmission of information regarding the territory in
accord with Article 73 of the Charter of the United
Nations. Article 73e constituted formal recognition of
the territory's right to independence and the
Netherlands obligation to assist. After repeated
Indonesian claims to possession of Dutch New Guinea, the
Netherlands invited Indonesia to present its claim
before an International Court of Law. Indonesia declined
the offer. Concerned by Indonesian insurgencies
beginning in 1950, the Netherlands accelerated its
education and technical programs in preparation for
independence. A naval academy was opened in 1956, and
Papuan troops and naval cadets began service by 1957.
By
1959, Papuans were nurses, dental surgeons, draftsmen,
architects, telephone repairmen, and radio and power
technicians, cultivating a range of experimental
commercial crops and serving as police, forestry and
meteorological staff. This progress towards
self-government was documented in reports prepared for
the United Nations from 1950 to 1961.
Local Council elections were held and Papuan
representatives elected from 1955. On 6 March 1959 the
New York Times published an article revealing the Dutch
government had discovered alluvial gold flowing into the
Arafura Sea and were searching for the gold's mountain
source.[citation needed] In 1959, Freeport Sulphur
approached the Dutch East Borneo company for
partnership. An agreement signed in January 1960 to
lodge a Dutch claim for the Timika area as a copper
deposit did not inform the government about the gold or
known extent of the copper deposit.[citation needed]
Election of a national parliament began on 9 January
1961 in fifteen electoral districts with direct voting
in Manokwari and Hollandia to select 26 Councillors, of
whom 16 were elected, 12 appointed, 23 were Papuan, and
one female Councillors. The Councillors were sworn in by
Governor Platteel on 1 April 1961, and the Council took
office on 5 April 1961. The inauguration was attended by
officials from Australia, Britain, France, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, and members of the South
Pacific Commission; a large Australian delegation was
headed by Mr Hasluck MP and included Sir Alistair
McMullan, President of Australian Senate. The United
States declined the invitation to attend the
inauguration.
After
news that the Hague was considering an United States
plan to trade the territory to United Nations
administration, Papuan Councillors met for six hours in
the New Guinea Council building on 19 October 1961 to
elect a National Committee which drafted a Manifesto for
Independence & Self-government, a National flag (Morning
Star), State Seal, selected a national anthem ("Hai
Tanahkoe Papua" / "Oh My Land Papua"), and called for
the people to be known as Papuans. The New Guinea
Council voted unanimous support of these proposals on 30
October 1961, and on the 31st October 1961 presented the
Morning Star flag and Manifesto to Governor Platteel who
said (translated) "Never before has the oneness of the
Council been put forward so strongly." The Dutch
recognized the flag and anthem on November 18, 1961
(Government Gazettes of Dutch New Guinea Nos. 68 and
69), and these ordinances came into effect on December
1, 1961.
Indonesian control and resistance
At
the US White House a proposal to have the Netherlands
trade West New Guinea to Indonesia was opposed by the
Bureau of European Affairs who viewed this "would simply
trade white for brown colonialism"; but from April 1961
Robert Komer and McGeorge Bundy promoted a plan to have
the United Nations give the transfer an outward
appearance of legitimacy. Though reluctant, John Kennedy
was told the transfer of the territory was the only
means to prevent Indonesia turning to Soviet aid.
The Morning Star flag was raised next to the Dutch
tricolour on December 1, 1961, an act which Papuan
independence supporters celebrate each year at flag
raising ceremonies. National Committee Chairman Mr Inury
said: "My Dear compatriots, you are looking at the
symbol of our unity and our desire to take our place
among the nations of the world. As long as we are not
really united we shall not be free. To be united means
to work hard for the good of our country, now, until the
day that we shall be independent, and further from that
day on."
On
January 2, 1962 Indonesia which had made seven known
insurgency attempts since 1950 now created the Mandala
Command headed by Brig. General Suharto to coordinate
military efforts for the territory. Two previous
insurgencies, Pasukan Gerilya 100 (November 1960) and
Pasukan Gerilya 200 (September 1961), were followed by
Pasukan Gerilya 300 with 115 insurgents leaving Jakarta
on four Jaguar class torpedo boats (January 15),
intercepted in the Aru Sea the lead boat was sunk and 51
survivors were picked up after Commodore Yos Sudarso
went down with his boat.
Continuing US efforts to have the Netherlands secretly
negotiate the transfer of the territory to Indonesian
administration eventually succeeded in creating the "New
York Agreement" signed in August 1962. The Australian
government, which previously had been a firm supporter
of the Papuan independence, also reversed its policy to
support incorporation with Indonesia.
The agreement, ratified in the UN on September 21, 1962,
stipulated that authority would transfer to a United
Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) on 1
October 1963, and that once UNTEA had informed the
public of the terms of the Agreement had the option to
transfer administration of the territory to Indonesia
after May 1, 1963, until such time as an "Act of Free
Choice" could determine the will of the people. Under
Article 18 of the Agreement "all adults, male and
female, not foreign nationals" were to be allowed to
vote in an Act "in accordance with international
practice". On May 1, 1963 UNTEA transferred total
administration of West New Guinea to the Republic of
Indonesia. The capital Hollandia was renamed Kota Baru
for the transfer to Indonesian administration and on 5
September 1963 West Irian was declared a "quarantine
territory" with Foreign Minister Subandrio
administrating visitor permits.
Since
the 1960s, consistent reports have filtered out of the
territory of government suppression and terrorism,
including murder, political assassination, imprisonment,
torture, and aerial bombardments. The Indonesian
government disbanded the New Guinea Council and forbade
the use of the West Papua flag or the singing of the
national anthem. There has been considerable resistance
to Indonesian integration and occupation, both through
civil disobedience (such as Morning Star flag raising
ceremonies) and via the formation of the Organisasi
Papua Merdeka (OPM, or Free Papua Movement) in 1965.
Since the 1960s, consistent reports have filtered out of
the territory of government suppression and terrorism,
including murder, political assassination, imprisonment,
torture, and aerial bombardments. The Indonesian
government disbanded the New Guinea Council and forbade
the use of the West Papua flag or the singing of the
national anthem. There has been considerable resistance
to Indonesian integration and occupation, both through
civil disobedience (such as Morning Star flag raising
ceremonies) and via the formation of the Organisasi
Papua Merdeka (OPM, or Free Papua Movement) in 1965. The
movement's milita
ry
arm is the TPN, or Liberation Army of Free Papua.
Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000
Papuans, one-sixth of the population, have died as a
result of government-sponsored violence against West
Papuans,while others had previously specified much
higher death tolls.
After General Suharto replaced Sukarno as President of
Indonesia, Freeport Sulphur was the first foreign
company awarded a mining license, a 30 year license to
mine the Tembagapura region of Papua for gold and
copper.
In 1969, General Sarwo Edhi Wibowo oversaw the
Indonesian conduct of the widely criticized "Act of Free
Choice." Prior to the vote, the Indonesian military
rounded up and detained for one month a large group of
Papuan tribal leaders. The Papuans were daily threatened
with death at gunpoint if the entire group did not vote
to continue Indonesian rule. Assembled troops and two
Western observers acted as witnesses to the public vote;
however, the Western observers left after witnessing the
first two hundred (of 1,054) votes for integration.
Concerned over Communism in South East Asia, and with an
eye toward extracting Papua's vast mineral wealth, the
US and other Western powers ignored protests over the
circumstances surrounding the vote The process was
deemed to have been an "Act of Free Choice" in
accordance with the United Nations requirements, and
Indonesia formally annexed the territory in August.
Dissenters mockingly called it the "Act of No Choice" or
"Act Free of Choice."
In 1971, construction of the world's largest copper and
gold mine (also the world's largest open cut mine)
began. Under an Indonesian agreement signed in 1967 (two
years before the "Act of Free Choice"), the US company
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold I
nc.
obtained a 30-year exclusive mining license from Suharto
in (dating from the mine's opening in 1973). The pact
was extended in 1991 by another 30 years. After 1988
with the opening of the Grasberg mine it became the
biggest gold mine and lowest extraction-price copper
mine in the world. Locals made several violent attempts
to dissuade the mine owners, including sabotage of a
pipeline that July, but order was quickly restored.
Regions
Indonesia structures regions by Regencies and
districts within those. Though names and areas of
control of these regional structures can vary over time
in accord with changing political and other
requirements, in 2004 Papua province (including what is
now West Papua province) consisted of 27 regencies (kabupaten),
2 cities (kotamadya), 117 subdistricts (kecamatan), 66
kelurahan, and 830 villages (desa).
As of 2004, the Regencies in Papua province were: Asmat,
Biak Numfor, Boven Digoel, Jayapura, Kota Jayapura,
Jayawijaya, Keerom, Mappi, Merauke, Mimika, Nabire,
Paniai, Pegunungan Bintang, Puncak Jaya, Sarmi, Supiori,
Tolikara, Waropen, Yahukimo, and Yapen Waropen. The
Regencies in the same time period for West Papua
province were: Fak-Fak, Kaimana, Manokwari, Raja Ampat,
Sorong, Kota Sorong, Sorong Selatan, Teluk Bintuni, and
Teluk Wondama.
In 2003 the western-most third of Papua province was
split into a separate province, called West Irian Jaya,
which was itself renamed West Papua province in 2007.
Jayapura, founded in 1910 as Hollandia, had by 1962
developed into a city with modern civil, educational,
and medical services. Since Indonesian administration
these services have been replaced by Indonesian
equivalents such as the TNI (military) replacing the
Papuan police force. The name of the city has been
changed from Hollandia, to Kotabaru then Sukarnopura and
finally Jayapura.
It is the largest city in Western New Guinea, boasting a
small but active tourism industry, it is a neat and
pleasant city built on a slope overlooking the bay.
Cenderawasih University campus houses the Jayapura
Museum. Tanjung Ria beach, well-known to the Allies
during World War II, is a popular holiday resort now
with facilities for water sports, and General Douglas
MacArthur's World War II quarters are still intact.
In the 1970s and 1980s the
Indonesian state accelerated its transmigration program,
under which tens of thousands of Javanese and Sumatran
migrants were resettled to Papua. Prior to Indonesian
rule, the non-indigenous Asian population was estimated
at 16,600; while the Papuan population were a mix of
Roman Catholics, Protestants and pagan people following
tribal religions[12]. Critics suspect that the
transmigration program's purpose was to tip the balance
of the province's population from the heavily Melanesian
Papuans toward western Indonesians, thus further
consolidating Indonesian control. The transmigration
program officially ended in the late 1990s, although
so-called "spontaneous migration" by western Indonesians
voluntarily relocating to provinces such as Papua
seeking economic opportunity has increased and remains
at high levels.
A separatist congress in 2000 again calling for
independence resulted in a military crackdown on
independence supporters. In 2001, a now-majority Islamic
population was given limited autonomy. An August 2001,
US State Department travel warning advised "all travel
by US and other foreign government officials to Aceh,
Papua and the Moluccas (province
s
of North Maluku and Maluku) has been restricted by the
Indonesian government".
During the Abdurrahman Wahid administration in 2000,
Papua gained a "Special Autonomy" status, an attempted
political compromise between separatists and the central
government that has weak support within the Jakarta
government. Despite lack of political will of
politicians in Jakarta to proceed with real
implementation of the Special Autonomy, which is
stipulated by law, the region was divided into two
provinces: the province of Papua and the province of
Irian Jaya Barat, based on a Presidential Instruction in
January 2001, soon after President Wahid was impeached
by the Parliament and replaced by Vice President
Megawati Sukarnoputri. The division of the province has
neither directly cancelled the Law of Special Autonomy
of Papua nor engaged ongoing protest in the region.
There was brief consideration of dividing the territory
into thirds, but the plan was quickly abandoned.
In January 2006, 43 refugees in a traditional canoe
landed on the coast of Australia with a banner stating
the Indonesian military was carrying out a genocide in
Papua. They were transported to an Australian
immigration detention facility on Christmas Island,
2,600 km (1,400 nmi) north-west of Perth, and 360 km
(190 nmi) south of the western head of Java. On March
23, 2006, the Australian government granted temporary
protection visas to 42 of the 43 having determined all
43 were bonafide refugees.[13] A day later Indonesia
recalled its ambassador to Australia.
Geography
Land Area
Area 420,540 km²
Climate
Rainfall 1,00 to 10,000 mm
Temperature 0 to 32 °C
Humidity 80%
A central East-West mountain range dominates the
geography of New Guinea, over 1600 km in total length.
The western section is around 600 km long and 100 km
across. Steep mountains 3000 to 4000 m and up to 5000 m
high along the range ensures a steady supply of rain
from the tropical atmosphere. The tree line is around
4000 m elevation and the tallest peaks are snowbound
year round.
Both north and west of the central ranges the land
remains mountainous — mostly 1000 to 2000 m high — and
covered by thick rain forest with a warm humid climate
year round.
The third major habitat feature is the south east
lowlands with ext.JPG)
ensive
wetlands stretching for hundreds of kilometers.
The province has 40 major rivers, 12 lakes, and 40
islands. The Mamberamo river, sometimes referred to as
the "Amazon of Papua" is the province's largest river
which winds through the northern part of the province.
The result is a large area of lakes and rivers known as
the Lakes Plains region. The vast southern lowlands,
which consist of a mosaic of habitats including
mangrove, tidal and freshwater swamp forest, and lowland
rainforest, are home to a dense population of fishermen
and gatherers such as the Asmat people. The famous
Baliem Valley, home of the Dani people is a tableland
1600 m above sea level in the midst of the central
mountain range; Puncak Jaya (formerly Carstensz Pyramid)
is a mist covered limestone mountain peak 4,884 m above
sea level, the highest point in Indonesia.
The border with Papua New Guinea mostly follows the
141st meridian, with one section defined by the Fly
River. This border is largely unguarded, and has seen a
dramatic amount of refugees and illegal aliens cross
over to PNG to flee the Indonesians. There are no
reliable estimates on how many have crossed.
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