The Republic of West Papua ( id, Republik Papua Barat) is a proposed state consisting of the

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

region. The region has been administered by

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

since 1 May 1963 under several names in the following order, West Irian, Irian Jaya, and Papua. Today the region comprises six Indonesian provinces, Papua,

Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...

Highland Papua Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Lano-Pago, shortened to La Pago. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,408,641 according to the official es ...

South Papua South Papua, officially the South Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Selatan), is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of Papuan customary region of Anim Ha. Formally established on 11 November 2 ...

, West Papua, and

Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...

. The proposal is supported by

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

with the

Parliament of Vanuatu The Parliament of Vanuatu ( bi, Palamen blong Vanuatu; french: Parlement du Vanuatu) is the unicameral legislative body of the Republic of Vanuatu. It was established by chapter 4 of the 1980 Constitution, upon Vanuatu's independence from Franc ...

passing the Wantok Blong Yumi Bill (Our Close Friends) in 2010 officially declaring that Vanuatu's foreign policy is to support the achievement of the independence of West Papua. The parliament has proposed requesting that West Papua be granted observer status at the

Melanesian Spearhead Group The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is an intergovernmental organization, composed of the four Melanesian states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front of New Caledonia. In ...

and

Pacific Island Forum The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The Republic of West Papua has been a member state of the

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, or simply UNPO is an international organization established to facilitate the voices of unrepresented and marginalised nations and peoples worldwide. It was formed on 11 February 1991 in The Ha ...

(UNPO) since the organization's founding in 1991.

History

The region was previously mostly unclaimed, with the coastal regions and surrounding islands having a trading relationship with both the

Sultanate of Tidore The Sultanate of Tidore (Indonesian: كسلطانن تيدوري, ''Kesultanan Tidore'', sometimes ''Kerajaan Tidore'') was a sultanate in Southeast Asia, centered on Tidore in the Maluku Islands (presently in North Maluku Province). It was also kn ...

and the

Sultanate of Ternate The Sultanate of Ternate (Jawi alphabet: كسلطانن ترنتاي), previously also known as the Kingdom of Gapi is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia besides Tidore, Jailolo, and Bacan. The Ternate kingdom was established by ...

. Under the 1660 treaty between the Sultanate of Tidore and the Sultanate of Ternate which was under Dutch colony the Papuan people are recognized as subjects of Tidore sultanate. Under the 1872 treaty, the Sultanate of Tidore recognized Dutch control over its entire territory, which was used by

the Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

to establish West Papua as a formal colony part of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. For most of the colonial rule, there was no distinction made between Moluccans and Papuan. With parts of New Guinea is ruled administratively under Residentie Amboina. In 1922, Residentie Ternate was combined with Residentie Amboina and renamed Residentie Molukken. In 1935 the Residentie was renamed Gouvernement Molukken until the creation of Gouvernement Groote Oost in 1938, in which Gouvernement Molukken became residentie again. Under Dutch colonialism, West New Guinea is separated into two afdeeling, Afdeeling Nieuw-Guinea, and Afdeeling Zuid Nieuw-Guinea. In 1949 after the

Round Table conference The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in Dec ...

, Netherlands kept part of its colony with the West New Guinea region known as

Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdo ...

. The Dutch planned to settle most of its mixed population from Dutch East Indies in West New Guinea. When that plan failed, the Dutch had planned to withdraw by 1970 and began "Papuanization" to prepare for independence. In February 1961, the Dutch organised

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

for the

New Guinea Council The New Guinea Council ( nl, Nieuw-Guinea Raad) was a unicameral representative body formed in the Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961. History Prior to the formation of the New Guinea Council, there existed a Council of Directors, wh ...

a Papuan representative body to advise the Governor. The Council appointed a National Committee to prepare a political manifesto for the future state. On 1 December 1961, an inauguration ceremony was held for the

Morning Star flag The Morning Star flag ( id, Bendera Bintang Kejora, nl, Morgenstervlag) was a flag used in a supplemental fashion on Netherlands New Guinea to the flag of the Netherlands. It was first raised on 1 December 1961 prior to the territory coming und ...

raised outside the Council building in the presence of the Governor, also the national anthem "

Hai Tanahku Papua Hai Tanahku Papua ("Oh My Land Papua") was an anthem of Netherlands New Guinea and of the unilaterally declared Republic of West Papua. History The anthem was composed by the Dutch missionary Rev. Izaak Samuel Kijne during the 1930s. After the ...

", the birds of paradise

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

, motto and the name of Papua Barat (West Papua) for the proposed new state. The Dutch had accepted the Manifesto except the denomination of the flag recognizing it as a territorial flag not a national flag. The Dutch continued the formation of a council on October 19, 1961 which drafted the Manifesto for Independence and

Self-Government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

, the national flag (the Morning Star Flag), the national stamp, the birds of paradise

, motto and the name of Papua Barat (West Papua), chose "Hai Tanahku Papua" as the national anthem, and asked people to be recognized as Papuans. The Dutch recognized this flag and song on November 18, 1961 and these regulations came into force on December 1, 1961. The Dutch stated that they had accepted the Manifesto except for the denomination of the flag recognizing it as a territorial flag, not a national flag. On 1 July 1971, Brigadier General Seth Jafeth Rumkorem, a former member of Indonesian military cadet and son of an Indonesian military officer, defected and became the leader of the militant independence movement

Free Papua Movement "Free Papua Movement" ( id, Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM, tpi, Fri Wes Papua Grup) is an umbrella term for the independence movement established during 1965 in the West Papuan or West New Guinea territory which is currently being administrat ...

( id, Organisasi Papua Merdeka, (OPM)), proclaimed unilaterally West Papua as an independent democratic republic. The Morning Star flag was declared as a national flag. On 14 December 1988, Thom Wainggai unilaterally proclaimed the Republic of West Melanesia using the

Melanesian Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to: * Melanesians * Melanesian mythology * Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...

identity of the West Papuan people the name. The West Melanesia flag featured 14 stars with three colored bars of black, red and white. On 19 October 2011, Forkorus Yaboisembut, the head of the West Papua National Authority (WPNA), proclaimed the Federal Republic of West Papua ( id, Negara Republik Federal Papua Barat, (NRFPB)) with the Mambruk pigeon as the symbol of state. In December 2014, all West Papuan independence movement groups were united under a single umbrella organization the

United Liberation Movement for West Papua The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) unites the three main political independence movements seeking independence for Western New Guinea (West Papua) from Indonesia under a single umbrella organisation. The ULMWP was formed on 7 ...

(ULMWP). The organization is chaired by

Benny Wenda Benny Wenda is a West Papuan independence leader and Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). He is an international lobbyist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia. He lives in exile in the United Kingdom. ...

. In July 2019, the ULMWP claimed to have earlier in May united all West Papuan military factions under the one command forming the West Papua Army, including the

West Papua National Liberation Army The West Papua National Liberation Army ( id, Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Papua Barat; abbreviated TPNPB), commonly known in Indonesia as Armed Criminal Group ( id, Kelompok Kriminal Bersenjata; abbreviated as KKB), is a Western New Guinean ins ...

(TPNPB), that would be under "the political leadership of the ULMWP". The TPNPB released a statement in response denying that it had merged and called for a retraction and apology and said it had withdrawn from the ULMWP following a ULMWP summit in Vanuatu in 2017. On 1 December 2020, the ULMWP announced it was forming a provisional government for the Republic of West Papua with a provisional constitution and with Benny Wenda as interim president.

References

Notes

External links

Free West Papua CampaignWest Papua Media Alerts websiteAn article about the history of West Papuan separatism by John Anari (United Nations website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:West Papua, Republic of Politics of Indonesia Organizations based in Papua (province) Proposed countries Separatism in Indonesia Independence movements Western New Guinea

History

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

External links