West Papua (province) - Administrative History

Administrative History

Even after Indonesia's independence in 1949, Irian Jaya was retained by the Dutch for various reasons. However, Indonesia claimed all of the territory of the former Dutch East Indies, including the Dutch New Guinea holdings, so it invaded Irian Jaya in 1961. It was agreed that the UN should oversee a plebiscite of the people of West Papua, in which they would be given two choices: to remain part of Indonesia or to become an independent nation. This vote was referred to as the 'Act of Free Choice'.

However, instead of overseeing a free and fair election, little attempt was made by the UN to monitor how things were to play out in practice. Declaring that the Papuans were too 'primitive' to cope with democracy, the Indonesian military hand-picked 1,026 'representative' Papuans - out of a population of one million - threatened to kill them and their families if they voted the wrong way, and then told them to choose. The result was 'unanimous': West Papua would remain part of Indonesia. Despite protests from the Papuans, a critical report by a UN official and condemnation of the vote in the international media the UN shamefully sanctioned the result and West Papua has remained under control of the Indonesian state ever since.

The result of the vote was understandably rejected by the Free Papua Movement (OPM). The independence movement for West Papua continues today and has in recent years been gaining considerable support internationally, with numerous campaign groups along with the International Parlimentarians for West Papua group. The majority of the protest against Indonesia by Papuans remains peaceful for fear of reprisal however the circumstances have given rise to an armed guerilla wing of the independence movement. See guerrilla warfare against Indonesia.

West Papua was created from the western portion of Papua province in February 2003, initially under the name of Irian Jaya Barat; it was renamed Papua Barat (West Papua) on 7 February 2007.

In November 2004, an Indonesian court agreed that the split violated Papua's autonomy laws. However, the court ruled that because the new province had already been created, it should remain separate from Papua. The ruling also prohibited the creation of another proposed province, Central Irian Jaya, as that division had not yet been formalised.

The split is inline with the general trend of provincial splits that is occurring in all parts of Indonesia in the post-Suharto era. The new province has so far been widely supported by the province's inhabitants, as the new entity created more jobs and more government subsidies flowing into the province.

The province changed its name to West Papua on 7 February 2007. The new name applies from that date, but a plenary session of the provincial legislative council is required to legalise the change of name, and the government needs to then issue a regulation.