From West New Guinea to Irian Jaya

When Indonesia gained control of the territory of Netherlands New Guinea in 1963, minerals and oil were not on the political agenda. The presence of an unexploited bonanza remained strategic information. Only after the territory became the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, and the nationalism of the Indonesian president Sukarno was replaced by Suharto's transnational compliance, did Southeast Asia's most productive oil well, and the world's largest deposit of gold, officially "surface" in Irian Jaya. For more than three decades, the Indonesian army has stifled Papuan protest against exploitation of oil and minerals, flora and fauna. As such it is an Indonesian colony, since the 1.5 million indigenous inhabitants are (Melanesian) Papuans, unrelated to Indonesians. Furthermore, one of the consequences of government assisted settlement from Java is the displacing of Papuan communities and culture. This process has fomented much ethnic rivalry and bloodshed. In 1996-97, the province of Irian Java rioted. Two dozen people were kidnapped, including some Europeans, and the Indonesian army again clashed with the Papuan resistance that has opposed foreign oppression from the start. This book offers a perspective on the international dispute over sovereignty of West Papua/Irian Jaya and on the plight of West Papuans today.