The Republic Indonesia is the single heir to the Dutch East Indies (Papua and West Papua)

Speech of Hans van Baalen (Member of the Dutch House of Representatives from The People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy – VVD) in Jakarta, 20 Oktober 2005:

“Let me therefore, set the record straight. The Republic of Indonesia is the single heir to the Dutch East Indies. The Republic is the legal successor of the Dutch East Indies which was united under Dutch colonial rule. All parts of the Dutch East Indies form therefore an integral of the Republic. This has been fully established under international law. Therefore, it is up to the people of Indonesia themselves to decide through their democratic institutions in which way their territorial sovereignty should be administered. Decentralisation and regional autonomy are an internal matter of Indonesia…

Let me now turn to a matter which has brought about misconceptions in the Dutch-Indonesia bilateral relations, that is the so called Drooglever study regarding the transfer of sovereignty over Dutch New Guinea from the Netherlands through the United Nations to the Republic of Indonesia and the so called Act of Free Choice. This academic study commissioned to Parliament has the sole purpose to establish historic facts in the Dutch historic context and has no role to play in the Dutch-Indonesia relations. It has no political or legal significance. Neither does the Drooglever study affect in any way the recognition by the Netherlands of the territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia. West Papua (Irian Jaya) is an integral part of Indonesia like Maluku, Aceh and other territories of the Indonesian Archipelago. The Netherlands, therefore, will not support any separatist movements”