Why is Western New Guinea part of Indonesia?

Wednesday 17 July

I always wondered how it was possible that Indonesia colonized the Western part of New Guinea shortly after they themselves decolonized from the Netherlands. Apparently the answer is that Indonesia organized a fake vote “held between 14 July and 2 August 1969 in which 1,025 people selected by the Indonesian military in Western New Guinea voted unanimously in favor of Indonesian control” (W).

I never looked into it. I simply assumed that Indonesia taking hold of Western New Guinea was some sort of Cold War deal between the US and Indonesia.

A bit more from Wikipedia:

The New York Agreement specified that all men and women in Papua who were not foreign nationals had the right to vote in the Act. General Sarwo Edhi Wibowo instead selected 1,022 Melanesian men and women[5] out of an estimated population of 800,000 as the Western New Guinea representatives for the vote,[2][6] which was conducted across eight regencies over three weeks. Electors were asked to vote by raising their hands or reading from prepared scripts, in a display for United Nations observers. They voted publicly and unanimously in favour of Indonesian control.

According to Hugh Lunn, a journalist from Reuters, men who were selected for the vote were coerced into voting against independence with threats of violence against their persons and their families.[1][2][7] Lunn also claims that outside the assembly, Papuan youths protesting the vote were thrown into army trucks and driven away, and that he, as the only foreign journalist, was threatened at gunpoint for taking photos of the demonstration.[5] The men and women who voted were instructed beforehand by the Indonesian military’s Special Operations Section exactly what to say during the plebiscite, and unsurprisingly reproduced nearly the exact same opinions with the exact same wording — that the Papuans had considered themselves Indonesian since 1945, and were to be one people with the Indonesians under the Indonesian flag.[5] Despite this, Ortiz-Sanz’s UN team in 1969 estimated that 95% of the Papuans supported independence. A British journalist who visited the region in an early 1968 visit claimed that he spoke to 300-400 West Papuans, and none of them supported a merger with Indonesia, noting that the Papuans seemed to loathe the Indonesians.[5] Contemporary diplomatic cables showed American diplomats suspecting that Indonesia could not have won a fair vote, and also suspecting that the vote was not implemented freely, but the diplomats saw the event as a "foregone conclusion" and "marginal to U.S. interests".[8] Ortiz-Sanz wrote in his report that "an act of free choice has taken place in accordance with Indonesian practice”, but not confirming that it was in accordance with international practice as the Act of Free Choice had required.[9]

Yeah. Such is the world we live in. With almost every new fact that I learn my disillusionment with humanity grows.

Of course I fully expect Indonesians to disagree with my feelings. The reaction is likely to be something like:

West New Guinea is historically part of Indonesia, dating back to the Majapahit Empire. The 1962 New York Agreement and 1969 Act of Free Choice affirmed its integration. Separatism threatens national unity, and Indonesia aims to develop and integrate the region for mutual prosperity.

So yeah, the fake vote. And sure, the Majapahit Empire occupied part of Western New Guinea, just as the Dutch occupied an even greater part later. How about the Papuans, why don’t get they to choose?

The integration of Papua into Indonesia follows international agreements and historical ties. While acknowledging the importance of native perspectives, the Act of Free Choice in 1969, despite its flaws, was the basis for international recognition. Indonesia is dedicated to ensuring the welfare and development of all Papuans within a united nation.

Yeah right. I bet that if Indonesia removed its military from West New Guinea it would choose to be independent in a heart beat.