Book Description

This book describes the historical development of the Irian Jaya guerrilla struggle for independence from Indonesia. The OPM, Organisasi Papua Merdeka, has been fighting Indonesian rule in West New Guinea since 1969; the military presence there was established in 1962. The author believes that the great majority of West Papuans support the OPM. The Indonesian Transmigration programme has forcible alienated clan land and sponsored settlers from Java. As a result of this policy 10,000 Papuans fled Irian Jaya in mid-1984 to seek safety in Papua New Guinea. The exodus was more than 1 per cent of the indigenous population. The OPM has almost no foreign allies. Both Papua New Guinea and Australia emphasize that Irian Jaya is part of Indonesia and thus an internal matter. The author predicts that greater autonomy for Irian Jaya would be more likely to result from political pressure on Jakarta than from a military victory by OPM.