News from Vanuatu.
Betrayal of the highest order. The Act of free choice 1969 was a disgraceful
abuse of West Papua's right to self determination.
ON December 1 1961, Dutch troops lowered the
Netherlands flag for the last time over its New Guinea territories.
As the flag descended from poles across the
territory, a new standard rose in its place – the Morning Star of the
independent nation of West Papua.
That independence would be short-lived, however, as a
resource-hungry and recently independent Republic of Indonesia vied to take
hold of every possession of the departing Dutch.
Aided and abetted by the United States and Australia,
Indonesia would annex West Papua in 1962 with the world feigning ignorance of
the blatant rape of democracy.
The Netherlands took possession of what it named the
Dutch East Indies – what is now Indonesia and the western portion of the island
of New Guinea - in 1660 and held the territory through two world wars.
But an independence struggle led by General Sukarno
saw the Dutch agree to relinquish control of all its possessions excluding
Dutch New Guinea.
Instead it agreed to grant independence to the ethnic
Melanesians who lived in Dutch New Guinea separately from its deal with
Sukarno. This was supported by Australia who controlled Papua and New Guinea to
the east.
In January 1961 after territorial elections, the
Dutch governor swore in the New Guinea Council comprising 28 members and the
council’s inauguration on April 1 of the same year was attended by Australia,
Britain, France the Netherlands, New Zealand and other Pacific Forum nations.
The Council appointed a committee to draft a
manifesto showing their desire for independence, design a flag and compose an
anthem.
On October 31 the first Morning Star flag was
presented to the Dutch governor and West Papua was allowed to use this, the
anthem and coat of arms.
The official raising of the flag took place on
December 1 1961 and Indonesia invaded the territory one month later.
Papuan fighters – trained by the Dutch to provide
internal security for the new nation – captured 296 of the 1429 invading
paratroopers and handed them over to their colonial rulers. A further 216 of
the invading force were killed or never found.
The Dutch feared heavy casualties would eventuate
from a protracted jungle conflict and sought the help of the United States as a
mediator to prevent a drawn out war with Indonesia.
President John Kennedy – fully aware of the Dutch
desire that the Papuans retain independence – decided that it would be best for
the US to make Indonesia an ally.
The world’s newest independent state at that point
became a pawn to be sacrificed for the geo-political needs of the US.
Of course, the “threat” of communism was invoked as
justification for the US agreeing to allow Indonesia control of the territory
and to oversee an act of self determination which would eventually be doctored
while the United Nations looked on in silence.
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