West Papua is the western most part of the Island of New Guinea. The eastern portion of the Island is the independent democratic Republic of Papua New Guinea. Indigenous West Papuans have been living here for tens of thousands of years before the arrival of Asians and Europeans. The intrusion of foreign forces were aggressive and decisive, and forever altered the future of the indigenous West Papuans.
Mission and Goals
West Papuans have been living in the lands of West Papua for tens of thousands of years. They occupied these lands from its highest peak mountains to the coastal areas, and to the hundreds of little islands off the coast. Foreigners came and went, but during the European expansion and global conquest, European explorers began exploring West Papua – the Portuguese, the Spaniards, the British, and the Dutch explorers.
The Dutch
The Dutch administration formally colonized West Papua in 1898 and called it the ‘Dutch Western New Guinea’. These Dutch administration remained in West Papua until the arrival of World War II in early 1940 when Japanese forces landed on the shores of West Papua. The West Papuans and their colonial Dutch military joined Australia and the Americans in fighting against the invading Japanese forces. During that war, hundreds of thousands of indigenous West Papuans died fighting along side their Allied counterparts, and many indigenous villagers died in the crossfire and the indiscriminate bombings of their villages by the Japanese.
Post World War II
While the war was raging on in the New Guinea Island and the Pacific, a newly organized Indonesian government led by the ambitious Indonesian leader Sukarno, declared independence from the Netherlands. The emerging country had its own expansionist ambitions, and showed it was will to fight for every inch land the Netherlands colonized since the late 1800s.
After the war, the Dutch government attempted to regain control of its past colonies throughout the spice Islands. Indonesia, however, put up a stiff resistance and repelled the Dutch forces. So, in 1950, the Dutch administration backed down and recognized the independence and sovereignty of Indonesia. But the Indonesian government wanted every other Islands, including West Papua, and the Sukarno government used ‘anti-colonialism’ argument in his quest to take West Papua away from the Netherlands. The Dutch administration in West refused to be intimidated.
In 1961, the Dutch government began preparation for a transitional government for West Papua. The They argued that West Papua is not part of the Indonesian country, or the Asian family. Linguistically and ethnically, the West Papuan people are Melanesian people – they are a member of the Melanesian family in Oceania, just as their Melanesian cousins in PNG. This Dutch administration’s decision resulted in multiple military clashes between the two countries. Each time, the Dutch forces defeated the Indonesian invaders. All that changed when the Democratic world intervened.
The Soviet vs. Western Allies
The Indonesian government realized that taking West Papua by force was impossible and so they turned to the United Nations, and began negotiations with the Soviet Union. By doing so, Sukarno signaled to the US and its allies, and the Democratic world, that if their demands for ‘Western New Guinea’ (West Papua) were not met, they would become a communist country.
In the ensuing years between 1961 and 1969, President Sukarno – with the help of newly created independent countries in Asia and Africa – pushed for a UN intervention in West Papua to oust the Netherlands. Because of that, the US government – led by the US President John F. Kennedy – began working aggressively to meet President Sukarno’s demands.
The New York Agreement
The first UN intervention on behalf of the Indonesian government came by way of the ‘New York Agreement’ brokered by the United States, Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands.
The NYA agreement was created to transfer West Papua from the Netherlands into the hands of the rising colonial regime of President Sukarno. In it, the word “transfer” dominated each article, which was a clear contradiction of what the UN leadership admission that they were working on an election to determine whether the indigenous people wanted to be part of Indonesia or a country of their own. The negotiations led to the election of 1969, which the UN dubbed the ‘Act of Free Choice’. The election which proceeded the NYA was meant to be a free and fair election, but was it?
The Conspiracy Against West Papuans
The question that most West Papuans down to this generation continue to ask – was the UN interested in the democratic rights of West Papuans at the time? Their own actions showed they weren’t, leaving us to conclude that there was a conspiracy to hand over West Papua to the Indonesian government in exchange for keeping the communist away from Indonesia. Here are the reasons:
The NYA signed without West Papuan Participation
West Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, is the eastern most province of Indonesia
and occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. An almost perfect
artificial line arbitrarily separates the independent nation of Papua New Guinea in the
east from Indonesian occupied West Papua. Indonesia has enforced a brutal, military
rule over the people of West Papua since the 1969 United Nations backed Act of
Free Choice (subsequently dubbed The Act of No Choice by its critics).
You would think that a plan that would alter the future trajectory of an entire nation would make their participation centerstage. In this case, the West Papuan people were kept out of the negotiations. In fact, some West Papuan leaders escaped to PNG and tried to reach New York to express their disagreement with the NYA, were detained by Australian police, preventing them from traveling to the US until the agreement was signed. It became apparently that the US and its Australian allies did not want any West Papuan to participation in the planning, negotiation and implementation of the NYA.
In West Papua, the UN forces placed in West Papua to monitor the election existed West Papua prematurely giving all security issues to the Indonesian military. In other words, the dogs that wanted to eat the chicken was now by placed in the security of the chicken. It was apparent to West Papuans at the time that the election was all but a sham. That theory became a reality when it turned out that 1025 Indigenous West Papuans were rounded up by the military and coerced to vote for the integration of West Papua and Indonesia. Of the estimated 1 million West Papuan voters at the time, only less than 1% of the population voted for the integration of the two peoples. In other words, 99.9% of West Papuans at the time didn’t vote on the sham election of 1969, which was a clear violation of the principal of ‘One Man, One Vote’. In this case, the election of the 1969 was a total sham for it was a pro-Indonesian eleciton masquerading as an election where indigenous people decided to be part of Indonesia. That was a lie.
Birth of Nonviolent Struggle – West Papua
Since 1969, knowing that the majority of West Papuans rejected the outcome of the election, the Indonesian government resorted to violence and repression to maintain its controversial take of West Papua. The manner in which the Indonesian military and police cracked down on indigenous people, is an evidence that the only way to keep our people in total subjection is trough the application of absolute police and military crackdown on opposing voices.
In 1988, two decades after the ‘Act of Free Choice’, a new movement based on the teachings of Dr. King, Mandel and Gandhi, emerged in West Papua. The movement was based on the legal arguments put forward by Dr. Thom, which challenged the underlying claim by the Indonesian government that it was given the authority over West Papua. In that argument, Dr. Thom pointed to the Rome Agreement, which stated that Indonesia would only administer West Papua for 25 years, after which the people of West Papua would vote fore their own self-determination. This is an agreement the Indonesian government continues to violate.
As he was calling for the independence of West Papua, he was arrested, charged with “treason” and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was held in West Papua for a few years and then the Indonesian government quietly transferred him to Cipenang Prison in Jakarta, thousands of miles away from home. He remained in prison in Jakarta until he died of suspicious food poisoning, serving only years of his 8-year prison term. He spent a few years in Cipenang prison along side notorious Xanana Gusmao, who was imprisoned for his role as leader of East Timor’s independence movement. The two formed a friendship bond that endured to the end of Dr. Thom’s life. Gusmao was released and went on to lead the newly created independent Republican of East Timor.
Dr. Thom’s ‘Nonviolent Movement’ inspired a huge movement that remained to this day, and also inspired his nephew Herman Wainggai to bring his message from West Papua to the United States. He is also instrumental in the formation of our ‘Human Rights’ center here in Washington, D.C.
West Papua Today
Today, West Papua is one of the highest militarized zones in the world with military and police posts throughout West Papua. The use of secret police, armed police officers and heavily armed soldiers are the only way to maintain Indonesian supremacy in throughout the West Papuan region.
For more than five decades, the people of West Papua still feel as if they were sold from one colonial power to another in an apparent gross violation of ‘international laws’. And today, the people are still protesting against Indonesia as they did in 1969.
The New Guinea land mass is the second largest island on earth and one of
approximately 20,000-30,000 archipelagos in the South Pacific. New Guinea is , a
land with over 800 distinct languages and is home
to ancient cultures, including the oldest cultivating society. The indigenous
people of West Papua are culturally and linguistically similar to their Melanesian
brothers and sisters in Papua New Guinea and culturally and linguistically distinct
from their Indonesian occupiers.
Life is difficult for the people of West Papua yet all they ask for is the freedom to
speak one’s mind, live without fear, and the opportunity
to legitimately choose their own country.
The election of 1969 was an apparent mockery of the democratic principles of freedom of choose and the right to vote for ‘self-determination’. West Papuans took to the streets to protest against the sham referendum known as the ‘Act of Free of Choice’ but were met with Indonesian military and police. The UN small force, which supposed to provide security for indigenous people on election were long gone, leaving indigenous people to the brutality of the Indonesian regime.
Today, our ‘Nonviolent activists’ in West Papua are still protesting that election, calling for an open investigation to the ongoing violation of ‘Human rights’ in West Papua, or a chance to vote for their own self-determination; a right they felt was stolen from them.
Natural Resources and Colonialism
Spanning West Papua’s richly bio-diverse landscape are snow capped highland mountains vast tracts of forest, many still unexplored in midlands, and prosperous coastal fishing lowlands. West Papua is
abundant in natural resources, including one of the world’s largest goldmine, natural gas, oil, lumber, and fish. The exploitation by foreign interests began in the 1960s and continues today with little direct financial benefit for the people of West Papua. What we have in return are their natural resources and environment are being destroyed.
The government of Indonesia is using its military to ensure all resources are under the control of either the Indonesian government or its foreign partners. This massive military expansion in West Papua led to the massive abuses of land owners, theft of their resources, and imprisonment of their political leaders. For this reason, West Papuan peaceful campaigners for the freedom of West Papuans, are now living in exile.