About West Papua

West Papua comprises the western half of the island of New Guinea. It borders Papua New Guinea to the east. West Papua was returned to Indonesia from the Netherlands in the 1960s and acknowledge the Act of Free Choice of referendum by Papuan people to join Indonesia.

Swathed in tropical rainforest which is second in size only to those of the Amazon, it is home to many unique species of wildlife including tree kangaroos and beautiful birds of paradise. It is also one of the world’s most resource rich areas containing huge reserves of oil, gas, copper, gold and timber.

The indigenous population number about 1 million Melanesian Indonesian Papuans, many of whom still live subsistence or hunter gatherer tribal lifestyles. The diverse tribes of New Guinea speak some 15% of the world’s known languages, despite having less than 3% of the world’s population.

A Bit of History

Previously a Dutch colony along with the islands that now make up Indonesia, West Papua remained under Dutch control when the Republic of Indonesia became an independent nation state in 1945. Defeated by Indonesian in all area of its colony, The Dutch government tried to defend West Papua by promising West Papua for independence throughout the 1950s. At the end of 1961, the puppet West Papua Congress created by the Dutch declared independence, which was rejected the world.

Within months Papuan local people and Indonesian military declared war against the Dutch and the conflict broke out between the Netherlands and Indonesia, while the indigenous population was left behind. The US intervened and supported an agreement between Indonesia and the Netherlands, which in 1962 gave control of West Papua to the United Nations and one year later transferred control to Indonesia. The Papuans were consulted partially by their leaders. 

Please be careful with conflict provocation by Free West Papua Campaign.