Johan B. P. Maramis:
2. THE QUESTION OF
WEST IRIAN (WEST NEW GUINEA)
After years of
bloody revolutionary war and several failed
attempts to end the conflict the situation in West Irian noticeably deteriorated
and endangered peace in the region. The international community pressured the
Netherlands to seek a solution to the dispute. Both sides ultimately agreed to
convene a Round Table Conference towards the end of 1949 in The Hague where
Netherlands would agree to transfer
sovereignty of West Irian to the Republic of Indonesia.
It may be
recalled that at the conclusion of the Conference it was not possible to
reconcile the views of Indonesia and Netherlands on New Guinea which remained
therefore in dispute and that within a year from the date of the transfer of
sovereignty the political status would be determined through negotiations. The
negotiations did take place but failed to produce satisfactory results.
Negotiation however continued beyond the
stipulated one year period. By mid 1951 it became impossible to continue due to
the persistent refusal of The Netherlands
to negotiate any further. Having exhausted bilateral negotiations
Indonesia ultimately decided to seek a solution through multilateral channels
notably the United Nations.
The question of
West Irian was not a new one for the General Assembly of the United
Nations. In 1954 at the request of
Indonesia it was placed in the agenda of the ninth session of the General
Assembly of the United Nations. Indonesia had no option but to bring this
matter before the General Assembly. After full consideration the First
committee adopted, by more than two third majority, a draft resolution on this
question and expressed the hope that the two parties would pursue their
endeavours to find a solution. The General Assembly however failed to adopt
said resolution.
Colombo Plan
Powers meeting
After the ninth session, the
Prime Ministers of the five Colombo Plan Powers- India, Ceylon, Burma, Pakistan
and Indonesia - met in Bogor Indonesia in December 1954 and supported the
position of Indonesia while expressing their earnest hope that the Netherlands
would reopen negotiations to implement their obligations under the solemn agreement
concluded by them with Indonesia. Unfortunately The Netherlands turned a deaf
ear to this earnest appeal while relations between the two parties
deteriorated considerably.
The Asian-African conference convened at Bandung in April 1955 also
supported the position of Indonesia and urged the Netherlands to reopen
negotiations as soon as possible and expressed the earnest hope that
the United Nations would assist the
parties concerned in finding a peaceful solution to the dispute. The Conference
deemed it only appropriate to bring the question to the attention of the tenth
session of the General Assembly. They were confident that the G.A. this time
would not fail to make the necessary recommendations in the interest of peace
and co-operation among nations. The tenth, eleventh and twelfth sessions of the
General Assembly again failed to produce any results.
After having
exhausted both bilateral and multilateral channels. Indonesia became frustrated
and resorted to physical means to end the conflict. This action created a
dangerous situation and could threaten peace and tranquillity in the region which prompted UN Secretary
General U Thant to seek ways to revitalize
bilateral negotiations with the help of the experienced American Ambassador Elsworth Bunker.
Negotiation took place in a small city
near Washington DC and after days of tough bargaining in which Ambassador Bunker played a crucial role the meeting
succeeded to produce an Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia
concerning West New Guinea.
First,
the Agreement provided that, shortly after it came into force, the
administration of West New Guinea (West Irian) would be transferred by the
Netherlands to a United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA)
established by and under the authority of the UN Secretary General. This
Authority, which was to be headed by an United Nations Administrator, Dr. Abdoh
of Iran, would after 1 May 1963, transfer administration of West Irian to
Indonesia. Secondly, the Agreement contained certain guarantees for the
population of the territory, including detailed provisions regarding the
exercise of the rights of self-determination under arrangements made by
Indonesia with the advice, assistance and participation of the Secretary
General, who would appoint an United Nations Representative for that purpose.
The act of self-determination was to take place before the end of 1969.
The Agreement
came into force upon the adoption by the General Assembly of
resolution 1752 on 24 September 1962 (X VII). In that resolution the
General Assembly took note of the Agreement, acknowledged the role conferred
upon the Secretary General and authorized him to carry out the tasks entrusted
to him in the Agreement.
In a related
understanding of the main agreement, the two parties agreed to the cessation of
hostilities and requested the Secretary General to provide the necessary
assistance to make it effective.
The cease-fire
came into force on 18 August 1961. The task of assisting in the implementation
of this agreement was entrusted to Brigadier-General Indar Jit Rikhye, Military
Advisor to the Secretary General. He was to be responsible to making
arrangements for the arrival of the United Nations security force. Six member states Brazil, Ceylon, India
Ireland, Nigeria and Sweden agreed to provide
21 military observers to supervise the cease-fire arrangements. On 21
September Brigadier General Rikhye was able to report that all actions
concerning the cessation of hostilities had been completed without incident.
The Netherlands
transferred the administration of the territory to UNTEA, which was directly
responsible for the administration of West Irian between 1 October 1962 and 1
May 1963. UNTEA transferred full administrative control of the territory to the
Republic of Indonesia on 1 May 1963. With these transfers of administration the
first part of the Agreement was implemented.
There were some
cases of unrest and turmoil marked by sporadic armed clashes, increased border
crossings and anti Indonesia campaign instigated
by the Free Papua Organization to disrupt the implementation of the act of free
choice. The Government however took adequate measures to have the conduct of
the act of free choice implemented as scheduled.
In response to
the Secretary General’s request, the Government of Pakistan provided a force of
some 1.500 men to serve as the United Nation Security Force (UNSF). The
Government of Canada and the United States provided supporting aircraft and
crews. Major General Said Uddin Khan of Pakistan was appointed by the Secretary
General as Commander of UNSF. By the time UNTEA had assumed responsibility for
the territory, all officers of Dutch nationality had left, temporarily replaced by officers from the
Philippines who in turn were later replaced by Indonesians. By the end of March
1963, the entire corps was officered by Indonesians. The withdrawal of The
Netherlands’ naval and land forces was effected in stages. By 15 November 1962,
this process had been completed without incident
In January
1965, however Indonesia withdrew its active participation in the United Nations
and thus the future implementation of the second phase of the Agreement became
an unworkable proposition. Only in the middle of 1966 Indonesia decided to
restore its relations with the United Nations. On 27 April 1967 Foreign
Minister Adam Malik in a press conference announced that Indonesia would honour
the obligations stipulated in the New York Agreement. The Secretary General
sent his representative, the Under-Secretary General for Special Political
Affairs Mr. Rolz-Bennet to Indonesia
for the purpose of holding discussions with the Government concerning the implementation
of the last phase of the New York Agreement. I was present during the
discussion with Rolz- Bennet. He was a friendly and understanding man. A
Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 1 August 1967 which reaffirmed
Indonesia’s commitment as stated in the Agreement and the act of Free Choice
would be implemented before the
24th session of the G.A. in 1969 between the month of April and July
1969 and that one year before the act of self-determination the Secretary
General would appoint a Representative as called for in the Agreement. His
choice for this function was Ambassador Fernando Ortiz-Sanz, the Permanent
Representative of Bolivia to the United Nations and his appointment would be
effective April first, 1968. The Indonesian Government agreed to U Thant’s
proposal and considered that the most convenient time to commence his duties would be the middle of August 1968.
Meanwhile the
Government appointed the Special Assistant to the Foreign Minister for West
Irian Affairs, Ambassador Sudjarwo
Tjondronegoro, as Mr. Ortis-Sanz
counterpart. On August 12, ambassador Ortiz-Sanz accompanied by his wife and staff members arrived in Jakarta. I was in the welcoming party which received
them.
The role of the
United Nations in the second period was
according to the agreement ‘to advise,
assist and participate in the arrangements which were the responsibility of
Indonesia for the act of free choice” having in mind the interest and welfare
of the people of the territory
The obligations
of Indonesia were to make arrangements for the act of free choice which include
consultations (musyawarah) with the representative councils on
procedures and appropriate methods to be followed to ascertain the freely expressed will of the population; the determination of the actual
date of the exercise of free choice and the formulation of questions in such a
way as to permit the inhabitants to decide whether or not they wished to sever
their ties with Indonesia. The Indonesian Government’s intension to consult the
representative councils through musyawarah consisted of reaching a
decision based on discussions, understanding and knowledge of the problem. It
planned to carry out the act of free choice consecutively through eight
consultative assemblies compromising some 1.925 representatives.
Also relevant
to the implementation of the second part of the Agreement was the obligation of
the two parties to reimburse all the costs incurred by the United Nations and
to make available suitable funds in
advance for the discharge of the
Secretary General’s responsibilities. The parties agreed that they would share
on an equal basis the costs of such reimbursements and advances.
The Asian
Development Bank promised to give financial assistance as was also the case
with The Netherlands which planned to contribute US$ 10 milion each year for a period of three years. This fund
was to be administered by the United Nations and was named Fund for West Irian
(FUNDWI) Consultations with the local representative councils.
The consultations of the central government with the representative of
the councils in West Irian on the method and procedures of the act of free
choice carried out with the eight regency councils. The draft concept of the
Government was the subject of these consultations and were completed on April
11, 1969. The councils accepted the Government proposal to implement the act of
free choice in order to fulfil an international obligation. They also expressed
agreement with the method proposed by the Government for carrying out the act
of free choice, through consultations (musyawarah) with the consultative
assemblies specifically established in each regency for the purpose. They
accepted also the advise of Ortiz–Sanz to enlarge the membership of the
assemblies and to include representatives of all sectors of the population
elected by the people.
Considering the
specific geographical, social and human realties, the method to be contemplated
should be musjawarah with the consultative assembles and not the method of one
man one vote in the urban areas and
collective consultation in less accessible areas in the interior as was
suggested by Ortiz-Sanz. The Government considered the mixed method too
complicated and not suitable for the conditions and situation of the territory.
The Government
intended to carry out the act of free choice during the period 14 July to 5 August 1969. The main subject to
be submitted and to be considered was: whether the people would like to remain
with the Republic of Indonesia or not (which means severing tie with
Indonesia).
As planned the
sessions of the consultative assembly for the act of free choice started in Merauke regency on Monday July 14 1969
and ended in Djajapura regency on
Saturday August 2 1969. By this time the act of free choice for the
whole of West Irian was completed. Immediately after the conclusion of the act
of free choice the Minister of Home Affairs issued a statement on August 2,
1969 that the act of free choice was completed in good order and the result
unanimously adopted as the wishes of the entire people of West Irian to remain
united with the Republic of Indonesia and rejected separation from the
territory of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. The Foreign
Minister Adam Malik on the same day confirmed the Minister of Home Affairs
statement.
In his report
to the Secretary, Ortiz–Sanz in his closing remarks expressed his reservation
regarding the implementation-of article XXII of the agreement relating to “the
rights, including the right of free speech, freedom of movement and of assembly
of the inhabitants of the area”. He stated that this important provision was
not fully implemented and that the Administration exercised at all times a
tight political control over the population. Nevertheless he further observed
that on the basis of the facts presented in his report and the documents
referred to, he stated that with the limitation imposed by the geographical
characteristics of the territory and the general political situation in the
area, the act of free choice had taken place on West Irian in accordance with
Indonesian practice, in which the representatives of the population expressed their wish to remain with
Indonesia.
An additional
items was included in the General Assembly which was proposed by the Secretary
General regarding the agreement of Indonesia and The Netherlands which included his report on the
implementation of the agreement coupled with a draft resolution sponsored by
Belgium, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Malaysia,
Netherlands and Thailand. The debate of the Secretary General’s report
on the implementation of the act of free choice evoked criticism from some
African countries led by Ghana and Dahomey. They argued that the method of
musjawrah was a gross violation of the internationally accepted methods like
referendum and plebescite. They requested that the question of West Irian would
continuously remain in the General Assembly and requested also to give the
people of West Irian another chance in 1975 to exercise the act of self-determination.
I was present
during the debate and shocked to hear phrases like “disguised annexation” and
“Indonesia is a colonial power” used by several African delegates. The
Indonesian delegation, including myself, had therefore to lobby hard to gain
more support to reject the amendments proposed by those African delegates.
Those amendments were rejected by roll call voting with 60 against 15 in favour
and 39 abstentions.
The resolution
without amendment was accepted by roll call voting, with 89 in favour, none
against and 14 abstentions. This United Nations vote finally put to an end the
question and drama of West Irian,
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