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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
“Rather than feeling liberated from (Dutch) colonial rule, Papuans have felt subjugated, marginalized from the processes of economic development, and threatened by the mass influx of Indonesian settlers. They have also developed a sense of common Papuan ethnicity in opposition to Indonesian dominance of the local economy and administration. These pan-Papuan views have become the cultural and ethnic currency of a common Papuan struggle.” Chauvel (2005)
“Papuans have less access to legitimate economic opportunities than any group in Indonesia and have experienced more violence and torture since the late 1960s in projects of the military to block their political aspirations than any other group in Indonesia today.” Braithwaite et al (2010)
1 After formally consolidating its control of the western half island in 1969, Indonesia renamed the territory Irian Jaya province, which was changed to Papua province in 2001 in accordance with local wishes. Papua is another common name which has often been used to refer to all of West New Guinea. In 2003, Indonesian New Guinea was divided into two provinces when the smaller province of West Irian Jaya was carved from the rump of the original Papua province. Confusingly, this new smaller province was subsequently renamed West Papua. For clarity, this paper will use West Papua to cover the entire territory of Indonesian New Guinea since 1963.
2 Duane Ruth-Hefferbower, ‘Indonesia: out of one, many?‘, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, 26: 2, 2002, p. 228.
3 Upton, Impact of Migration on the People of Papua, Indonesia, PhD thesis, 2009a, p.456.
4 Wies Platje, ‘Dutch sigint and the conflict with Indonesia 1950–1962‘, Intelligence and National Security, 16:1, 2001, pp. 285–312
5 John Saltford, The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962–1969, RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2003, p.7
6 Robin Osborne, Indonesia's Secret War: The Guerilla Struggle in Irian Jaya, Allen and Unwin, Sydney 1985, p.23
7 Article 18d, the New York Agreement
8 Saltford 2003, p.26
9 Osborne 1985, p.31
10 John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite, Michael Cookson and Leah Dunn, Anomie and Violence, Non-truth and reconciliation in Indonesian peacebuilding, Australian National University, Canberra, 2010, p.99
11 Osborne 1985, p.46
12 Eduard Hegemur, the lone dissenter, was later arrested and tortured. See Japp Timmer, ‘A brief social and political history of Papua, 1962–2005 ‘in A.J. Marshall and B.M. Beehler (eds), The Ecology of Papua, pp. 1098-1123. The Ecology of Indonesia Series Volume VI, Periplus Editions, Singapore, 2007
13 S. Lekik, ‘Historic vote was a sham: ex-UN chief admits’, Sydney Morning Herald, November 23, 2001.
14 Jim Lobe, ‘Secret Papers Show Papuan Self-Determination Sacrificed to U.S. Courtship of Suharto’, OneWorld US, July 12, 2004.
15 Saltford 2003, p.8
16 Lobe 2004.
17 Cited in Osborne 1985, p.27
18 Bradley Simpson, Economists With Guns: Authoritarian Development And U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968, Stanford University Press, California, 2010
19 Jacques Bertrand, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, p.145
20 Ross Garnaut and Chris Manning, Irian Jaya: The transformation of a Melanesian Economy: Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1974. P.12
21 C.L.M. Penders, The West New Guinea Debacle: Dutch Decolonisation and Indonesia, 1945-1962, Adelaide: Crawford House, 2002, 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.
22 Rodd McGibbon, Plural Society in Peril: Migration, Economic Change, and the Papua Conflict, East-West Center, Washington, 2004
23 Penders 2002, p.135
24 Rodd McGibbon, Plural Society in Peril: Migration, Economic Change, and the Papua Conflict, East-West Center, Washington, 2004
25 Ross Garnaut and Chris Manning, Irian Jaya: The transformation of a Melanesian Economy: Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1974 p. 13, and Osborne 1985, p. 19.
26 Penders 2002, p.392
27 Jan Pouwer, ‘The Colonisation, Decolonisation and Recolonisation of West New Guinea’, The Journal of Pacific History 34:2, 1999, p.167
28 PNG became independent from Australia in 1975. See Osborne 1985, p.18-20.
29 Osborne 1985, p.20 and Justus M. van der Kroef, ‘West New Guinea: the uncertain future’, Asian Survey, 8: 8, 1968, pp. 694
30 Saltford 2003, p.10
31 Richard Chauvel, Constructing Papuan Nationalism: History, Ethnicity and Adaption, East-West Center Washington, Washington, 2005, p.34
32 Osborne 1985, p.31
33 Data for West Papua in 1961 uses Dutch figures, whilst West Papua in 1971 uses figures from Chris Manning and Michael Rumbiak, ‘Irian Jaya: Economic Change, Migrants, and Indigenous Welfare’ in Hal Hill (ed), Unity and Diversity, Regional Economic Development in Indonesia since 1970. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1991, p.90. All other data comes from Indonesia's national census.
34 In justifying the division Indonesian officials 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.
35 Jim Elmslie, ‘West Papuan Demographic Transition and the 2010 Indonesian Census: “Slow Motion Genocide” or not?‘, 2010.
36 Elmslie 2010
37 Upton, ‘A disaster, but not genocide’, Inside Indonesia 97, 2009b.
38 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.
39 Osborne 1985, p.37
40 Osborne 1985, p.58
41 Upton 2009a, p.25
42 Upton 2009b
43 Upton 2009b
44 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.
45 World Bank, Indonesia Poverty Analysis Program, 2006.
46 World Bank 2006
47 World Bank 2006
48 World Bank 2006
49 Upton 2009a
50 Cited in Pouwer 1999, p.169
51 Upton 2009a, p.262
52 Upton 2009a, p.265
53 Cited in Pouwer 1999, p.171
54 Cited in Pouwer 1999, p.172
55 Upton 2009a, p.266
56 Upton 2009a, pp.267-68
57 United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Indonesia Human Development Report 2004, 2004
58 UNDP 2004
59 It was reported in March 2007 that many teachers assigned to the countryside in the new West Papua province were still effectively absent without leave in the provincial capital Manokwari. See Kompas, Banyak Guru Pedalaman Justru Tinggal di Kota, March 16, 2007.
60 Upton 2009b
61 Upton 2009b
62 Upton 2009a, p.26
63 Stuart Upton, ‘A cultural carnival? Observing social change in Papua’, Inside Indonesia 86, 2006
64 UNDP 2004
65 World Food Programme (WFP), Food Security and Vulnerability Atlas 2009, link.
66 UNDP 2004
67 Badan Pusat Statistik Papua (Statistics Papua), link.
68 BPS Papua, link.
69 UNDP 2004
70 Leslie Butt, ‘“Lipstick Girls” and “Fallen Women”: AIDS and conspiratorial thinking in Papua, Indonesia’, Cultural Anthropology, 20:3, August 2005, p.420
71 UNDP 2004
72 UNDP 2004
73 UNDP 2004
74 Badan Pusat Statistik Republik Indonesia (Statistics Indonesia), link.
75 UNDP 2004
76 Elisabeth Oktofani, ‘Magelang Scores High, Papua Low In Health Survey’, The Jakarta Globe December 1, 2010
77 World Bank, Indonesia Poverty Analysis Program, 2006, link.
78 Carmel Budiardjo and Liem Soei Liong, West Papua: The Obliteration of a People, Tapol, Thornton Heath, UK, 1988, p.3
79 Osborne 1985, p.8
80 PNG became independent from Australia in 1975. See Osborne 1985, p.18-20.
81 Osborne 1985, pp.33-34
82 Pouwer 1999, p.171
83 Upton 2009a
84 Simpson 2010
85 Osborne 1985, p.119
86 Denise Leith, ‘Freeport and the Suharto Regime, 1965-1998‘, The Contemporary Pacific 14:1, 2002
87 Jane Perlez and Raymond Bonner, ‘Below a Mountain of Wealth, a River of Waste’, New York Times, December 27, 2005
88 Agus Sumule, “Protection and empowerment of the rights of indigenous people of Papua(Irian Jaya) over natural resources under special autonomy: From legal opportunities to thechallenge of implementation”, Resource Management in Asia Pacific Working Paper 30, 2002
89 World Bank, Papua Public Expenditure Analysis, 2005, link.
90 Cited in West Papua Report January 2011, link.
91 Cited in West Papua Report January 2011, link.
92 Cited in West Papua Report January 2011, link.
93 Freeport also states that it indirectly created 10,700 jobs in 2006, such as for contract workers or employees at partner firms.
94 Mimika Statistics Agency (BPS) 2007 figures. Markus Makur, ‘More than half Mimika population lives in poverty’, Jakarta Post, September 26, 2007
95 Norway Ministry of Finance press release, June 6, 2006, link.
96 Jack Wold and Ramsay Barrett, ‘Irian Jaya stranded gas accumulation revived after 42 years’, Offshore Magazine 60:4, 2000.
97 ibid
98 ICG, ‘Communal Violence in Indonesia: Lessons From Kalimantan’, Asia Report 19, June 27, 2001
99 Jim Elmslie, Irian Jaya Under the Gun: Indonesian Economic Development Versus West Papuan Nationalism, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2003, pp. 85-86
100 Elmslie 2003, p.85
101 Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak, The Last Frontier: Illegal Logging in Papua and China's Massive Timber Theft, 2005, link.
102 EIA and Telapak 2005
103 EIA and Telapak, Rogue Traders: The Murky Business of Merbau Timber Smuggling in Indonesia, 2010, link.
104 ibid
105 Jakarta Post, Papua Refuses to Revoke Logging Licences, March 25, 2003
106 EIA and Telapak 2005
107 South China Morning Post, Indonesia: Illegal Loggers Turn to Papua, November 14, 2004
108 Damien Kingsbury, Power Politics and the Indonesian Military, RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2003 p.197
109 Cited in West Papua Report January 2011, link.
110 Ibid
111 See Butler, Rhett and Sarah Conway. ‘Could peatlands conservation be more profitable than palm oil?‘, Jakarta Post, August 22, 2007 and more recent data here.
112 ICG, ‘Indonesian Papua: A Local Perspective on the Conflict’, Asia Briefing 66, July 19, 2007
113 AFP, ‘Palm oil giant hits back at Greenpeace’, The Age, August 10, 2010.
114 Takeshi Ito, Noer Fauzi Rachman and Laksmi A. Savitri, Naturalizing Land Dispossession: A Policy Discourse Analysis of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate, presented at the International Conference on Global Land Grabbing April 6-8, 2011, link.
115 ICG, ‘Indonesia: Resources and Conflict in Papua’, Asia Report 39, September 13, 2002, p.2
116 Neles Tebay, Interfaith Endeavours for Peace in West Papua, Human Rights Office, Missio, Aachen, The Netherlands, 2006, p5
117 Such accounts are not new. See Osborne 1985.
118 Braithwaite et al 2010, p.63
119 International Crisis Group (ICG), ‘Papua, Answers to Frequently Asked Questions’, Asia Briefing 53, September 5, 2006, p.4
120 Such surveillance could also be used to justify the policy of closing West Papua to foreigners.
121 Yusak Pakage earned an early release in July 2010. Filep Karma is still in prison.
122 Irian Jaya was the official name of the province from 1973 to 2002, and means Victorious Irian in Indonesian (Irian being another name for New Guinea). Catherine Scott and Neles Tebay, ‘The West Papua conflict and its consequences for the Island of New Guinea: Root causes and the campaign for Papua, land of peace’, The Round Table, 94: 382, 2005, p.603
123 Catherine Scott and Neles Tebay, ‘The West Papua conflict and its consequences for the Island of New Guinea: Root causes and the campaign for Papua, land of peace’, The Round Table, 94: 382, 2005, p.600
124 Jeff Waters, ‘Torture In West Papua: The Video Verdict Is In’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News, October 27, 2010
125 Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power, The New Press, New York 2002, p.295
126 This is based on a statement by Papua's governor in 2002 that 40% of civil servants were indigenous. See ICG 2002, p.8
127 ICG, ‘Papua, Answers to Frequently Asked Questions’, Asia Briefing 53, September 5, 2006, p.4
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