You have to wonder. Is there any hope at all for the Papuans.? Every year sees more and more Indonesians settled in their country. Papuan students and kids are sent to Java to be Muslimised. They come back strangers in their own country.

Tough for the Papuans.They are denied access to their own country's wealth. And US firms are taking out the gold and minerals.

If by some miracle a vote on independence is held in about ten or twenty years, Indonesia's army will make sure that the right answer is given to please Jakarta.

The butchers that wrecked electricity supplies and set fire to churches, killed indiscriminately and all the rest in Timor Leste are doing well in Papua and in Java. God help the Papuans.

Waverley.

I agree, it is cowardice of the lowest order. How much easier and more fair, to include in Papuans to the benefits of development.

They are the "true" and modern day stolen generation.
Indonesia exercises medieval practice, treating them in this crude manner.

Dan

Colonial powers such as the 19th century Belgian Congo claimed they were helping to develop the locals etc. But West Papua by 1961/1962 had held national elections, had a good education system, dozens of people studing medicine in Australia, were mechanics, builders, building an export market, and manning and maintaining the radio and telephony systems. When the UN asked Indonesia to assume administration the military looted the schools, shops and other infrastructure for anything they could fly back for sale in Jakarta. Papuan workers were replaced by Javanese and Indonesia spent several years isolating the population.

The 'New York Agreement' was not negotiated in 1962, it is a UN trusteeship agreement that was proposed in May 1959 by US consel John Henderson, modified in Oct' 1960 to ask the UN to be the temp administrator as well as trustee, and negotiated with Indonesia during 1961; https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v23/d150

This is what Indonesia and their friend U Thant were concealing from the newspapers & public in 1962 because Indonesia had 'internationaised' the issue by asking the United Nations to occupy & subjugate the colony on behalf of Indonesia that was making empty promises about how it would fulfil the UN legal obligations of Charter article 76 if we agreed to entrust the UN responsibility to Indonesian administration of the colony.
For the only UN reference to the legal status of West Papua, refer to the summary at https://search.archives.un.org/downloads/united-nations-temporary-executive-authority-in-west-irian-untea-1962-1963.pdf

Please refer to https://andrew767.wordpress.com
or https://griffithlawjournal.org/index.php/gjlhd/article/view/1078
for a more indeep explanation of the legal situation that the UN and Indonesia have been concealing.

I would like to condemn the anti-Indonesian tone of this article. Two Indonesian soldiers have been stabbed to death by the so-called 'peaceful' demonstrators. Hundreds of shops and buildings have been looted and torched.

These violent protestors are provoked by online hoaxes about non-existent 'murders of Papuans' in Java, calling for revenge attacks against non-Papuan residents. The peddler of lies being the separatist propagandists.

No wonder Indonesian government has shut down the internet to kill-off spread of provocative hoaxes. The new cybersecurity team, highly experienced in defeating recent massive internet hoax campaign by radical Islamic elements, is setting its sight on the separatist hoax makers. Given its experience, in no time the entire separatist propaganda team will be in custody.

The police and army has successfully restored order, while the population has set-up self-defense groups that deterred further looting.

Indonesian government will continue its mission in developing Papuan infrastructure and economy. Under current administration, Indonesia has pumped in billions of dollars, built 4,000 kms of roads, dozens of new airports, and new port facilities to bring the region at par with rest of Indonesia. Indonesia will not tolerate behavior of violent looters and the separatist provocators who offer nothing to advance Papuans' lives.

Western Papua, expansionist colonist Indonesia's Tibet!

Simply put, there has to be a new (UN-supervised) fair dinkum referendum and only for native-born Papuans! Otherwise, Indonesia can repeat what happened last time where new migrant settlers swung the vote!?

And just turned an alleged democratic outcome into a travesty!

Yes sure, they've poured in billions, but for Indonesia migrant, new settlers! And on patently purloined Papuan land! That makes it right!?

A halfway decent settlement would give the native population regional Autonomy and exclusive land rights! If Indonesia wants any? Let them barter and trade for it, in outcomes that pass a rudimentary, no disadvantage test!
Alan B.

It's kind of funny when you get all these third world countries going on and on about European colonisation, and then like Indonesia do a bit of colonising themselves when they get the chance.

Mind you, I am not necessarily against colonisation. There exists in the world ethnicities with very low intelligence and if a smarter race takes over their territory and tries to administer the place that benefits both races, what's the problem? Australia once had PNG as our colony and it was so well run that everybody was happy and the place actually turned a profit. Australian District Officer's stopped the inter tribal wars involving cannibalism and head hunting, and as one book I read on New Guinea claimed, "there was much relief over this." It was because of the respect that native people had for the fair, white administrations that Australia largely kept the loyalty of the native people during the Japanese invasion in WW2.

My take on the Indonesian colonisation of Irian Java is, good luck to you. It is obvious that the people of New Guinea do not have the collective intelligence to run their own affairs, and even Islam is an improvement on total tribal anarchy. One only has to look over the border in PNG where the government has attained a reputation for total dishonesty, and that from a part of the world where such behaviour is so normal it barely attracts comment.

Instead of turning a profit, PNG now costs the Australia taxpayer $500 million PA, much of it sticking to the palms of government officials. Meanwhile, inter tribal warfare has broken out again and "witches" are being burned to death. If Indonesia wishes to take over PNG and save the Aussie taxpayer a motza, you have my blessings.