http://www.wpngnc.org/history.htm

History of West Papua

The Morning Star flag is the flag of West Papua and is the same as the flag of former Netherlands New Guinea. It has 13 horizontal blue and white stripes, at the hoist a vertical red stripe with a white star in the center. The Morning Star flag was designed by Nicolaas Jouwe, Chairman of the National Liberation Council of West Papua (and one of two Papuans who argued against West Papuan integration into Indonesian territory at the United Nations in New York back in the early 1960s ). The 13 stripes represent the tribes, the red strip the political struggle, the morning star the star of hope, and the red-white-blue stands for gratitude.

The Dutch government recognized these symbols on 18 November 1961 (Government Gazettes of Dutch New Guinea Nos. 68 and 69 - please see below). It was adopted on 20 November 1961, and on 1 December 1961 it was hoisted for the first time, next to the Dutch flag (a horizontal staff was attached to the top of the flagmast for this). When on 1 July 1971 the republic of West Papua was declared by the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka), the Morning Star was adopted again.

1st December 1961

Since there is a worldwide confusion about the meaning of December 1 as a National Day of the Papuan people, PaVo in the Netherlands herewith distributes the Ordinances of the Government of Netherlands New Guinea, concerning the recognition of the Papuan symbols.

On December 1, 1961, the New Guinea Council (Niew Guinea Raad / the first elected Papuan Parliament) together with the Dutch colonial administration, officially inaugurated the national Papuan symbols which emphasised their sovereignty as a people.

BULLETIN OF ORDINANCES AND DECREES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA

1961 No. 68

Territorial Flag of Netherlands New Guinea, “Territorial Flag Ordinance”

IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN !
THE GOVERNOR OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA,

WHEREAS the New Guinea Council has on the strength of the right to make proposals of law, as granted to the Council in Section 111e of the Netherlands New Guinea Act, made a proposal to lay down an ordinance concerning a territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea,

HAVING heard the Council of Heads of Departments and in agreement with the New Guinea Council,

HAS ORDAINED as follows:

Section 1.

1. The territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea shall be a rectangle consisting of a vertical wide red stripe at the hoist and seven horizontal blue stripes separated by six white stripes.

In the centre of the vertical red stripe is a white five-pointed star, with one point vertically upwards. The five points of the star shall each form an angle of 36 degrees.

2. The height and length of the flag shall bear to each other the proportion of 2 to 3. The width of the red stripe shall be two fifth of the height of the flag. The diameter if the circumscribed circle of the star shall be seven eights of the width of the red stripe.

3. The governor shall decide the nature of the colours of the flag.

Section 2.

The display of the territorial flag beside the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is provided in a regulation, cited as Flag Order, to be laid down in an administrative Order.

Section 3.

This ordinance, which may be cited as “Territorial Flag Ordinance”, shall come into operation on December 1, 1961.

Given in Hollandia, this eighteenth day of November, 1961
The Governor of Netherlands New Guinea: PLATTEEL
The Government Secretart: A. LOOSJES

Issued on November 20, 1961.

BULLETIN OF ORDINANCES AND DECREES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA

1961 No. 69

NATIONAL ANTHEM of Netherlands New Guinea

Ordinance providing for a national anthem for Netherlands New Guinea.

IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN !
THE GOVERNOR OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA,

WHEREAS the New Guinea Council has on the strength of the right to submit proposals regarding the laying down of ordinances, as granted to the Council in Section 111e of the Netherlands New Guinea Act, submitted a proposal to lay down an ordinance providing for a national anthem for Netherlands New Guinea,

WITH the advice of the Council of Heads of Departments and in concert with the New Guinea Council,

HAS ORDAINED as follows:

Section 1.

The national Anthem of Netherlands New Guinea is the song made up of seven stanzas, the melody and text of which are shown in the Appendix to this ordinance.

Section 2.

When the National Anthem of Netherlands New Guinea is performed in public, every person is obliged to pay respect in a manner befitting with respect to a national anthem.

Section 3.

This ordinance shall come into operation on December 1, 1961.
Given in Hollandia, this eighteenth day of November, 1961
The Governor of Netherlands New Guinea: PLATTEEL
The Government Secretary: A. LOOSJES

Issued on November 20, 1961.
(Orders of the Governor of Netherlands New Guinea No. 364 of November 18, 1961).

BULLETIN OF ORDINANCES AND DECREES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA

1961 No. 70

TERRITORIAL FLAG of Netherlands New Guinea

Administrative Order for the implementation of Section 2 of the Territorial Flag Ordinance.

IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN !
THE GOVERNOR OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA,

WHEREAS it is deemed necessary for the implementation of Section 2 of the Territorial Flag Ordinance (Bulletin of Ordinances & Decrees 1961 No. 68) to lay down the following regulations,

WITH the advice of the Council of heads of Departments,

HAS ORDAINED as follows:

Section 1.

Flying the territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea at the same time as the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands shall take place in conformity with the provisions of this ordinance at the places and times to be specified by the Governor.

Section 2.

1. The territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea, when it is displayed near, from or on a building, with the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, shall be placed on the left, seen from that building.

2. The territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea, when it is displayed with the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in a hall at an outdoor meeting where speeches are delivered, shall be placed at the speaker’s left and the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the speaker’s right.

Section 3.

When the territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea is displayed with the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this shall not in any way affect the regulations concerning the use of the orange pennant with the latter flag.

Section 4.

When the territorial flag of Netherlands New Guinea and the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are displayed simultaneously, the latter flag shall be hoisted or unfurled first and be lowered or removed last.

Section 5.

This Order, which may be cited as Flag Order, shall come into operation on December 1, 1961.

Given in Hollandia, this eighteenth day of November 1961
The Governor of Netherlands New Guinea: PLATTEEL.
The Government Secretary: A. LOOSJES

Issued on November 20, 1961.

Historical Dates - In Chronological Order

1511-12 Antonio d' Abreu and Francisco Serrano, Portuguese sailors, sight New Guinea but do not go ashore.

1526-27 The Portuguese Governor of Ternate, Jorge de Menezes, lands on Waigeo Island, takes shelter at Warsai on the Vogelkop for some months and names the region, "Ilhas dos Papuas".

1528 Hernan Cortez, Spanish conquistador in Mexico, sent Alvaro de Saavreda Ceron to relieve a Spanish outpost under siege from the Portuguese in Tidore. Lives for one month on the Schouten Islands (probably Biak) which he calls, "Isla de Oro".

1537 In Mexico, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez directs Hernan Grijalva to search for the 'Island of Gold' - mutiny and ship abandoned at Cenderawasih Bay. Seven survivors captured and enslaved by natives. Eventually ransomed by the Portuguese governor of Ternate years later.

1545 Ynigo Ortiz de Retes, Mexican-based Spanish captain, sailed along the north coast and plants the Spanish flag at a spot east of the mouth of the Mamberamo River on 20th June, taking possession of the island in the name of the King of Spain and names it "Nueva Guinea".

1569 New Guinea appeared on the Mercator world map.

1606 Luis Vaez de Torres, a Portuguese sailor in the service of Spain, explores the entire south and west coast and sails through the Torres Strait which he discovered and from whom Torres Strait is named. Willem Jansz, a Dutchman, sails along the west and south coast.

1616 Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten chart the north coast, including the islands in Cenderawasih Bay.

1623 Jan Carstensz sails along the south west coast and sees a "very high mountain range [that is] in many places white with snow". Report greeted with disbelief and ridicule in Europe, as no one believed there could be snow so near the Equator (4° South). The doubters did not check with the Spaniards about the Andes, and it was 200 years later before the snows on Kilimanjaro were sighted.

1660 Treaty between the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) and the Sultan of Tidore whereby the V.O.C. recognizes the Sultan's sovereignty over the "Papuan islands in general" but with an "internal alliance" which stipulated that all Europeans were forbidden in the area except the Dutch.

1678 First Dutch flag hoisted on west coast by Keyts.

1700 William Dampier sails along the North and West Coast. His voyage sparks the VOC again to activity.

1705 Jacob Weyland discovers and explores the Geelvink Bay.

1714 Treaty of Utrecht - Tidore empire rescinds New Guinea to the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and the British.

1750 Power of the VOC declines; Other nations appear in these regions.

1768 Louis de Bougainville sails along the north coast and names the Cyclops mountain range near Port Numbay / Jayapura.

1770 Captain James Cook travels along the south west coast during his round the world voyage. Lands at Cook Bay but hostile Asmat warriors force a hasty retreat. Cook lost 20 of his men to the Asmat. The Asmat practiced cannibalism.

1775 Thomas Forrest of the British East India Company lands at Doreri Bay near Manokwari, on Cenderawasih Bay, to search for an alternative supply of spices outside the Dutch sphere of control.

1780 Prince Nuku, Pretender to the Throne of Tidore, flees to the Papuan islands and commences guerilla warfare against the Dutch.

1791 John McCluer, a Briton, stopped on the southwest coast of West Papua. He mapped the gulf which almost cuts the Bird's Head from the body. It was named McCluer Bay and this name was changed to the present day Berau Bay after West Papua's integration into Indonesia. On the map this bay lies north of Fak Fak.

1793 The British Captain John Hayes established Fort Coronation at Doreri Bay, Vogelkop, the first European settlement. He named the settlement New Albion.

1795 April - Fort Coronation abandoned due to native hostility, lack of supplies, and disease. All men not taken as slaves by the natives were very ill. Disappointing quality of spices led the British East India Company to decline to recognise the settlement. Survivors spent 6 months as guests of Prince Nuku on Seram Island (Ceram), after which they were repatriated to Calcutta.

1826 Pieter Mercus, Dutch Governor of the Molluccas, sent an official expedition to claim the south coast of New Guinea up to the 141° parallel, on hearing false rumours of the existence of a British trading post somewhere in south west New Guinea. Expedition led by Lieutenant Kolff.

1829 Dutch Explorer de Rochemont lands briefly at Flamingo Bay.

1828 24th August - Dutch formally proclaim the south west coast as a Netherlands possession. Dutch government post and colony named Merkussoord established on Triton Bay. Fort du Bus was built of stone and named after the Belgian Viscount du Bus de Ghisignies, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

1838 Malaria finally forced the abandonment of Merkussoord colony and Fort du Bus.

1848 Netherlands Indies government lays claim to West New Guinea as far as the 141° parallel in the name of the Sultan of Tidore.

1855 5th February - The first German missionaries, C. W. Ottow and J. G. Geissler settle on Mansinam Island, Doreri Bay.

1862 Three Dutch missionaries of the Utrecht Mission Society arrive at Doreri Bay.

1875 Eastern boundary to 141° parallel determined.

1884 British flag raised at Port Moresby - South East New Guinea declared a British Protectorate. Germans claim North East New Guinea - Kaiser Wilhelmsafen.

1895 16th May - Treaty of The Hague signed whereby boundary with British New Guinea is determined which to today remains unchanged.

1898 Dutch government administrative posts established at Fak-Fak and Manokwari.

1902 Dutch government post opened at Merauke.

1905 Two Dutch Roman Catholic missionaries settle at Merauke. Dutch steamer Valk chugged 560 km (350 miles) up the Digul River from the south coast. Snow-crested peak sighted and dubbed Wilhelmina Top in honour of the Dutch Queen.

1907-15 Military explorative expeditions map all of West New Guinea except the interior mountain ranges.

1910 7th March - Dutch flag hoisted at Hollandia (now Port Numbay / Jayapura). Border with German New Guinea (north east New Guinea) settled this year also.

1913 Franssen Herderschee climbs the Wilhelmina Top (15,585 ft) from the south on 21st February.

1920 Van Overeem Expedition visits the Swart Valley.

1921 Kremer expedition reaches the Wilhelmina Top from the North after crossing the headwaters of the Baliem river.

1926 Dutch - American Stirling expedition to the upper Rouffaer regions, the first expedition to use air transport.

1928 Demarcation line between Protestant and Roman Catholic missions abolished. Franciscan mission founded at Fak Fak.

1929 The Moluccan Protestants (M.P.K.) commence work in south New Guinea.

1930 First expatriate settlers arrive at Manokwari and Hollandia (Port Numbay / Jayapura).

1935 Bijlmer expedition to the Charles Louis Mountains.

1936-7 Colijn, Dozy and Wissel climb some of the Carstensz Peaks. Ngga Pulu Top (16,530 ft) reached 5th December. Wissel discovers the lakes which bears his name, 31st December. Aerial mapping begun by the Netherlands New Guinea Petroleum Company.

1938 23rd June - American explorer Richard Archbold, travelling under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History, discovers Baliem Valley (60km by 15km or 37 miles by 9 miles) from the seaplane Guba on his third expedition. First Dutch Government post opened in the Highlands at Enarotali, Wissel Lakes.

1939 Le Roux expedition to the Wissel Lakes region . C.A.M.A and Roman Catholic missionaries begin work at Wissel Lakes.

1942 Japanese seize all but the southeastern part of New Guinea. They arrive in Fak Fak on 1st April (April Fool's Day) and at Manokwari on 12th April.

1944 Hollandia (Port Numbay / Jayapura) recaptured from the Japanese 22nd April. General Douglas MacArthur devised his 'island-hopping' strategy whilst looking at the various islands dotted around Lake Sentani from his base at Ifar Gunung (Mount Ifar) at the foot of Mount Cyclops. Thus the Philippines were liberated and the Japanese eventually defeated in the Pacific War of WWII.

1949 All Dutch East Indies except Netherlands New Guinea (West Papua) handed over to the newly independent Republic of Indonesia. The Constitution of the Government of Netherlands New Guinea is established.

1951-1958 Various missions begin work around Hollandia, the Vogelkop area, the Baliem Valley and related locales. 20th April 1954 - Lloyd van Stone of CMA (Christian & Missionary Alliance) began preaching amongst the Dani tribes.

1959 Dutch expedition to the Star Mountains. Juliana Peak reached.

1961 October - Ist Papuan Congress held. 1st December - Nieuw Guinea Raad (West Papuan Parliament) set up. Nieuw Guinea Raad (West Papuan Parliament) set up. West Papuan State Symbols approved by the Dutch Governor of Netherlands Niew Guinea (West Papua) in the name of the Queen of the Netherlands. 20th December - Indonesia invades West Papua overnight. Paratroopers dropped all over West Papua. Papuan flag replaced with Indonesian flag.

1961 Harvard Peabody Expedition to Baliem Valley. 18th November

1962 U.N.T.E.A. (United Nations Temporary Executive Authority) replaces the Dutch Administration in West New Guinea October 1962 - transfer of sovereignty over West Papua from the Netherlands to Indonesia lasting to May 1963. Harrer expedition climbs Carstenz Pyramid on 13th February (17,000 feet). The Dutch defeat Indonesian naval attack which resulted in the loss of Admiral Yos Sudarso of the Indonesian Navy.

1963 1st May - Indonesia assumes full administrative control of West Papua (named West Irian) from the interim administrative control of the UNTEA (United Nations Temporary Executive Authority).

1968 Two Protestant missionaries, Australian Stan Dale and American Phil Masters, killed and eaten by cannibals while hiking from Koruppun to Nimia.

1969 A plebiscite, generally seen as rigged, formalised Indonesian rule of West Papua (rigged in that only 1,025 tribal leaders hand-picked by Indonesia voted under duress for integration with Indonesia lest they lose their lives otherwise - resulting in all 1,025 or 100% of them returning a vote in favour of Indonesian control of West Papua). Most of the 1,025 Papuans have since rescinded their vote.

1970 A seven (7) metre (23ft) estuarine crocodile which had taken 55 human victims killed near the Asmat village of Piramat.

1973 3rd March - West Papua renamed Irian Jaya (from West Irian).

1977 - Papuans refuse to vote in 2nd Indonesian general election. Indonesia uses this as an excuse for aerial bombardment of whole regions throughout West Papua. Many Papuans killed / lost relatives. Between 1977 and 1978 11,000 Papuans fled across the border into neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

1996 January - hostage crisis in Mapnduma - to internationalise the case of West Papua, the OPM led by the notorious Kelly Kwalik kidnapped 26 people including 7 European scientists (of which 4 were Cambridge University undergraduates) on a scientific expedition. Held for several months but eventually released.

1998 15th April - 16 people including a New Zealand national shot dead by a mentally disturbed member of the Indonesian Army's Kopassus Special Forces.

1999 26th February - Team of 100 Delegation of West Papuans presented statement to B.J. Habibie, the then President of Indonesia, and his Cabinet to discuss the matter of West Papua. 1st December - Theys Eluay raised West Papuan flag, Ist West Papuan independence celebration after 38 years.

2000 Millenium Day, 1st Jan. - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid (popularly known as Gus Dur) gave his agreement that Irian Jaya be renamed Papua (or West Papua, to differentiate from independent Papua New Guinea, its immediate neighbour to the east). 29th May - 4th June - II Papuan Peoples Congress held in Port Numbay / Jayapura, the provincial administrative capital. 3000 participants representing all indigenous segments and tribes within West Papua voted to correct the history of West Papua, vehemently reject the 1969 Act of Free Choice, sever West Papua from Indonesia, and to pursue international recognition of the independence of West Papua as a sovereign nation since 1st December 1961. 6th October - At least 30 people, mostly settlers, die in a bloody riot in Wamena when Indonesian police cut down the Morning Star flag from its post, and ripped it to shreds in front of the Papuans before burning it. Not surprisingly, the Papuans went on a rampage. Mass exodus of transmigrants and non-Papuans from Wamena regency to Jayapura the provincial capital.

World War II Conflict Maps

click to enlarge

Allied Advance

click to enlarge

WEST PAPUAN POLITICAL HISTORY

The first colonizers

Humans first settled New Guinea at least 50,000 years ago, when it was connected to Australia by a land bridge. The British were the first Europeans to attempt colonization, but their 1793 colony was evacuated within two years. The Dutch were next, proclaiming on 24 August 1828 that the natives of the western half of New Guinea were to be subjects of the King of the Netherlands from that time on. But the Dutch made little effort to colonize ‘Dutch New Guinea’. They opened Fort du Bus to protect their lucrative trade with the spice islands from other European powers, but abandoned the area after only 10 years. No continuous settlement was established in West Papua until 1897, and no substantial development was undertaken within the country until the 1950s

. Indonesia’s competing bid

On 27 November 1949 the Dutch ceded sovereignty of Dutch East Indies to the Indonesian Republic, but excluded Dutch New Guinea (West Papua). Throughout the 1950s, they argued that Papua was geographically and ethnically different from Indonesia and the Papuans should – over time – be given self-determination. By contrast, the Indonesians argued that Dutch New Guinea had already been transferred to them in 1949, and had achieved independence then. Anti-Dutch campaigns in Indonesia, brewing throughout the 1950s, climaxed in 1957. Most Dutch people had been driven out and Dutch companies taken over by 1958. Indonesia broke off diplomatic relations in August 1960.

First steps to freedom

Undeterred the Dutch accelerated preparations for the Papuans to exercise their rights of self-determination. Elections were held for the West New Guinea Council, half of whose members were from the indigenous population. Following the installation of the Council on 1 December 1961, the territory was renamed Papua and the Morning Star flag was adopted and raised to fly next to the Dutch flag. Since then, the Morning Star flag has been a potent symbol of West Papuan resistance and nationalism, while 1 December is celebrated every year by the West Papuans as their independence day. At the UN, however, the Dutch were not able to achieve the two-thirds majority they needed to endorse their plans. Neither were the Indonesians. In 1962, 1,500 Indonesians ‘invaded’, either by parachute into the jungle or by submarine on to West Papuan beaches.

Theft – while the UN watches

Before this small-scale invasion, Indonesia had requested $400 million of arms from Russia (worth $10 billion today). Locked into Cold War rivalry, the US could not leave Indonesia to align itself to Russia. So, newly elected President JF Kennedy offered his support to Indonesia’s President Sukarno to end the dispute over Papua. Under the auspices of the UN, the US urged Indonesia and the Netherlands to the negotiating table. Here retired US diplomat Ellsworth Bunker drew up a plan to transfer the administrative authority for West Papua from the Netherlands to a neutral administrator, and thence to Indonesia. Not a single West Papuan was involved in these negotiations.

The ‘New York Agreement’

The ‘New York Agreement’ was signed by the Indonesians and the Dutch at UN headquarters on 15 August 1962. It fell well short of guaranteeing a referendum on independence, instead requiring Indonesia to make vague arrangements for West Papuans to ‘exercise freedom of choice’. It did however confer on all Papuans the right to participate in any act of self-determination. On 1 October 1962 – for the first time in its history – the UN was given temporary executive authority over a territory of significant size: West Papua. The handful of civil servants making up the UN Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) acted as apologists for the Indonesians, banning West Papuans from celebrating their second independence day and handing over administrative control to Indonesia after the seven-month minimum.

Sham voting

Another UN team returned in 1968 to ‘assist, advise and participate’ in the exercise of free choice – called the Act of Free Choice – planned for the following year. The team, headed by Bolivian diplomat Fernando Ortiz Sanz, comprised just 16 staff including administrative personnel. (The UN mission to organize and monitor the 1999 referendum in East Timor, by way of comparison, totalled more than 1,000 staff.) Foreign journalists consistently reported that the overwhelming majority of West Papuans did not want to be ruled by Jakarta. The Indonesians maintained that the terrain and the relatively uneducated population made ‘one man one vote’ impractical. They conducted a poll of only a select group of ‘elected’ representatives. Out of a total of 1,026 representatives, the UN managed to witness the election of only 195. One Australian journalist reported that Indonesians would go into a silent crowd and select the representatives themselves. Those local leaders who were included in the 1,026 reported being intimidated by gun-toting militia.

The Act of No Choice

Between 14 July and 2 August 1969, 1,025 representatives (one was sick) gathered in eight consultative council meetings around the country and were asked in open meetings (not secret ballots) to give their verdict. UN Secretary-General U Thant reported to the General Assembly that: ‘Without dissent, all the enlarged councils pronounced themselves in favour of the territory remaining with Indonesia.’ To explain this unanimous result, two annexes were attached to his report. They presented misleading – sometimes wrong – accounts of events before the vote was taken. The UN ratified the Act of Free Choice on 19 November 1969. The Ghanaian delegation to the UN called the process ‘a travesty of democracy and justice’. Together with several other African countries, Ghana called for a proper vote on West Papuan self-determination to be held in 1975, on the grounds that the New York Agreement had not been properly fulfilled. This proposal was defeated in the UN General Assembly by 60 votes to 15, with 39 abstentions.

Forty years of oppression

Even though there has never been a war, almost all West Papuans can name at least one relative who has been beaten, raped, tortured or killed by the Indonesian armed forces since the Act of Free Choice. Officially, more than 100,000 have died. Unofficially, the estimate is 800,000. In February 1999, 100 West Papuan leaders met with President Habibe in Jakarta and said that they had had enough: Indonesia must leave. The team flew back to a hero’s welcome by the thousands waiting to greet them at the airport. Until 1 December 1999, the Indonesians treated the raising of the Morning Star as an act of treason. Jails all over the country held Papuans imprisoned (some for up to 25 years) for raising their flag. The security forces surprised everyone by announcing that the raising of the flag would be permitted on 1 December 1999. In an emotional and peaceful ceremony, the capital city of Jayapura became ‘Papuan owned’ for a day. People throughout the country excitedly began preparations for the grant of independence that they thought would necessarily follow.

The road to freedom reopens

In February 2000, 400 delegates – including representatives of the armed wing of the OPM – met in Sentani and openly discussed a strategy to take West Papua towards independence. This meeting rejected the 1969 Act of Free Choice as fraudulent and illegal. It was followed by a Papua People’s Congress from 29 May to 4 June 2000, when 3,000 delegates came together. The Papua Council and its Presidium (Executive) emerged from these two meetings. Throughout these developments, President Abdurrahman Wahid and his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, consistently opposed independence but supported greater ‘autonomy’ for the ‘province’. Legislation implemented in January this year hands back much of the tax and royalties previously sent to Jakarta and spent elsewhere. Nevertheless, the Papuans oppose autonomy because it fails to deliver self-determination and allows continued military and police intervention.

Jumat, 16 Mei 2008