Britain and the West New Guinea Dispute, 1949-1962


Book Description

This book considers British policy during the dispute over "West Papua" between Indonesia and the Netherlands following the collapse of the Suharto regime. Although there are books and theses on American, Australian and Dutch policies, those of the British have remained unexplored.The work looks at the factors that conditioned Britain's response to the unrest from accommodating its allies to navigating Cold War.




The West New Guinea Dispute


Book Description







The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969


Book Description

This book examines the role of the international community in the handover of the Dutch colony of West Papua/Irian Jaya to Indonesia in the 1960s and questions whether or not the West Papuan people ever genuinely exercised the right to self-determination guaranteed to them in the UN-brokered Dutch/Indonesian agreement of 1962. Indonesian, Dutch, US, Soviet, Australian and British involvement is discussed, but particular emphasis is given to the central part played by the United Nations in the implementation of this agreement. As guarantor, the UN temporarily took over the territory's administration from the Dutch before transferring control to Indonesia in 1963. After five years of Indonesian rule, a UN team returned to West Papua to monitor and endorse a controversial act of self-determination that resulted in a unanimous vote by 1022 Papuan 'representatives' to reject independence. Despite this, the issue is still very much alive today as a crisis-hit Indonesia faces continued armed rebellion and growing calls for freedom in West Papua.










The West New Guinea Debacle


Book Description

This is a history which deals with the end of Dutch colonial rule, the early years of independent Indonesia, the West New Guinea question, and the emergence of Papuan nationalism. The book covers several key themes. The Indonesian Revolution (1945-1949) is treated only summarily. The book chiefly concentrates on Dutch policies and perspectives, which have so far generally been ignored in existing English-language publications. Netherlands-Indonesian relations between 1950 and 1958 are treated in depth, with a description and analysis of the struggle for power between the early, more Western-attuned and economic-rationalist cabinets, on the support of which the fate of the vast Netherlands-controlled export economy was dependent, and the masses, driven by Sukarno and the populist parties. West New Guinea and Papua nationalism began as early as the 1920s and 1930s, and by the early 1950s the Dutch had set about guiding the Papuans towards independence. This policy had to be aborted, however, with the threat of an Indonesian invasion and the unwillingness of the US to provide armed support to Dutch forces. As a result, Australia, too, was reluctantly forced to abandon the Dutch. Australia was forced to accept the inevitable. It had actively encouraged the Netherlands to hold onto West New Guinea, completed agreements on economic and social cooperation, and conducted in-depth studies about a possible Australia-Dutch defense system against Indonesian aggression. Without US military support, however, the situation became untenable. This book will be required reading for those seeking to understand the genesis of the situation in West New Guinea today, where Papuan nationalism is again in the ascendant following the recent dramatic events leading to the independence of East Timor.




The West New Guinea Debacle


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Winding up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands


Book Description

Little has been written about when, how and why the British Government changed its mind about giving independance to the Pacific Islands. Using recently opened archives, Winding Up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands gives the first detailed account of this event. As Britain began to dissolve the Empire in Asia in the aftermath of the Second World War, it announced that there were some countries that were so small, remote, and lacking in resources that they could never become independent states. However, between 1970 and 1980 there was a rapid about-turn. Accelerated decolonization suddenly became the order of the day. Here was the death warrant of the Empire, and hastily-arranged independence ceremonies were performed for six new states - Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Vanuatu. The rise of anti-imperialist pressures in the United Nations had a major role in this change in policy, as did the pioneering examples marked by the release of Western Samoa by New Zealand in 1962 and Nauru by Australia in 1968. The tenacity of Pacific Islanders in maintaining their cultures was in contrast to more strident Afro-Asia nationalisms. The closing of the Colonial Office, by merger with the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1966, followed by the joining of the Commonwealth and Foreign Offices in 1968, became a major turning point in Britain's relations with the Islands. In place of long-nurtured traditions of trusteeship for indigenous populations that had evolved in the Colonial Office, the new Foreign & Commonwealth Office concentrated on fostering British interests, which came to mean reducing distant commitments and focussing on the Atlantic world and Europe.




Constructing Papuan Nationalism


Book Description

Papuan nationalism is young, evolving, and flexible. It has adapted to and reflected the political circumstances in which it has emerged. Its evolution as a political force is one of the crucial factors in any analysis of political and cultural change in Papua, and the development of relations between the Indonesian government and Papuan society. This study examines the development of Papuan nationalism from the Pacific War through the movement?s revival after the fall of President Suharto in 1998. The author argues that the first step in understanding Papuan nationalism is understanding Papuan history and historical consciousness. The history that so preoccupies Papuan nationalists is the history of the decolonization of the Netherlands Indies, the struggle between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the sovereignty of Papua, and Papua?s subsequent integration into Indonesia. Papuan nationalism is also about ethnicity. Many Papuan nationalists make strong distinctions between Papuans and other peoples, especially Indonesians. However, Papuan society itself is a mosaic of over three hundred small, local, and often isolated ethno-linguistic groups. Yet over the years a pan-Papuan identity has been forged from this mosaic of tribal groups. This study explores the nationalists? argument about history and the sources of their sense of common ethnicity. It also explores the possibility that the Special Autonomy Law of 2001, if implemented fully, might provide a framework in which Papuan national aspirations might be realized.This is the fourteenth publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center Washington series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner.