why does Indonesia own this the eastern half of the island of New Guinea today belongs to Papa New Guinea named for the native papuans who call it home so why does Indonesia control the West in this video we'll talk about how colonization diplomacy and more than a little violence left half of the world's second largest island under the Indonesian flag the papuans were a relatively small population living mostly in the Island center with no great cities the Europeans didn't think much of them the Spanish named The Island New Guinea since it reminded them of Guinea
and Africa but mostly left it alone that changed with the Dutch who arrived permanently in the 19th century they already controlled much of the East Indies and set up a few small ports on the western part of the Island the island was mostly a buffer zone against rival European power for more valuable Dutch controlled Islands west of it the Dutch ruled it indirectly via the Sultan of tador and no more than a few hundred Dutch colonists settled on the island at any one time in 1848 the British also showed an interest and agreed to divide
the claims to the island with the Dutch aside from a small bump around the fly River this straight line didn't reflect any reality on the ground it was just a convenience for the colonial powers to do it that way after 1848 the British col colonized some parts of the eastern island but the Germans also mused in for their short-lived Colonial Empire and carved off a chunk to that was until 1914 when the first world war broke out and the British or more accurately Australian troops fighting for the British Empire captured it from them after the
war Australia took control of the eastern half and aside from Japanese Occupation during the second world war they remained under Australian control until their independence as Papa new guini in 1975 in contrast Western new guine would have a much rougher experience as its Dutch Colonial Masters relinquished their overseas Empire with the end of the second world war Indonesia demanded its independence a sense of shared identity spread among the former Dutch East Indies hardening in the fact of Japanese brutality and the thought of returning to the control of another foreign occupier after the war was unacceptable
sukarno and Muhammad hat declared Indonesians Independence on August 17th 1945 just 2 days after Japan's formal surrender a protracted political and armed conflict with the Dutch followed as the European power made a futile attempt to reassert its control Western New Guinea usually just called Papa or west irian to Indonesians sat oddly in in the decolonization process with a relatively small native population an even smaller Dutch presence and no real representation in Indonesia's Independence Movement nor Dutch Administration the voice and perspective of its people was largely ignored Indonesia's view at first was mixed ha's initial thoughts
were that Papa should be independent saying that it should be left to the papn people themselves I recognize that the powin have the right to be an independent Nation this opinion did not win out a hardening attitude to the Dutch and the discovery of oil made it impossible for Indonesia to pass up the area they dubbed West Iran the 1946 linga jaati agreement with the Dutch had implied that Indonesia would be entitled to all former territory of the Dutch East Indies when serious fighting erupted in the following years the Dutch considered the agreement voided and
had never explicitly promised them Papa anyway while the Indonesians upheld their Claim by the late 1940s Indonesia considered Papa as much theirs as balii or Java were meanwhile a right-wing turn in Dutch politics encouraged them to double down on retaining what little of the Empire they could Papa became a symbol a last Bastion of a Dying Dutch Imperial Glory still even the Dutch realized it would not hold on to Papa forever they committed to Papa's future Independence but insisted It could only come after several decades of further Dutch guidance both Indonesia and the Dutch claimed
to be speaking for the interest of the papn without truly asking them Indonesia achieved full Independence in 1949 the Dutch could not prevent it and the US had threatened to withdraw Marshall Plan aid from the Netherlands if they continued to oppose it the ha conference that same year hoped to settle the papa issue but negotiations got nowhere the papa question was kicked down the road and left unresolved as the new nation came into being in the meantime the Dutch expanded their colonial Administration in Papa even into the 1950s Dutch control did not extend much beyond
the coastline the thickly jungled and hilly center of the island where most papn lived was beyond their ability to govern in any meaningful way it was estimated that no more than 25% of Papa's population was under any effective Dutch Authority even by the late 1950s the Dutch doubled down on their control though in 1952 they amended their constitution to include Papa as an integral part of the kingdom of the Netherlands they also presented their continued occupation as an anti-communist move in Southeast Asia Indonesia's assertion of neutrality in the Cold War which Washington and its allies
interpreted as covert communist sympathies made this claim more believable for its part Indonesia kept the Iran question near the top of the agenda it earned support for its claims from a number of countries including India and made repeated attempts in the United Nations to get a resolution passed in support to no avail as jakarta's frustration grew tensions remained High president sakaro agreed to Soviet military aid for a potential military solution and nationalized a number of Dutch Industries in the country bringing the Spectre of of the Cold War deeper into events in 1960 he broke off
relations with the Netherlands in protest over the dispute the Dutch continued with their gradual Independence plan in February 1961 they established a governing Council composed largely of powin and proposed the luns plan for a un supervised transition into full Independence on December 1st that year the semiformal Republic of West Papa was declared with ceremon in Papa and a new flag to boot sukarno was Furious the idea of a self-determining papa had long been abandoned by the Indonesian leadership within weeks the Indonesian government began operation triora under which they inserted paratroopers and Marines into Papa to
disrupt the remaining Dutch forces and oppose any papin Independence groups on January 15th 1952 one of these insertions was interrupted Ed by the Dutch Navy leading to a brief encounter named The Battle of arafura SE resulting in almost 40 indonisian Sailors and Marines killed operation triora had a limited effect only a small number of troops were ever inserted on the island and violence was light resulting in few casualties or deaths part of the reason for this was the timely intervention of the US President Kennedy recognized the serious risk of elevation and stepped in his sympathies
lay with Indonesia and in 1962 told the Netherlands directly that NATO would not back them if the conflict erupted he forced both sides to negotiate and a few months later Indonesia and the Netherlands signed the New York agreement to end the papa question once and for all under the New York agreement the Dutch relinquished all claims to Papa while Indonesia would take it over on the condition that Papa would decide their own fate in an act of free choice within a few years powin political parties were banned and public support for popn Independence became a
criminal offense the Indonesians selected 1,000 delegates to vote on their country's behalf the delegates chose unanimously to join Indonesia powin had little power to resist but they wielded that little power where they could free Papa movement engages in a gorilla war that continu continues to this day technically the conflict is still ongoing but it's considered to be a low intensity conflict with few casualties in any given year it's difficult to gauge poin support for Independence but there's no reason to expect such a change anytime soon and that line drawn by the Dutch and British back
in 1848 continues to shape the fate of the entire Island [Music]
