According to historical records, the Dutch arrived in Papua in the 17th century. Harry Kawilarang in his book series “Mengindonesiakan Indonesia” wrote that in a ship called Duyfken, a Dutch sailor who worked for VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) sailed to the East Indies to search for spices.
In 1605, Duyfken sailed from Banten to the waters of West Papua, but in this year, it is believed that the Netherlands have no interest in Papua yet. In his book, Harry explained that The Dutch were not considering Papua as profitable land yet because of the harsh climate and the secluded location of the island from the world, all before considering the indigenous people living in the island.
Until 1828, the Netherlands sent an expedition team, Van Delden discovered Triton Bay in the southwest of Papua and considered it as an ideal spot to land. Soon after landing, the Dutch built Fort Du Bus as the Netherland’s first military base in Papua.
In May 16th 1895, Netherlands had an agreement with England to establish their territorial borders, Eastern Papua was ruled by England, would later be named Papua New Guinea, and Western Papua controlled by Netherlands. This region after the Indonesia Independence Day was called West Papua and Province of Papua in 1999.
Unlike any other Dutch colony in Indonesia, which after the Independence Day was returned to Indonesia as part of their nation, Netherlands was still considered Papua as part of them.
For the Netherlands, the West side of Papua, or Netherlands New Guinea was not part of Indonesia. The reason behind this was the indigenous people of Papua have different ethnical backgrounds and traits with the other parts of Indonesia. Because of this, the Netherlands wanted to make West Papua as an independent country under the Dutch Empire.
The Struggle Behind a Name
After the declaration of independence in August 17th 1945 in Jakarta, Frans Kaisiepo, a national hero from Biak, commemorates the independence of Indonesia in his hometown, Papua, by conducting an Independence Day ceremonial on August 31st 1945. He was conducting the complete ceremonial, flying Indonesia flag and sung the national anthem, and introducing nationalism values to the youths in Papua.
He also proposed ‘Irian’ as a new name for Papua- which was considered as a humiliation. This new name was proposed by Frans when he attended the Malino conference in South Sulawesi to have a negotiation with the Netherlands. But not until one year after the Malino conference, Frans had the chance to voice his proposal for the name ‘Irian’ on July 18th 1947.
Irian was chosen by Frans as an abbreviation of “Ikut Republik Indonesia Anti Netherlands” or “with the Republic of Indonesia opposing Netherlands” as a struggle to fight the Netherlands. Another means for Irian is from native language of Biak, ‘Irarian’ which means sun dried or uncovered by the sun. Frans considered this new name to be more suitable to replace Papua.
Irian, as proposed by Frans Kaisiepo, was not received quickly either by the Netherlands, nor representatives of Indonesia, but in 1963 Irian was used after Dutch Empire returned Papua to Indonesia.
West Papua status after Round Table Conference in 1949
During the pre-colonial era in Indonesia, Papua was always in turmoil and sought after by other nations, including Netherlands after giving back Papua to Indonesia as a result of the Round Table Conference in 1949.
Both Indonesia and Netherlands considered themselves to have rights on West Papua. For Indonesia, all regions controlled by the Netherlands during their colonialism era must be returned to Indonesia, West Papua included. Because no conclusion is achieved, this problem was postponed until a year later (Militer dan Globalisasi, 2012:139)
End of Dutch colonisation in Papua
The proper timeline to discuss about West Papua post-colonialism is during the follow up of the Round Table Conference, or 12 years later as the New York Agreement.
The conclusion of this Agreement is that the Netherlands must return West Papua to Indonesia at least until May 1st 1963 (Richard Chauvel, Constructing Papuan Nationalism, 2005:30). In this transition era, Papua will be under the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) formed under the United Nations.
On May 1st 1963, West Papua was officially returned to Indonesia from the Netherlands by UNTEA through mediation. Thus concluded the end of Dutch colonization in Papua.
Papua post-colonial era
After officially returning to Indonesia in 1963, the next step in this ordeal was the Act of Free Choice or (Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat – PEPERA) of Papua from July to August 1969. This Act is conducted to determine whether West Papua wanted to join with the Republic of Indonesia or not.
At that time, Soeharto took the chief command as the 2nd President of Indonesia from Soekarno on March 12th 1967 and sent Lieutenant General Ali Moertopo and his assistant, Jusuf Wanandi to supervise PEPERA and conduct a people’s conference on this matter.
On July 14th to August 2nd 1969, PEPERA concluded that the people of Papua wanted to join Indonesia as part of the nation and recognized by the United Nations on September 19th 1969.
Conflict over the political status of West Papua and Papua New Guinea goes back to the Post-colonial era in Indonesia where the Indonesian independence struggle around the 1940s. It was when the Dutch colonial insisted on retaining Papua until the New York Agreement in 1962, an agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands Concerning West New Guinea (West Papua) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. It Provides for a UN Administration in West Papua for the authority transfer from Netherlands to Indonesia and implements the Act of Free Choice.
