Papua and the Indonesian
Struggle for Independence
Papua,
particularly the Digul Region, also played an important
part in the national struggle for independence.
It
became a symbol of the Indonesian struggle against colonialism. In the late 1920s, about 823 Indonesians,
along with 473 women and children, accused of taking part in an uprising
against the colonial government in various parts of Indonesia, were forced into exile
without trial
in Tanah Merah, about 500 kilometers upstream
of the Digul River. In those days
the journey took three days by
motorboat from
the river's mouth on the southern shore to an
area less than one square
kilometer that was cleared from the
surrounding wild tropical
jungles
dotted
with
malaria-infested
ponds.
Later, Indonesian student leaders such as Sutan Sjahrir
and Muhammad Hatta (with whom Soekarno
in 1945 proclaimed Indonesia's
independence) found their way to
Tanah Merah. There, Hatta wrote his famous book "Alam
Pikiran Yunani” (The
World of Greek Thoughts) in which he discussed the ideas of freedom and democracy. In some ways, the label "ex-Digulist"
had become a "proof" of their struggle for Indonesian independence. All of these have strengthened the emotional ties between Papua and the other Indonesian islands.
The Restoration of West Papua
into Indonesia:
1945-1949
After Japan surrendered, the Netherlands returned
to Indonesia as part of the allied force deployed in Indonesia. They ignored the fact
that the Indonesian people had exercised their right to selt.determination and were ready to re-impose colonial rule over the
Indonesian archipelago. An armed conflict between Indonesia and the Netherlands ensued and
it only ended when the parties
concluded a peace agreement at The Hague in 1949 in which the
Netherlands recognized and accepted tile independence and sovereignty of Indonesia.
Two
days after Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta
proclaimed Indonesia's independence on August 17, 1945, the Committee for the Preparation of Indonesia's Independence announced the division of Indonesia into eight provinces: Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, East
Java,
Lesser
Sunda,
Maluku
(Moluccas), Sulawesi :(Celebes) and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). West Papua was part of the Maluku Province, which during the time of the
Netherlands Indies was a residency
(an administrative unit of
the colonial government). Hence,
since the very beginning West Papua was never regarded
as being separate
from the rest of Indonesia.
In his radio address to the nation on August 23, 1945, President Soekarno
reiterated that West Papua was part of the
new republic. He said: "My people! In Sumatra, in Java, in Borneo, Sulawesi, Lesser Sunda, Moluccas-from Aceh to Merauke!"
Undeniably, the territory of the
Republic of Indonesia covers the whole of the Netherlands Indies,
including West Papua. During this period, the slogan "from Sabang (the northernmost tip of Sumatra) to
Merauke (southernmost town of the Dutch East Indies in the lsland of Papua)
was commonly used to describe
the nation's territory.
This
period also witnessed efforts by the
Dutch to artificially separate West Papua from the rest
of Netherlands Indies. On July 1946, the Dutch Colonial Government-which had just returned
from exile in Australia-sponsored a conference, the so-called Malino Conference, in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The conference was a conscious effort by
Lieutenant Governor General H.J. van Mook to circumscribe the weight and scope of the new Republic, by making it only a state in
the proposed Unitary. States of Indonesia
along with the States of East Indonesia
and Kalimantan. The
term "Malinosasi” or "Malinonization" was then'
often used among the Republicans to describe this divide
et impera policy of the colonial
government.
Mr.
Frans Kaisiepo, a native Papuan leader appointed
by the colonial government to
represent Papua, rejected van Mook's
proposed federation and instead delivered
his own proposal of changing
the name of the territory from "Nederlands Niew Guinea" into Irian. Irian derived from the native
language of Biak Island in Northern Papua, which means "sun rays that disperse sea mists". It alludes to the "hope" of Biak fishermen
at sea to reach Papua Island beyond the horizon.
The
colonial government was not happy with Kaisiepo's
actions, In the follow-up conference
in benpasar on December 1946, a Dutchman was sent to represent the Papuan
people, despite repeated appeals by the
Papuan people to the Resident of Papua, Mr. J. van Eechoud. On December
12,.1946 Papuan leaders: Marthen Indey, Corrinus Krey and Nicolas Youwe
dispatched a telegram to the Lieutenant Govemor General stating that West Papua
cannot be separated from the Republic of Indonesia.
The Lieutenant Governor General in the meantime
quietly sowed the seed of the Dutch's latter claim that Papua was separate from lndonesia by establishing a separate Papua residency
from the Residency of Moluccas.
This made Papua a "separate" political entity. During subsequent conferences in Pangkal Pinang and in Denpasar, Lieutenant Governor General
van Mook
resisted all efforts to include Papua Island in the State of Eastern
Indonesia. Other Indonesian
participants overwhelmingly opposed
this position.
In the end, however, van Mook himself
admitted that it was "decidedly, not the intention of the Dutch Government to exclude
New Guinea from Indonesia." Thus started a long·
and violent dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the status of
West Papua.
Yet, during the series of negotiations between
Indonesia and the' Dutch Government that led to
the Round
Table Conference in December 1949, the Dutch Government acknowledged that Indonesia comprised
the entire territory of the Netherlands East Indies, including West Papua. Article 3 of the Linggardjati Agreement (1947) stated
that:
"The United States of Indonesia shall comprise the
entire territory of the Netherlands
East Indies."
On January
17, 1948, the Renville Agreement, reached.under the auspices of the United
Nations. Good Offices
Committee, stated inter alia:
"Sovereignty throughout the Netherlands East Indies is and
shall remain
with the Kingdom of the Netherlands until, after a stated
interval, the Kingdom
of Netherlands transfer its sovereignty to the United States
of Indonesia"
Once again, it
was explicitly stated that
the Netherlands.. East Indies would be replaced
by a new sovereign and independent state of Indonesia.
