West Papua Information Kit

40-50,000 BC

- Melanesian people colonize Australian continent

5,000 BC

- raising sea levels separate Australian mainland from New Guinea and Tasmania

1860s

- Dutch Missionaries arrive in Western Papua

1895

- Europe agrees to divide unexplored Papua -- the western half for the Dutch; and the Germans and British dividing the eastern half into German New Guinea in the north and British Papua in the south.

1930s

- Graduates from Teachers College talk with fellow west Papuan communities and find some support for new unified Papuan identity and government.

1935

- Shell forms NNGPM for exploration of Netherlands New Guinea, Standard oil companies (a.k.a. Mobil and Chevron) buy 60% interest of NNGPM.

1936

- Jean Dozy discovers Ertsberg and extent of gold and other minerals.

1942

- Japan invades.

1944

- West Papua provides for American forces guides, translators, food, and carries wounded US troops back to medical care.
- Gen. MacArther gets West Papuan support for some twenty US bases including his headquarters in the territory's capital Hollandia.

1945

- Tokyo issues orders for Sukarno to prepare to declare the East Indies as Indonesia.

1949

- United Nations creates "United States of Indonesia"

1950

- Celebes, and Ambon try to escape clutchs of Indonesia.
- Axis leader Sukarno declares his replacement of the federation with his "Republic of Indonesia" complete.
- President Sukarno begins attempted military incursions into West Papua.

1959

- In March the New York Times reveals the Papaun Mines Office is now looking for the mountain source of gold flowing into the Arafura Sea.
- In August the Rockefeller controlled Freeport Sulphur company sends a team to say the Carstensz mountain region is a 'possible copper' claim.

1960

- In West New Guinea preparations for elections continue
10 Aug 1960 Papuan National Party has its first public meeting
21 Aug 1960 Papuan Democratic Party has its first public meeting
Robert Lovett advises Kennedy on who to trust as America's senior executives
28 Dec 1960 John F Kennedy selects Lovett's friend McGeorge Bundy as next US National Security Adviser.
31 Dec 1960 JFK disregards Gov. Foster Furcolo's objections to McGeorge Bundy's appointment.

1961

- West Papua holds national elections during January
17 Jan 1961 America ignores Eisenhower's warning not to trust the military industrial complex.
01 Apr 1961 New Guinea Council, 28 members (16 elected, 12 appointed; 23 Papuan) sworen in by Governor Dr. P.J.Platteel.
05 Apr 1961 inauguration of (west) New Guinea Council
April 1961 in Washington the NSC begins campaign to urgently have West Papua traded as a colony to Indonesia.
18 Sep 1961 UN Sec. Gen. Dag Hammarskjöld killed in plane crash, global support for decolonization dies.
19 Oct 1961 Papuan Councilors hear about American pressure to have West Papua traded to United Nations.
19 Oct 1961 Papuan Councilors hold night time emergency meeting to prevent themselves being sold like cattle. They draft West Papua's Manifesto for Independence & Self-government, they design a new aational flag (Morning Star), select "Haitanahkoe Papue" / "Hail to our Soil Papua" as anthem, and elect a National Committee to achieve independence before US or UN colonization plans come into effect.
30 Oct 1961 New Guinea Council unanimously support Manifesto, renaming territory as "West Papua", Morning Star flag, anthem, and Coat of Arms.
31 Oct 1961 Morning Star flag presented to Governor Platteel who says "Never before has the oneness of the Council been put forward so strongly."
17 Nov 1961 Michael Rockefeller dies downriver from future Freeport mine.
US government offers the new United Nations Sec. Gen. a $200m bond scheme to help support UN financial needs.
01 Dec 1961 West Papua raises Morning Star flag next to the Dutch
01 Dec 1961 McGeorge Bundy tells John F Kennedy that Washington must sacrifice the West Papuans tp save American from communism. Washington begins to pressure the Netherlands to sign New York Agreement to trade colony of West Papua to the U.N. Temporary Executive Authority and then to Indonesian mercy.

1962

- New York Agreement is announced to regional outrage and shame about appeasement.
10 Aug 1962 Papuan rally calling for United Nations to allow vote BEFORE selling people to Indonesia.
18 Aug 1962 Australia and America knew West Papuans would have to flee, our veterans were told by our governments there was nothing they could say for our Pacific Allies; and complaints about government Jingoism were ignored.

1963

- Indonesia takes control of the administration of Papua from the U.N.
05 Sep 1963 Indonesia declares Papua a "quarantine territory", foreign access is restricted.

1965

- Free Papua Movement (OPM) is founded to resist Indonesian occupation.

1967

- General Suharto grants first Indonesian mining license under his rule. Freeport McMoRan gains license to mine West Papua.

1968

- General Suharto decides to proceed with orchestrating Indonesian claim to the territory. United Nations representative Ambassador Oritiz Sanz arrives in Jakarta 22 August.

1969

- The Act of Free Choice.
09 Jan 1969 NASA announces launch of Apollo 11 will be 3rd week of July
18 Feb 1969 Indonesia proposes conditions for Act of Free Choice to commence from 3rd week of July
26 Apr 1969 Indonesian police pursue 79 Papuans fleeing across border at Wutung
05 May 1969 Indonesia sends troops after 30,000 rebellious tribemen
12 May 1969 UN representative leaves for visit to territory
14 May 1969 Brigadier-Gen. Sarwo Edhie says 500 paratroops are a show of force to Ikari tribe, "If they choose to take up arms, there is no alternative for me but to crush them."
Map of area.
20 May 1969 UN representative returns to Jakarta, says West Irian all calm.
23 May 1969 Wounded Papuan flees Indonesia
26 May 1969 Indonesian squad attack refugee camp inside Papua New Guinea
27 May 1969 Papuan letter reaches United Nations calling for protection from Indonesian troops.
31 May 1969 UN tells Nicholas Jouwe it can not help unless a UN member initiates action.
02 Jun 1969 British newspaper claims thousands slaughter in unreported war.
06 Jun 1969 Nicholas Jouwe asks Canada to petition UN to allow Papuans to speak to UN.
19 Jun 1969 newspaper headline: "Free choice" - so long as you vote "yes"
14 Jul 1969 Three arrested for protest to Indonesian choice of 1025 'voters', UN receiving many petitions opposed to Indonesian rule.
14 Jul - 02 Aug 1969 Act of Free Choice
16 Jul - 21 Jul Apollo 11 launch and man's first step on moon
22 Jul - 03 Aug U.S. Pres. Nixon press tour of Thailand, Vietnam, etc.
armed resistance by the OPM continues and the government declares West Irian a Military Operations Area. Human rights groups say thousands of civilians are tortured, terrorised and killed.

1970

- The government lifts restrictions on free movement into West Irian, massively increasing migration.

1973

- The province is renamed Irian Jaya.

1975

- Papua New Guinea (the other half of the island) achieves full independence.

1977

- The Free Papua Movement (OPM) blows up an ore pipeline at the Timika mine. The army responds with Operation Tumpas (annihilation) in which attack jets fire on villages. At least 900, possibly thousands, of civilians die.

1981

- A Dutch television crew films hundreds of people brandishing spears and shouting anti-Indonesian slogans. The army responds by bombing the Paniai basin in the Central Highlands, one of the most densely populated areas of Irian Jaya. An estimated 2,500 people are killed.

1998

- The Fall of Indonesian dictator Suharto. A broad, civilian-based independence movement emerges. Papua ceases to be a Military Operations Area. Soldiers open fire on civilians sleeping beneath a raised West Papuan Morning Star independence flag in the northwestern town of Biak, killing around 150 people.

1999 Feb

- 100 provincial leaders (Team 100) ask President B.J. Habibie for independence for Irian Jaya.

1999 Apr

- Demonstrations are held against a government announcement that Irian Jaya is to be split into three provinces (the law is later delayed).

1999 Dec

- 800,000 people gather at various sites in Irian Jaya to celebrate the national day of West Papua, as the separatists call the province. This is peaceful except in Timika, site of the Freeport mine, where the army shoots on the crowd.

2000 Feb

- President Abdurahman Wahid permits, and funds, a Papuan National Congress. This leads to the creation of the Papuan Council Presidium (PDP) to lead the pro-independence movement.

2000 May

- A second Papuan congress calls on the government to recognise the independence of West Papua.

2000 Jun

- The government initiates a police and military crackdown. It sends in 25,000 troops between 2000 and late 2004.

2000 Oct

- Riots, shootings and beatings relating to the hoisting of the Papuan "Morning Star" flag cause tens of deaths in Wamena, the largest town in the central highlands of Papua.

2000 Nov

- Five PDP leaders are jailed.

2001 Apr-Oct

- Nine people, including policemen, are killed in attacks on logging companies in the sub-district of Wasior by an unidentified group. During police reprisals one person dies, seven are killed, hundreds of villagers are displaced and dozens of houses destroyed.

2001 Oct

- Under a new Special Autonomy law, the province is renamed Papua and allowed its own flag and anthem. The law assumes Papua to be a single territorial unit and provides it with a vast share of resources from natural resources in the province. But the Free Papua Movement and the PDP reject the package, saying it doesn't go far enough.

2001 Nov

- Theys Eluay, president of the PDP, is abducted and killed.

2002 Jan

- Special Autonomy comes officially into effect.

2002 Aug

- Two American teachers and their Indonesian companion are killed in an ambush outside the Freeport installation. The government blames breakaway Papuan rebels while others say it was the military.

2003

- Foreign media are banned from entering Papua, although some foreign journalists have since entered after months of struggling and permit rejections.

2003 Jan

- President Megawati Sukarnoputri resurrects the 1999 plan to divide Papua and orders the province divided into three parts. This undercuts Special Autonomy and angers moderates, independence fighters and religious leaders.

2003 Apr-May

- Ten villages are torched in the central highlands, killing around 20 people. The Free Papua Movement blames Laskar Jihad, which has moved into Papua to confront and defeat Christian separatists and defend Muslim communities and the Indonesian state.

2003 Aug

- After fatal clashes in Timika the division into three provinces is postponed.

2004

- The Indonesian constitutional court annuls the law dividing Papua into three, but accepts the establishment of West Irian Jaya province, in the westerly third of Papua.

2004 Aug

- Shootings by unidentified people lead to months of military operations in the district of Puncak Jaya in the Central Highlands. Thousands flee to the jungle, where at least 23 die from the lack of food, shelter and medicine. Homes and livestock are destroyed.

2005

- Troops continue to arrive in Papua, with reports of widespread civilian displacement, arson, and arbitrary detention in the central highlands region.

2005 Feb

- The military attack 500 people in Yomdori District who are mourning the death of an independence leader.

2005 Aug

- A reported 10,000 Papuan protestors hold the largest-ever demonstration in the province over the failure of the government to implement Special Autonomy as mandated in the 2001 agreement. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promises to seek a peaceful end to the conflict.

2005 Oct

- The government sets up the Papuan Peoples Council (MRP) in accordance with provisions in the 2001 Act on Papuan Special Autonomy.

2006 Jan

- An Indonesian/U.S. investigation into the killing of two American schoolteachers concludes that Papuans were behind the shooting and declares eight men suspects. Australia grants temporary protection to all but one of 43 Papuan asylum-seekers who arrive by boat, claiming that the military is committing genocide in the province.

2006 Feb

- Demonstrations in Timika against a clampdown on illegal gold-miners close the Freeport mine for several days.

2006 Mar

- Demonstrators kill five members of the security forces as they try to break up a demonstration in the capital, Jayapura, which is demanding the closure of the Freeport mine and the departure of Indonesian troops. The government holds elections for the new province of West Irian Jaya, and also for the province of Papua.