Australia rejects Papuan independence — West Papua Update

Old news about Australia rejects Papuan Independence, but very important to remember.

The Hindu Australia categorically rejected Papuan independence on Sunday saying it could not lead to a viable nation and would “completely rupture” ties with Indonesia were Canberra to weigh in. Foreign Minister Bob Carr said public opinion in Australia was “in support of Indonesian sovereignty over the two Papuan provinces” and though Canberra pressed Jakarta […]

Australia rejects Papuan independence — West Papua Update

Notes:

Located on the western half of the island of New Guinea and long racked by a simmering violent separatist insurgency, Papua encompasses Indonesia’s two easternmost provinces.

A former Dutch colony, West Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after an undisputed vote of about 1,025 representative tribal leaders. The result of the plebiscite was overseen and endorsed by the United Nations.

Since the democratization in 1998, especially since 2007, democracy by mean of elections has been introduced to increase political participation in the two provinces. The fact that the leaders of Papua and West Papua provinces are democratically elected by the people has strengthened the legality of the region as a province of Indonesia.

West Papua province (Indonesian: Papua Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea, Bird’s Head Peninsula and Bomberai Peninsula, along with nearby islands. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean, to the west by the Halmahera Sea and the Ceram Sea, to the south by the Banda Sea, and to the east by the province of Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari is the province’s capital, while Sorong is its largest city. West Papua is the second-least populous province in Indonesia, with a population of 760,422 according to the 2010 census by Statistics Indonesia; the latest official estimate (as at mid 2019) is 963,600.