The west Papua or it is also called as Irian is a province in Indonesia which is located in the west part. In fact, this place has a really long story behind. The independence of it was started from a conference namely “Konferensi Meja Bundar” (KMB).
You can say it as the round table conference in English. That meeting was held in the 27 of December 1949. Through that KMB, finally Netherlands were willing to give the sovereignty to Indonesia.
However, the problem was not ended after that. These two countries were still in a conflict. It was because they thought that they had a right to own the west Papua land.
Dutch still wanted the Irian to be a single nation. That is why; they were then bringing this issue to the United Nations. At last, they wanted to make a discussion again with Indonesia where after that the New York agreement was formed. It contains a decision due to this problem.
That decision was that Netherlands decided to give their power ahead the Irian to the United Nations temporary executive Authority or UNITEA. However, the Dutch gave a sign that Indonesia must make a “Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat (Pepera).
In English it is also called as the “determination of people’s opinions”.] The Pepera result showed that the west Papua people Decided to be a part of Indonesia. That is why; the whole parties should respect that decision.
The Netherlands New Guinea
The Netherlands new guinea refers to the west Irian area. In that time, it was the outside area of the Dutch Kingdom in 1949. During the Indonesia’s revolution, Dutch has been making the police actions to take Papua from that tropical country. There are some reasons of it.
One of them is because Irian is so rich for their nature goods. Under the power of Netherlands, the people must give their harvest products to the government. However, the locals didn’t do it. The unique thing is that they still want to make that province is independent.
The reason is that Dutch had been making the huge investment in the financial aspect and knowledge since the 19th century. That was done to guarantee the west Papua position.
It was especially to make it became the official colonial area. That is why; they thought that they are the one who gave the big support than the other nations.
The Disputes that Occured
The independent position of Papua was started from the Konferensi Meja Bundar or KMB. That meeting was held in the 27 of December 1949. Through the conference, resulted in the handover of sovereignty from the Netherlands to Indonesia.
However, KMB still leaves chaos for those nations. Both countries still feel entitled to the land. Dutch wanted it to stand as a single country under their kingdom. The reason was that because the indigenous Papuans are different.
It means that they have the different race and ethnic as well. However, in contrast to Indonesia who wants the entire territory of the former Dutch East Indies colony to be handed over.
To overcome the problem, there have been several negotiations, but still have not found the common ground. This issue was then brought to the United Nations.
At the United Nations General Assembly in September 1961, the Dutch Foreign Minister Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns proposed that west Papua be under the United Nations.
However, that suggestion was rejected by the United Nations General Assembly. President Sukarno then formed the Mandala Command to seize Irian on January 2, 1962.
He appointed Major General Suharto as a commander of the military operation. After a long struggle, the Dutch are finally willing to return to negotiations with Indonesia.
Pepera 1969 and the Independence of West Papua
On August 15, 1962, the New York Agreement was agreed that the Netherlands would cede its power over Irian to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA).
UNTEA is the temporary acting body of the United Nations under the rule of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. What is UNTEA?
UNTEA was an organization formed because of the conflict about the west Papua. In the New York agreement, Indonesia is required to carry out the People’s Opinion Determination (Pepera).
Pepera was a general election held from July 14 to August 2, 1969. Through Pepera, the Papuan people will decide for themselves whether or not they are willing to become part of the country.
On October 1, 1962, the Dutch handed over the west Papua administrative authority to UNTEA. Finally, on December 31, 1962, Indonesia’s de jure rule over that province began.
That was done under the supervision of the United Nations. The flag was also replaced with the Red and White flag.
On May 1, 1963, that territorial was given entirely to Indonesia. The West Papua‘s position was increasingly certain after a referendum on the Act of Free Choice or Pepera in 1969.
