Meta description: As a new province, West Papua always has something to adore. Here is a brief story behind this newborn province.
Slug: New-Born-West-Papua: A-Brief-Story-Behind
West Papua is one of the new provinces in Indonesia as this was formed in the early 2000s, in April 2007, to be précised. Previously, this province was called Irian Jaya Barat. This province has been through a long journey before as it is today. And knowing the story behind this province would be excellent for everyone. Here is a brief history behind this province’s formation.
The Round Table Conference and West Papua history
Papua was and is a valuable area, and this had become the conflict between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Although Indonesia had announced its independence, The Netherlands and some other countries still tried to invade it. One of the ways to defend Indonesia’s independence is through negotiation. The Round Table conference was one of them.
The Round Table was held from August to December 1949. On the 27th of December 1949, the agreement was signed and marked that it would be effective immediately. This conference initiated the form of West Papua. One agreement from the conference was about the status of Papua because both Indonesia and The Netherlands sides claim their right to this province.
To overcome this problem, the election from Papuans (Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat (Pepera)) was held from July to August 1969, which resulted in most Papuans wanting to be part of Indonesia. This election result was brought to the UN and was validated in 1969. Shortly after that, in 1973, President Soeharto changed its name from Irian Barat to Irian Jaya.
The born of the new province
On the 4th of October 1999, the birth of West Irian Jaya began, based on legalized law (Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1999). West Irian Jaya was one of three provinces as the result of Papua’s expansion. In the beginning, Papuans refused this idea for various reasons, so the implementation of the expansion was called off until 2003.
Since then, West Irian Jaya has prepared itself to be an independent province in Indonesia. This newborn province prepared its government system and other stuff needed, such as clear territory, the people, the fund, and the people’s representatives to run West Irian Jaya. In 2007, West Irian Jaya was changed to West Papua based on government law (PP Nomor 4 Tahun 2007). This province has gone through a long journey to become the one we know today.
The development of the province
After West Papua was legalized, it started building the province into a better one, starting from any attributes to run the government. This province had its first governor in 2006 and kept developing with time. It has many promising sectors that could be developed, especially tourism because this province has many beautiful places to visit and enjoy. One of the most well-known is Raja Ampat.
Furthermore, its capital Manokwari is where the governance runs. It also has the biggest town, Sorong, which has become one of Indonesia’s Special Economic Zones. This means that West Papua has many other resources to offer than tourism. This has a good chance of becoming a great province in Indonesia.
Many people are interested in visiting and investing their money in this province for its resources. This is one of the reasons why West Papua could grow and become famous faster than other new provinces.
The Indonesian government has also been giving more attention to the other Papua provinces to make them equal to other provinces in order to reach the 5th value of Pancasila. Nowadays, Papua provinces keep growing and handle their resources better.
