Since the 2015 publication of Greg Poulgrain's The Incubus of Intervention: conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles we have known that Secretary-General Hammarskjöld was about to introduce a Decolonisation Program in Netherlands New Guinea whereby the West Papuan people would be recognised as the sovereign owners of their land, and UN officers would assist an independent West Papuan government for five years. Hammarskjöld intended to present the program to the 1961 General Assembly. His death just days before the opening of the Assembly meant the motion was debated without his authoritative and influential presence, and didn't garner the necessary two-thirds majority support. The UN’s failure to adopt a policy of self-determination for West Papua opened the way for an American diplomat—appointed by Acting Sec-General U Thant—to mediate an agreement that facilitated Indonesia’s incorporation of West Papua. And we all know the story after that.
This document is a fully referenced exposé of i) the twenty-year-period in West Papua between 1942 and 1962, which includes the Pacific War (1942–44) and the nation’s years as a UN Non-Self-Governing Territory between 1950 and 1962; ii) a forensic analysis of the legal manoeuvring by Indonesia, the United States and United Nations to turn the Non-Self-Governing Territory into an Indonesian colony in 1962; iii) the West Papuans program since 2014 to be registered on the UN Decolonisation List, as UN Sec-General Dag Hammarskjöld had planned to do; and iv) a Q&A rebuttal of the claims Indonesia used to takeover the 459,412 kms2 of richly resourced Melanesian land. Jacob, as Spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), first presented this paper as 'West Papua 1942 to 2019: the legals, the politics, and the only way forward' on 28 November 2019 at the Pacific Institute, Australian National University.
This paper sets out the facts and the principles of International Law relating to the process of decolonisation of the former territory of Netherlands New Guinea during the period between May 1960 and 1969 culminating in a resolution (passed by a vote of 84 to nil with 30 States abstaining) formally "noting" but not formally rejecting the result of the "Act of Free Choice" that was stage managed and shrouded in a web of intrigue, bribery, duress by threat, and coercion by propaganda and fraudulent promises in which a mere 1025 carefully selected, indoctrinated and controlled members of its indigenous population of almost 800,000, under the close scrutiny of armed Indonesian security personnel, agreed unanimously to commit their peoples to integration of their homeland with the State of Indonesia.
It asserts that by supporting that Resolution, 84 UN Member States with full knowledge of the relevant facts, and without consulting their own peoples, breached their obli
What are the changes that happened in the past 50 years that West Papua has been ruled by Indonesia? Why do I reflect on my personal journey and write this? Because this has been the reality of the lives of the Papuan people under the Indonesian military system since the 1st of May, 1963 and since the so called Act of Free Choice in 1969 when West Papua through military and political pressure was unjustly integrated into Indonesia. We [West Papuans] have maintained our dignity in the face of oppression, insult and prejudice. So many of our people have suffered and died, and they will continue to suffer and die under the military regime of Indonesia. This is why we cannot stop our struggle for justice and freedom.
This paper was developed by the West Papua National Authority, in consultation with the OPM, the Papua Presidium Council, tribal leaders, Church leaders, NGO’s, women leaders and student organization. It addresses common misunderstandings about the West Papuan liberation struggle, and answers questions commonly posed by journalists, diplomats, and politicians about an issue usually considered in terms of political sovereignty and human rights, but which has become central to the security and defence of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Outlining the institutions, strategies, political priorities and social objectives of the Federal Republic of West Papua before the meeting of the MSG secretariat meeting in Kanaky.
Prepared for Act of Free Choice Seminar, Institute for Dutch History, Royal Library in The Hague, 15 November 2005
“Building a relationship between Australia and Indonesia (that includes West Papua) based on the classic principles of Justice, Peace & Love" 24 October 2002
Paper presented at 'West Papua at the Crossroads: A conference on the prospects for peace and conflict resolution in West Papua' University of Sydney. 19th April 2000.