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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
On July 9, 2011 another irrational colonial border that demarcated Sudan was consigned to history when South Sudan achieved independence. In the process an often seemingly irrevocable principle of decolonisation, that boundaries inherited from colonial entities should remain sacrosanct, has been challenged once again. Indeed, a cautious trend in international relations has been to support greater self-determination for ‘nations’ without awarding full statehood. Yet Kosovo is another state whose recent independence has been recognised by most major players in the international community. In West Papua's case, the territory's small but growing elite had been preparing for independence from the Netherlands in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Dutch plans envisaged full independence by 1970. However, in 1962 Cold War realpolitik intervened and the United States engineered a transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia under the auspices of the United Nations. To Indonesian nationalists their revolution became complete since West New Guinea had previously been part of the larger colonial unit of the Netherlands East Indies, which had realised its independence as Indonesia in 1949. In West New Guinea, most Papuans felt betrayed by the international community and have been campaigning for a proper referendum on independence ever since.
1 Chris Ballard, 1999. ‘Blanks in the writing: possible histories for West New Guinea’, Journal of Pacific History, 34:2, p. 149.
2 Russia and China being the major exceptions. Nonetheless, some 76 UN member states recognise Kosovo's independence and it has become a full member of the IMF and the World Bank.
3 Marcus Mietzner, 2009. Military Politics, Islam, and the State in Indonesia: From Turbulent Transition to Democratic Consolidation, KITLV Press, Leiden.
4 The Special Autonomy Law, implemented in January 2002, specifies that the Papuan provincial authority can keep 70% of its oil and gas royalties, and 80% of mining, forestry and fisheries royalties. However, much of this windfall has been squandered on expanding the civil service. The only other province to be granted exceptional autonomy terms has been Aceh.
5 Richard Chauvel, 2011.‘Filep Karma and the fight for Papua's future’, Inside Story, April 6.
6 I am grateful to Geoffrey Gunn for bringing this point to my attention.
7 See, for example: John Roskam, 2006. ‘Free West Papua not viable, ‘Australian Financial Review, April 21.
8 Duane Ruth-Hefferbower, 2002. ‘Indonesia: out of one, many?‘, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, 26:2, p. 228.
9 Ben Reilly, 2001. Democracy in divided societies: electoral engineering for conflict management, Cambridge University Press, p.188.
10 Stuart Upton, 2009a. Impact of Migration on the People of Papua, Indonesia, PhD thesis, p.456. Whilst genetically mixed Melanesian populations also exist in parts of eastern Indonesia, especially in West Timor and Maluku, their links to other Melanesian populations in the Pacific are somewhat tenuous and they are sometimes described as ‘Indo-Melanesian’.
11 C.L.M. Penders, 2002. The West New Guinea Debacle: Dutch Decolonisation and Indonesia, 1945-1962, Crawford House, Adelaide, p.89. Christians from these areas generally had a much closer association with the colonial administration than other ethnic groups in the Netherlands East Indies.
12 Rodd McGibbon, 2004. Plural Society in Peril: Migration, Economic Change, and the Papua Conflict, East-West Center, Washington.
13 Penders 2002, p.135.
14 Robin Osborne, 1985. Indonesia's Secret War: The Guerilla Struggle in Irian Jaya, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, p.37.
15 Thomas Leinbach et al., 1992. ‘Employment Behavior and the Family in Indonesia Transmigration, ‘Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 82:1.
16 Stuart Upton, 2009b. ‘A disaster, but not genocide’, Inside Indonesia 97.
17 Figures from Jim Elmslie, ‘Demographic transition in West Papua and claims of genocide, ‘2008. Elmslie uses the national data for 1971 and 1990 and the provincial authority data for 2005. He extrapolates the breakdown between indigenous and non-indigenous for 1971 and 1990 on the basis of language use.
18 Upton 2009a, p.298. In this case migrant means born outside of that regency, the vast majority of whom were born outside of West Papua since indigenous migration around the territory is relatively insignificant.
19 Upton, 2009b.
20 Lisa Chauvet, Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, 2007. ‘Paradise Lost The Costs of State Failure in the Pacific’, UNU-WIDER Research Paper 16.
21 Washington-based think tank Fund for Peace and bimonthly magazine Foreign Policy have collaborated to produce these rankings since 2005.
22 There was insufficient data available to perform reasonable analysis on Vanuatu.
23 Chauvet et al, 2007.
24 Chauvet et al, 2007.
25 Garth Luke, no date. ‘Australian Aid: A Mixed Bag’, Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).
26 This anthropologist was referring to the situation in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea but it appears equally true for most of Melanesia. See Jeffrey Clark, ‘Imagining the state, or tribalism and the arts of memory in the highlands of Papua New Guinea’, in Nicholas Thomas and Ton Otto (eds.), 1997. Narratives of Nation in the South Pacific. Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam pp. 65-90.
27 The ‘big man’ syndrome does not apply to Timor-Leste as much as PNG or the Solomons.
28 Peter Savage, 1978. ‘The Nationalist Struggle in West Irian: The Divisions Within the Liberation’, Journal of Sociology, 14:2.
29 See, for example: Richard Robison, 2006. ‘Corruption, collusion and nepotism after Suharto: Indonesia's past or future?‘, IIAS Newsletter 40.
30 See Transparency.org. A ranking of 178 is most corrupt. Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.
31 Since the 2006 military coup Fiji has not been listed among the 178 countries. However, Juris Gulbis, director of the organisation's Fiji office says that the public perception of corruption has improved since the military takeover. Link.
32 Jaap Timmer, 2007. ‘Erring Decentralisation and Elite Politics in Papua’ in Henk Schulte Nordholt and Gerry van Klinken (eds.), Renegotiating Boundaries : Local politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia, KITLV Press, Leiden, pp. 459-482.
33 Savage 1978, p.143.
34 The World Bank. 2009. Investing in the Future of Papua and West Papua: Infrastructure for Sustainable Development. The World Bank, Jakarta.
35 J. Budi Hernawan, 2011. Managing Papuan Expectations. After Handing Back Special Autonomy. Centre for International Governance and Justice, Regulatory Institutions Network, Australian National University, Issues Paper 16.
36 Timmer, 2007.
37 ibid.
38 ibid.
39 ibid.
40 Richard Chauvel and Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, 2004. The Papua Conflict: Jakarta's Perceptions and Policies, East-West Center, Washington p.41.
41 Richard Chauvel, 2005. Constructing Papuan Nationalism: History, Ethnicity and Adaption, East-West Center, Washington p.77.
42 Timmer, 2007.
43 The Jakarta Post, SBY to discuss formation of new Central Papua province, August 7, 2011.
44 In justifying the division proponents cite the case of PNG, almost similar in size to West Papua, which consists of 20 provinces and a population of 5.2 million people.
45 For more details see International Crisis Group (ICG), 2007. ‘Indonesian Papua: A Local Perspective on the Conflict’, Asia Briefing 66.
46 Chauvel and Bhakti, 2004, p.40.
47 Timmer, 2007, p.461.
48 Alexandre Marc, 2010. Delivering Services in Multicultural Societies, The World Bank, Washington.
49 Stuart Upton, 2006. ‘A cultural carnival? Observing social change in Papua’, Inside Indonesia 86
50 World Bank, 2005. Papua Public Expenditure Analysis.
51 VIVAnews, Ten Regencies Score Poor Governance Index, June 7, 2011. This survey is based on nine indicators: regional infrastructure; business expansion programs; interactions access to land between the government and business; transaction fees; business licensing; security and business conflict resolution efforts; the capacity and integrity of the head of the region; and local regulations.
52 World Bank, 2006. Indonesia Poverty Analysis Program.
53 ibid.
54 ibid.
55 ibid.
56 Upton, 2009a.
57 United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 2004. Indonesia Human Development Report 2004.
58 Elisabeth Oktofani, 2010. ‘Magelang Scores High, Papua Low In Health Survey’, The Jakarta Globe December 1.
59 World Bank, 2006.
60 Badan Pusat Statistik Papua (Statistics Papua).
61 BPS Papua.
62 UNDP, 2004.
63 ibid.
64 ibid.
65 ibid.
66 Badan Pusat Statistik Republik Indonesia (Statistics Indonesia).
67 Hela Hengene Payani, 2000. ‘Selected Problems in the Papua New Guinean Public Service’, Asian Journal of Public Administration, 22:2.
68 ibid, p.22.
69 Budy Resosudarmo, Lydia Napitupulu and Chris Manning, 2009. ‘Papua II: Challenges for Public Administration and Economic Policy Under Special Autonomy’ in Budy Resosudarmo and Frank Jotzo (eds.) Working with Nature against Poverty, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, pp. 59-73.
70 UNDP 2004.
71 Ron Crocombe, 2007. Asia in the Pacific: Replacing the West. IPS Publications, Suva pp. 64, 134
72 EIA and Telapak, 2010. Rogue Traders: The Murky Business of Merbau Timber Smuggling in Indonesia.
73 EIA and Telapak, 2005
74 South China Morning Post, 2004. Indonesia: Illegal Loggers Turn to Papua, November 14.
75 Ron Duncan and Ila Temu, 1997. ‘Trade, investment and sustainable development of natural resources in the Pacific: the case of fish and timber’, in Enhancing cooperation in trade and investment between Pacific Island Countries and economies of East and South-East Asia, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations, Volume 1, p.176.
76 Chris Ballard, 2002. ‘The Denial of Traditional Land Rights in West Papua’, Cultural Survival Quarterly 26:3, pp. 39-43.
77 ibid.
78 Matthew Allen, and Sinclair Dinnen, 2010. ‘The North down under: antinomies of conflict and intervention in Solomon Islands’, Conflict, Security & Development, 10:3, p. 305.
79 The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2011.
80 The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2011. Net ODA received per capita is represented in current US$.
81 Asian Development Bank (ABD), 2009. ADB's Pacific Approach 2010-2014.
82 Simeon Djankov, Jose G. Montalvo and Marta Reynal-Querol, 2008. ‘The Curse of Aid’, Journal of Economic Growth 13:3, pp.169–94.
83 Tim Anderson, 2010. ‘Land reform’ in Timor Leste? Why the Constitution is worth defending', in Michael Leach, Nuno Canas Mendes, Antero B. da Silva, Alarico da Costa Ximenes and Bob Boughton (Eds) Hatene kona ba/ Compreender/ Understanding/ Mengerti Timor-Leste, Swinburne Press, Melbourne, pp. 213-218.
84 ibid.
85 ibid.
86 Sinclair Dinnen, Abby McLeod and Gordon Peake, 2006. ‘Police-building in Weak States: Australian Approaches in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands’. Civil Wars 8:2, pp. 87-108.
87 Philip Alpers, 2008. ‘Papua New Guinea: Small Numbers, Big Fuss, Real Results’. Contemporary Security Policy 29:1, p. 151.
88 ibid, p. 153.
89 ibid, p. 154.
90 Secretariat of the Pacific Community, 2011. Statistics for Development.
91 Jim Elmslie, 2010. ‘West Papuan Demographic Transition and the 2010 Indonesian Census:
“Slow Motion Genocide” or not?'
92 Benedict Anderson, 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Verso, London and New York.
93 Nicholas Thomas and Ton Otto (eds), 1997. Narratives of Nation in the South Pacific. Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam.
94 John Vail, 2007. ‘Community-Based Development in Tari - Present and Prospects’ in Nicole Haley & R.J May (eds.), Conflict and Resource Development in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, Australian National University, Canberra, p. 108.
95 Rory Ewin, 1999. The Bougainville Conflict, Lecture to the Australian Defence Force Academy.
96 Chauvet et al, 2007.
97 Gerry van Klinken, 2007. Communal Violence and Democratization in Indonesia: Small Town Wars. Routledge, London.
98 ibid.
99 ibid.
100 Figures from here.
101 Ironically, the arrival of Christian missionaries from 1855 onwards also advanced the use of Malay as a lingua franca since they could not initially speak the local languages. Until then Malay had only been spoken in New Guinea by Muslim traders, bird hunters and officials from neighbouring Tidore.
102 ICG, 2008 ‘Indonesia: Communal Tensions in Papua’ Asia Report 154, June 16, pp. 7-9.
103 ibid, p. 9.
104 Lorraine Aragon, 2007. ‘Elite Competition in Central Sulawesi’ in Henk Schulte Nordholt and Gerry van Klinken (eds.), Renegotiating Boundaries: Local politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia, KITLV Press, Leiden, p.50.
105 ibid, p.50
106 Allen and Dinnen 2010, p.309. External pressures on local patronage networks, such as sagging demand for Solomons log exports during the late 1990s Asian economic crisis, might also have played a role in raising tensions in the Solomons during this period.
107 Matthew Allen and Sinclair Dinnen, 2010. ‘The North Down Under: Antinomies of Conflict and Intervention in Solomon Islands. ‘Conflict, Security and Development 10:3, pp. 308-309.
108 Henrik Urdal and Kristian Hoelscher, 2009. ‘Urban Youth Bulges and Social Disorder: An Empirical Study of Asian and Sub-Saharan African Cities’, Policy Research Working Paper, Washington, DC
109 International Organization for Migration, 2008. ‘Situation Report on International Migration in East and South-East Asia’, Bangkok. http://www.unicef.org/eapro/IOM_Situation_Report_-_Final.pdf
110 Statistics from BPS Papua and BPS Papua Barat.
111 Chauvel, 2005 p. xi.
112 See, for example: J. Sollewijn Gelpke, 1994. ‘The report of Miguel Roxo de Brito of his voyage in 1581-1582 to the Raja Ampat, the MacCluer Gulf and Seram’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 150:1, pp. 123-145.
113 Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 but was previously a separate state before it was federated.
114 Edward Aspinall, 2006. ‘Selective Outrage and Unacknowledged Fantasies: Re-thinking Papua, Indonesia and Australia’, Policy and Society 25:4.
115 The Papua Road Map can be downloaded from here.
116 For instance, even though the existing Special Autonomy Law theoretically allows Papuan political parties, national legislation requires political parties in Indonesia to maintain offices in at least half of the country's 33 provinces. However, the Helsinki Peace Agreement has effectively granted a dispensation to Aceh since it provides for local parties in Aceh province. This is another precedent that could potentially be applied to West Papua.
117 Organic police and military are those recruited, trained and are under the jurisdiction of the local administration. Non-organic police and military are those imposed by the national military and police command. Withdrawing non-organic forces would also mean withdrawing the structures of the force as well as the personnel. Thus, it was stipulated that Aceh would have its own police and military, and that it would be run its own internal security affairs without oversight from Jakarta or elsewhere in Indonesia.
118 Mietzner, 2009, pp. 301-302.
119 ICG, 2002. ‘Indonesia: Resources and Conflict in Papua’, Asia Report 39, September 13, p. 2.
120 John Saltford, 2000. UNTEA and UNRWI: United Nations Involvement in West New Guinea During the 1960's, PhD Dissertation, University of Hull.
121 Akihisa Matsuno, 2011. ‘West Papua and the changing nature of self-determination’, presented at CPACS Conference: Comprehending West Papua, Sydney University, February 23-24.
122 Eliezer Bonay, Papua's first governor, estimated in 1981 that some 30,000 Papuans died at the hands of the Indonesian military between 1963 and 1969.
123 See, for example, Tracey Banivanua-Mar, 2008. ‘“A thousand miles of cannibal lands”: imagining away genocide in the re-colonization of West Papua’, Journal of Genocide Research, 10: 4, pp. 583-602.
124 Matsuno, 2011.
125 ibid.
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