New York Times Articles

1950 Indonesian Troops Revolt, Seize Eastern State Capital

Men Who Formerly Fought Under Dutch Resist Shift to Jakarta Command

By The Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 5 - Rebellious Indonesian soldiers captured Macassar, Celebes sea-port and state capital of East Indonesia, in forty-five minutes of shooting today. Ten persons were killed or wounded.
  A cryptic communique from the Federal Government's Information Ministry said tonight the insurgents had been ordered to return to their garrisons and the leader had been summoned to Jakarta to answer for the uprising. The communique did not specify how the orders had been transmitted and it did not say that the revolt had been settled.
  Officials at Dutch Army .. .. ..

1950 "UNIFYING" INDONESIA

  The two major military revolts and a number of minor disturbances in Indonesia since the first of the year should not be ascribed solely to the difficulties of a young and relativelt weak Government in keeping order. The weakness of the Government has been a factor, no doubt, but, paradoxically, it is the strength of some elements that has invited trouble. There is a very real political basis for some of the things that are happening.
  The agreement that set up an independent United States of Indonesia was based on the concept of a federation of sixteen component parts. The Dutch had insisted that some such government structure was neccessary because of the widely diverse elements in the archipelago and the fact that many areas and population groups were not willing to come under the rule of the Republic centered in Java. The Republic had insisted on a unitary Government, under its control, but eventually agreed to the federal idea. The Republic was to be the largest single component in the federation.
  Since the transfer of sovereignty, however, the Republic has systematically and progressively dynamited the federation idea. By a series of "decrees" the "federal" Government has attached state after state to the Republic until the original sixteen components have already been reduced to seven, with the prospect that they will shortly be only four. It is against the strongest of these four, East Indonesia, that the latest drive is being made. Naturally, there is resistance and the result is disorder.
  It is quite possible that in the long run a unitary, centralized Government will be the best thing for Indonesia. It is by no means established that this is the case at present. Moreover, it was fully agreed that the federal idea should be tried out as a means of getting representative government by consent throughout the archipelago. The Republic, however, after having given nominal consent to this experiment, has gone forward with precisely the program of centralization that it agreed to lay aside. .. .. ..
 

1950 Amboinese Secede From Indonesia In New Federation's Forth Revolt

By The Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 26
- Amboinese authorities declared the South Moluccas independent today. A radio message to Macassar told of this, the fourth revolt in four months within the United States of Indonesia.
  The Moluccas, once renowned Spice Islands now in a commercial backwash, dot the sea between Celebes and New Guinea. Amboina is the name of both one district and the capital. They were included in the State of East Indonesia.
  Military sources in Jakarta said Indonesian troops of the Netherlands Indies Army joined the rebellion. A battalion is garrisoned at Amboina. These are among troops who have been awaiting demobilization or transfer to the United States of Indonesia's Federal Army since the Netherlands gave Indonesia Independence last December. The Federal Government has no soldiers in the Moluccas.
  Observers in Jakarta said it may take weeks to quell the uprising because of probable backing by the people of the area.
  The independence declaration said the South Moluccas -- Amboina, Banda, the Kai Islands, Ceram and Aru -- no longer felt secure within the East Indonesian State and were cutting their ties with the United States of Indonesia.
  The revolt, like the others, appeared to stem from efforts by Premier Mohamed Hatta's Central Government to junk the Federal structure and make a single state of all the islands based on the Indonesian Republic, which led the fight for independence.
.. .. ..

1954 THE NEW GUINEA CASE

  The representatives of Indonesia have done no service to the cause of good government and free government by presenting their claim to Western New Guinea as a case of "colonialism" versus "anti-colonialism". The issue of "colonialism" is not involved and never has been. What the Indonesians are doing is confusing the situation by an easy resort to a popular slogan.
  The essence of "colonialism" is the imposition of an alien rule without the consent of the governed. The issue of consent is paramount in the case of the racially different Papuans of New Guinea, just as it was paramount in the Indonesian objection to Dutch rule. There has not been the slightest evidence that the Papuans want Indonesian rule, that they would give their free consent to it or that they would prefer it to the government of the Dutch. On the contrary, most of the articulated opinion from the Papuans has strongly supported the Dutch and opposed the Indonesians.
.. .. ..
  This, however, is not the definitive consideration. The question is, Shall the Papuans of New Guinea have an opportunity to achieve government by consent? Under Dutch rule, we believe, they will have that chance. Under Indonesian rule there is less chance of this. Jakarta has wiped out government by consent where there was a challenge, as in the case of South Moluccas, to its unitary rule. The Australian case has been admirably stated. We believe that the United States will be wise and right to associate itself with this position.
 

1954 Letting Indonesia Rule the Western Area Described as Strategic Madness

By HANSON W BALDWIN
  The strategic importance of New Guinea in the struggle for the world was the unemphasized but fundamental factor behind the United Nations debate last week on the fate of West New Guinea.
  That debate, stimulated by Indonesias claim to Western New Guinea, could not have been more badly timed, from the military and political viewpoints. Its results can engender bitterness, reduce the prestige of the United Nations and increase unrest at a
.. .. ..

1955 Dutch Disrupting New Guinea Raids

Say Captives Include some regular Indonesian troops - Jakarta Denies Role
By Robert Alden
Special to The New York Times.

HOLLANDIA, Netherlands New Guinea, Jan 10 - The first prisoners of the conflict between the Indonesians and the Dutch for possession of Netherlands New Guinea are in the jail here.
  The Dutch say that at least half of them are regular Indonesian soldiers who have taken part in infiltration raids. The rest, the Dutch add, are civilians from near-by Indonesian islands who were impressed into raiding parties by the soldiers.
.. .. ..

1955 Battle against Malaria

1957 Letters to The Times

Dutch-Indonesian dispute
Arguments of claimants to rule of West Irian reviewed

1957 Future outlined for New Guinea

Netherlands and Australia proclaim Joint Policy Aim of Self-Determination
By Walter H Waggoner
The Hague, the Netherlands, Nov. 6 - The Netherlands and Australia proclaimed today a common policy on New Guinea. They agreed to promoting ultimate self-determination of the political future of all the peoples of that island.
  Many months of discussion between the two Governments concluded in a statement that they would also cooperate in the administration of the "geographically and ethnologically related" areas of the Australian Trust Territory of New Guinea, Netherlands New Guinea and Papua, which is an Australian territory.
  "In so doing," the statement continued, "the two Governments are determined to promote an uninterrupted development of this process [of strength and cooperation] until such time as the inhabitants of the territories concerned will be in a position to determine their own future."
  The effect of the proclamation is a joint denial of Indonesia's claims that Netherlands New Guinea, which Jakarta calls West Irian, is really Indonesian territory. Neither Indonesia nor her claim was mentioned in the statement; however.
  Advancement Stressed
  Other points in the Dutch-Australian statement were: The two Governments base their policies toward and responsibility for the territories on "the interests and inalienable rights of the inhabitants" under the United Nations Charter; and the governing powers "are therefore pursuing, and will continue to pursue, policies directed toward the poitical, economic, social and educational advancement" of the people.
.. .. ..

1957 Jakarta seizes Dutch estates; ets new policy

1957 Tragedy in Indonesia

1957 Letters to The Times

Issues in Indonesia
Anti-Dutch Agitation held as Asset in Regime's Domestic Politics
  The writer of the following letter is Professor of History at Utrecht University and visiting professor at Harvard.
.. .. ..

1957 Papuan learning and Teaching, too

Dutch find Islanders apt pupils who are quick to reverse their role
.. .. ..

1958 Sukarno pledges New Guinea fight

In New Year's Speech, He Says There Is No Return From Decision to Win Area
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jan 1 (AP) President Sukarno vowed in a New Year's speech today that Indonesia would continue fighting until she had aquired Netherlands New Guinea.
.. .. ..

1958 Jakarta opposes Dutch Bid to U.N.

Says 3-Nation Commission for Indonesia Could Not Be Neutral in Dispute
.. .. ..

1958 Indonesian conflict: Forces behind the open revolt

Conditions in Indonesia have long been ripe for the disruptive clash of forces signalized by the formation in Central Sumatra of a revolutionary regime opposed to the Central Government in Jakarta.
.. .. ..

1958 Jakarta to yield 39 Dutch ships

.. .. ..

1958 U.S. help pledged in New Guinea issue

.. .. ..

1959 Sale of U.S. Arms to Indonesia set

Eisenhower approves deal for light weapons and other equipment
.. .. ..

1959 Indonesia and Foreign Aid

In what is described as a reassessment of Indonesian neutralism the United States has sold arms and extended substantial credits to Indonesia
.. .. ..

1959 Dutch to explore New Guinea Area

Remote Section of Disputed Territory will be object of intensive research
By Lindesay Parrott
  UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., March 5 - The Netherlands has begun an ambitious scientific expedition into an unexplored area of Netherlands New Guinea.
.. .. ..
  Another aspect is that considerable alluvial gold has been found in the streams flowing from the unexplored territory into the Arafura Sea.
.. .. ..

1959 Sukarno Warns Dutch Investors

Threatens Capital Seizure if Netherlands does not yield West New Guinea
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1960 Dutch push plan on Papuan voting

Officials are eager to have self-government started in West New Guinea
.. .. ..

1960 More Aid for Sukarno ?

When President Sukarno of Indonesia met with President Eisenhower yesterday he had reason to believe that the United States would increase its military aid to his country. The Defense Department denials do not quite clear up this situation. The purpose of such aid, when given, is doubtless to prevent Indonesia from being too dependent on Russia. It can not express entire approval of President Sukarno's system of government, or of his international policies.
  Mr. Sukarno is a dictator. Last March he dissolved the Indonesian Parliament,
.. .. ..

1961 West New Guinea Poll

Voting begins for Members of a Colonial Council

---

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands, Feb. 18 (Reuters)- Voting started today in two West New Guinea towns for members of the New Guinea Council, part of the Dutch program for speeding self-determination in the territory.

A report from the colony said that, despite rain more than a third of the voters went to the polls in Hollandia and voting also tok place in Manokwari. The poll ends Feb. 25.
.. .. ..

1961 New Guinea Vote

Papuans elect 15 members of Legislature in initial step toward Self-Rule
by Harry Gilroy
  THE HAGUE, the Netherlands, March 2 - One hundred thousand Papuan voters, many of whom put on clothes to take part in their first national election, have chosen fifteen residents of Netherlands New Guinea to serve in a legislative council. Dutch officials here hail the results as a first step toward self-determination.
  .. .. ..

1961 Hollandia urged to set its Aims

New Gunea invited by Dutch Premier to Chart Future - U.S. chided for slight
  HOLLANDIA, Netherlands New Guinea, April 5 (AP) - The Netherlands Government today invited the newly inaugurated Legislative Council of this South Pacific island territory to advise within a year on methods and possibly a date for self-determination.
  The invitation came in a broadcast by Premier Jan de Quay of the Netherlands as the twenty-eight members of the New Guinea Council assembled for the first time in a new music hall amid much native pageantry.
  Queen Juliana, in a tape-recorded message to the Council, an advisory group, already had expressed the hope that the road to independence for the territory's 700,000 Papuans would be short.
  Theo H Bot, Dutch Secretary for New Guinea, promised that the Netherlands would continue to help with finances, material and personnel. Papuans elect 16
  Sixteen members of the council were elected by 100,000 Papuans and the others appointed by the Dutch Governor P J Platteel. Only five of the council are Dutch.
  Alone among the members of the South Pacific Commission, the United States declined to send an official representative to the inaugural. This action incurred the displeasure of the Dutch, who accused Washington of bowing to "Indonesian pressure."
  The Indonesians assert that Dutch New Guinea, which they call West Irian, should have been surrendered to Indonesian sovereignty when the rest of the Dutch East Indies gained independence in 1949. The Indonesians say the New Guinea Council is a Dutch puppet.
  "We are more than angry with the United States," said Nicolas Jouwe, a Papuan businessman, at the council's opening session today. "It claims to be the representative of democracy and the right of self-determination. Yet it is not represented here today." "
 

1961 Discussions With Papuans

To the Editor of the New York Times:
  As Vice President of the New Guinea Council, elected by free suffrage, I take issue with Indonesian Foreign Minister Soebandrio, who in his letter to the editor, published Nov. 17, implies that we are not free to talk with Papuan members of the Indonesian delegation.
  This assertion is belied by the facts.
  We stand for self-determination of the Papuan people and are prepared to discuss this position with anyone on any level. In fact, we have already had occasion to do so with such members of the Indonesian delegation as are of Papuan origin.

NICOLAAS JOUWE,
Vice President, New Guinea Council,
Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the U.N.
New York, Nov. 17, 1961.

 

1961 Colony's Name Changed

Hollandia, Friday, Dec. 1 (AP) - Netherlands New Guinea changed its name today to West Papua and flew a brand new Papuan flag.
.. .. ..

1961 Sukarno pledges New Guinea drive

Indonesian leader declares he will order 'Liberation' of Dutch Area Soon
  Bandung, Indonesia, Noz. 30 - President Sukarno said today that the "decisive moment" for the "liberation" of Netherlands New Guinea was at hand. He would call on "all progressive forces and friends" for help in wresting the territory from the Dutch.
  "We do not want to wait any longer," Mr Sukarno declared. He ordered his armed forces to prepare for the "liberation" of the disputed territory, which the Indonesians call West Irian.
  "I will give my command inthe near future"
.. .. ..

1961 Sukarno on a Rampage

President Sukarno of Indonesia is again breathing fire about West New Guinea, which he says his country will "liberate" by force in the near future. It would be foolish of Indonesia to try.
  As American, Australiam - and, for that matter, Japanese - troops discovered in the second World War, New Guinea is tough terrain in which to wage a military campaign. The Dutch are unlikely to sit back quietly if the Indonesians invade the island. The Australians, who supported the recent Dutch proposal in the General Assembly to turn over to the United Nations the process of making West New Guinea independent by self-determination, are also unlikely to do nothing. They possess the eastern half of the island.
.. .. ..

1961 Letters to The Times

Indonesia's Claim Backed
New Guinea is declared integral part of Republic.
The writer of the following letter was formerly Secretary General of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. I am unpleasantly surprised to read your Dec. 3 editorial "Sukarno on a Rampage."
.. .. ..

1961 Letters to The Times

Indonesia's Government
Right to speak for All Races of Archipelago Challenged
To the Editor of The New York Times:
  Mr. Soemarman's letter appearing in your Dec. 13 issue in which he attempts to clarify the West New Guinea question as he sees it, and to justify Mr. Sukarno's claim that West New Guinea ought to be handed over to the Republic of Indonesia, with or without the consent of the Papuan inhabitants of West New Guinea, is misleading. He bases his views on the assumption that Mr. Sukarno duly represents the will of the entire Indonesian people, including those in West New Guinea.
  If what Mr. Soemarman writes in his letter is true, let us have an honest and truly democratic election through which can be proved to the whole world that Mr Sukarno is, indeed, what he pretends to be, the one and only spokesman for the "so-called" Indonesian people, that his Government rules with the consent of the sixty-five or more races in the vast archipelago, and not by the consent of just one group, the Javanese.
.. .. ..

1961 Australia opposes force

Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 30 - The Australian Government told Indonesia today that Australia would regard the use of force to obtain Netherlands New Guinea as a breach of faith following repeated assurances by Indonesia that there would be no resort to force.
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1962 Letters to The Times

To Defend New Guinea
Importance of Island as bastion of Free World Stressed
  As an American citizen and as a former medical officer of the United States Army who served in the southwest Pacific during World War II from 1942 to 1946, I wish to register my plea that the President and the Congress of the United States will inform Mr Sukarno of Indonesia, immediately and in no uncertain terms, that we will oppose any attempt on his part to take over by force any part of the island of New Guinea; further, that we will oppose it by out military strength if necessary, by coming to the aid of the New Guinea natives, who are unable to defend themselves.
  I spent the best part of two years in New Guinea, taking part in the many military actions. Under Gen. Douglas MacArthur the military forces of the United States and Australia drove out the Japanese invaders.
  Out dead lie in the large cemetery at Port Moresby and in countless graves, marked and unmarked, all through New Guinea. To these precious dead we owe a pledge that we will not permit them to have died in vain, as we will do if wee allow Sukarno to take over the island for his Malayan East Indians without a struggle.
  Need for Tutelage
  The natives of Indonesia have no racial connection with the natives of New Guinea.
.. .. ..

1962 Indonesians Promise to Support Interests of New Guinea People

Subandrio says inhabitants can break ties later if the choose
.. .. ..

1962 U.N. to aid Repatriation

Official will go to New Guinea for Indonesians' Release
  Special to The New York Times
  United Nations, N.Y., Feb. 1 - The United Nations announced today that it was sending a representative to Netherlands New Guinea to arrange for the repatriation of Indonesians taken prisoner in a naval clash off the coast of the Durch-held territory Jan. 15.
  The move is designed to ease the crisis over the disputed area, which Indonesia claimes.
  The International Committee of the Red Cross has agreed to designate an official to take on the mission on behalf of U Thant, Acting Secretary General. The Dutch picked up fifty-two survivors in the clash after having sunk an Indonesian torpedo boat.

---

Jakarta, Indonesia, Feb. 1 (UPI) - President Sukarno conferred today with Ambassador Nikoiai Mikhailov of the Soviet Union. The talk was said to concern increased Soviet shipments of arms to Indonesia.
 

1962 Letters to The Times

Aid for Dutch Advocated
Administration is Criticised for Not Backing Them in New Guinea
  To the Editor of The New York Times:
  It is a source of real wonderment to me what prompts the Kennedy Administration's action against the Dutch concerning the Indonesian dispute over Papua or Netherlands New Guinea.
  Rather than discourage the Dutch in the legitimate defense of their colony, we should aid them as much as we are able against what amounts to a blatant form of Asian imperialism. If need be, we should dispatch elements of the Seventh Fleet to patrol the waters of west New Guinea to discourage Indonesian aggression.
  We support today and have supported in the past so many regimes of doubious character and merit, it would seem that we would have no hesitation in giving our whole-hearted commitment where the issues are so clear. The inhabitants of Papua are indigenous to this island territory and have no more in common with the Indonesians either racially or culturally, than, say, the natives of Samoa or Fiji.
.. .. ..

1962 Papuans want Vote in '63

HOLLANDIA, Netherlands New Guinea, Sept. 21 (AP) - The Papuan National Congress voted support tonight for the Dutch-Indonesian agreement on Netherlands New Guinea. But the Congress wants a plebiscite for self-determination next year, instead of 1969.

The Congress met for the first time to deal with the Indonesian agreement to transfer administration of Netherlands New Guinea first to the United Nations and then to Indonesia as soon as possible after May 1.

The Congress voted, 40-17, for a resolution recognizing the agreement.

The action was taken as Jose Rolz Bennett of Guatemala arrived here as a United Nations representative to take over as administrator of Netherlands New Guinea.

He is to assume the post after Pieter J. Plateel, the Dutch Governor, leaves Sept. 28.
 

1963 West Irian Visits Restricted

Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 5 (Reuter) - West Irian (former Netherland New Guinea) has been declared a "quarantine territory" and visitors to the province must have permission from Foreign Minister Subandrio, who is also Minister for West Irian Affairs, the Government said. No reason was given for the measure.
 

1964 In The Nation The New President and the Old Sukarno

By Arthur Krock

Washington, Jan. 13 - The Administration is now wrestling with the inherited problem created by the habitual resort of President Sukarno of Indonesia to military aggression for the expansion or protection of his imperialistic designs in the Pacific. And in dealing with the latest of these activities - Sukarno's threat to "crush" the new, independent state of Malaysia - President Johnson is handicapped by the evil precedent created when this Government successfully put pressure on the Netherlands that compelled the Dutch to surrender West New Guinea to Indonesia's threat of taking it by force.

The Kennedy Administration, in cooperation with U.N. Secretary General Thant, assured this triumph of military aggression, in violation of the U.N. Charter, and defended it as necessary "to prevent war in the Pacific" and a "confrontation" of the Great Powers. The theory was that this would happen because the Soviet Union was supporting Sukarno's claim. On this highly debatable speculation, Sukarno's violation of the Charter was abetted in the following actions by, or on the initiative and under the leadership of the United States government:

• Official Washington and London continued to arm Sukarno in the period when he was constantly engaged in military invasion of Dutch New Guinea.
• The United States denied refueling facilities to Netherlands aircraft carrying reinforcements and military supplies to their troops in West New Guinea, thereby closing this vital channel of defense from the Indonesian aggression.
• The United Kingdom, perforce joined by Australia, notified The Hague it could expect no assistance of any kind in repelling invasion.
• When the Netherlands asked Thant to send U.N. observers to the territory to establish the "presence" of the international organizatiom, and to request Sukarno to join the Dutch in a cease-fire during the "negotiations" for a settlement, the Secretary General refused on the ground that, since Indonesia was not a party to the request, his assent would "imply I was taking sides in the controversy."

New Threats and New Moves

Now Sukarno is agian making threats of "war in the Pacific," in another violation of the U.N. Charter, and the issue before President Johnson is whether to try to buy him off a second time, and at what price. Very soon the President will be required under the terms of the foreign aid authorization act to determine if continued foreign aid to Indonesia, now amounting to about $55 millions, is "in the best interest of the United States." Thus far three efforts have been made to dissuade Sukarno from the military aggression against Malaysia that the United States made so profitable to him by assuring his vitual annexation of another territory (West New Guinea) to which Indonesia hasn't a scrap of historical or ethnic claim. One effort was this Government's cutoff of $2.5 millions annually in military aid. The second was the abandonment of an international consortium, including the United States, for a stabilization loan to Indonesia. The third was a note, presumably of "warning," which Mr. Johnson sent to Sukarno by the hand of Ambassador Jones.

It has also been decided to send a United States mission, headed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, to impress the error of his ways on the President of Indonesia. The missionary errand is to be made while Sukarno is on holiday in Japan, where he is expected soon. The reasoning of the advocates of this plan is that Robert Kennedy had a great personal success when he viited Indonesia some time ago, and is regarded by the Jakarta Government, its Washington Embassy and the people of the archipelago as their very special friend in Washington.

But the evil precedent of the West New Guinea episode would appear to make the task of disciplining Sukarno particularly difficult for the Attorney General. He was an important member of the Administration which strong-armed the Netherlands into surrendering the territory to Indonesia's military blackmail. And that Administration hailed the results "as the resolution of the West New Guinea dispute through peaceful negotiations," and took even better care of Indonesia in the foreign aid allocations.
 

1965 West Irian Political Curb Ends

Jakarta, Indonesia, June 22 (Reuters) -
  President Sukarno lifted a two-year ban today on political parties in West Irian, the former Dutch colony of West New Guinea, which was ceded to Indonesia in 1963.
 

1965 Jakarta Reports Rising Fails

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 18 (AP) - Official sources said today that special Indonesian shock troops put down an armed uprising in the vicinity of Manokwari on the north coast of West Irian Province last week.
 

1965 Indonesia demands Manila oust Rebel from West Irian

MANILA, Sept. 3 -
  Indonesia protested today the presence in this country of a so-called Papuan freedom fighter, Nicolass Jouwe of West Irian, the former Netherlands New Guinea. Jakarta asked the Philippines government to deport him. The Indonesian Ambassador, Abdul Karim Rasjid, filed the protest with Under Secretary Librado Cayce of the Foreign Ministry.
  Mr Jouwe, chairman of a group calling itself the Freedom Committee of West Papua (West Irian) met newsmen Monday and denounced President Sukarno of Indonesia as having suppressed Papuans "who do not wish to live under the neocolonialism impossed on them by the dictator, Sukarno"
  Mr Jouwe said Papuans in West Irian had revolted. He said the Indonesians then started a systematic suppression by "killing Papuan intellectuals, forcing able-bobied Papuans into the army to fight in Malaysian Borneo and sending Javanese farmers, now about 10,000, who have taken Papuans." He appealed to Filipinos to help the Papuans in the struggle for independence.
 

1965 U.S. Missionary family being held by Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia is holding an American Christian missionary family in a house near Jakarta following recent unrest in West Irian, formerly Netherland New Guinea.
  An Indonesian official said today the family. Harold Lovestand of Brooklyn, and his wife and four children, was being "evaluated." No charges have been brought, he said.
  American officials said that the United State Ambassador, Marshall Green, was allowed to visit the Lovestands yesterday. An official said they were in good health.
  Indonesian newspapers charged last month that missionaries were involved in West Irian unrest and that the United States was using missionaries as spies.
  Efforts to trace the Lovestand family's connections here were unavailing.
 

1965 Indonesian Spurns Plebiscite

Jakarta. Sept. 20 (Reuters) -
  Brig. Gen. Sutjipto, Secretary of Indonesia's West Irian Affairs Department, was reported today as having said the people of West Irian did not want a plebiscite.
  Speaking at a student meeting in Semarang, Central Java, the General said the West Irianese would refuse the plebiscite because of the progress they had made since Indonesia took over the territory. He said the people of West Irian "wanted Indonesia as their father and Bung Karno [President Sukarno] as their great leader of the revolution."
 

1966 Indonesia's West Irian rocked by Food riots

Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 5 (AP) -
  Indonesia's jungled, primitive West Irian has been rocked by riots serious enough to call Foreign Minister Adam Malik to the scene as a mediator, reliable sources reported today.
  He is scheduled to leave a week from today for the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, an area formerly known as West New Guinea and taken over from the Dutch in 1962 after several months of fighting.
  The people of West Irian began rioting because of a scarcity of food that reduced those in some areas to a near-starvation level.
  Special forces soldiers were sent to West Irian about six weeks ago to help put down the fighting.
  One newspaper in Jakarta reported that a single plate of rice had been sold in the village of Mindiptana for 450 rupishs, about $4.50 at open market rates.
 

1966 Indonesia accepts plan for vote in West Irian

Special to The New York Times
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Sept. 30 - Adam Malik, Foreign Minister of Indonesia, today reversed an earlier declaration by President Sukarno and promised to hold a plebiscite on the future of West Irian.

When the United Nations arranged for the transfer of this territory, formerly the colony of Dutch New Guinea, to Indonesia's control in 1963, it was agreed that by 1969 the people would be permitted "an act of self-determination."

But as soon as Indonesia had taken over this wild, sparsely populated half of New Guinea, President Sukarno announced there would be no plebicite. He said it was already clear that the people wanted to remain Indonesians.

"I visited West Irian recently," Mr Malik said today. "I was handed a long petition, saying all the people wanted to remain in Indonesia. But I told them there must be a plebicite."
 

1966 Jakarta Renounces Pledge To Hold Irian Plebiscite

Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 7 (Reuters) - Indonesia renounced today an agreement to hold a plebiscite in 1969 in West Irian, the former Netherlands New Guinea, which it took over three years ago.
  The Home Affairs Minister, Lieut. Gen. Basuki Rahmat, said the decision not to hold the plebiscite was in the line with wishes of the West Irianese people.
  West Irian was transferred from the Netherlands to Indonesia in May 1963 with the agreement that Indonesia would hold a plebiscite in 1969 to determine whether the Irianese wished to remain in the republic.
 

1967 Freeport Sulphur in Irian

JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 4 (Reuters) - The American owned Freeport Sulphur Company plans to invest between $75-million and $100-million in a search for copper in West Irian, the Indonesian section of New Guinea, the official Antara News Agency reported here today.
 

1968 West Irian Rebels Worry Australian New Guinea

Some Have Already Crossed Borders to Seek Asylum
By Tillman Durdin special to The New York Times
PORT MORESBY, Papua, Aug. 12 - Australian administrators here are worried by the rebel activity against Indonesia and the depressed economic conditions in West Irian.
  The situation has already caused a scattering of refugees to slip across the wild, jungled 450-mile border between the Australian-ruled eastern half and the Indonesian-governed western half of New Guinea, formaly known as Netherlands New Guinea. The number is .. .. ..
 

1968 Indonesia puts out Welcome Mat

Parts of prefabricated house are delivered to a copper mine in West Irian (former Dutch New Guinea) operated by Freeprt Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Freeport Sulphur Co.
 

1968 Papuans at U.N. score Indonesia

Lobbyists asking nations to insure fair plebiscite
by Richard J H Johnston
  United Nations, N.Y. Oct. 19 -
  Among the spokesmen here for peoples pressing for nationhood, the representatives of the one million Papuans of West Irian, or Indonesian West New Guinea, are among the least obtrusive, and perhaps the most passionate.
  Their spokesman is Nicolaas Jouwe, chairman of the Freedom Committee of West Papua, as the Papuans refer to West New Guinea.
  Mr Jouwe's mission is to persuade the representatives of the 125 member nations of the United Nations that Indonesia is refusing to permit a fair plebiscite in West Irian on whether the inhabitants want to continue to be citizens of Indonesia.
  The United Nations is to observe the plebiscite, which is to be conducted by Indonesian authorities next summer. Mr Jouwe, in press releases, letters to newspapers, announcements and conversations in the corridors with all who will listen, charges that there can be no opportunity for free expression under the conditions imposed by Indonesia. Suppression Charged   Mr Jouwe says that more than 30,000 Indonesian troops and thouands of Indonesian civil servants "occupy" the area and that complete suppression of Papuans, a negroid people, has been official Indonesian policy.
  "We do not believe our people will enjoy the normal democratic procedure to express their will about the future," Mr Jouwe said.
  Indonesian authorities have said that they will adhere to the decision to hold a plebiscite, but, in the words of President Sukarno, the matter of "free choice" in the area "does in no way mean that we shall sacrifice that population" or that "we shall abandon the fruits of our struggle for the liberation of Irian."
  Indonesian policy calls for the continuation of the area as an integral part of Indonesia. U.N. Aide Toured Area   Dr Fernando Ortiz Sanz, representing Secretary General Thant, last summer toured the area and reported that the people were suffering from a "complete lack of information" about the decision they are to make some time between April and July, 1969. He said there was an urgent need for a program to explain to the Papuans what the act of free choice meant.
  Indonesia took over West New Guinea from the temporary care of the United Nations on May 1, 1963. Before the United Nations took over in October 1962, the area had been Dutch. Under the United Nations plan, Indonesia was to arrange for the area to express its wishes on self-determination by 1969.
  The eastern half of New Guinea consists of the Australian Territory of Papua and the United Nations Trust Territory of New Guinea, which are administrated jointly by Australia.
  The ultimate Papuan dream, Mr Jouwe says, is a confederation of all Negroid civilizations in the Far Pacific. Before that dream can be realized, the Papuan spokesman declared, a fair deal for West New Guinea must be assured.
 

1968 Indonesians drive on Rebels in Irian

Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 4 (AP) - The Indonesian Army announced that 6,000 troops began a drive against rebel nationalist in the mountainous northwest region of West Irian today.
  Maj. Gen. Makaun Murod, deputy chief of the army at the Defense Ministry here, said soldiers, marines and air force troops were moving against a rebel stronghold. It is believed to be the biggest single military operation against guerrillas since Indonesia took over the rugged New Guinea territory from the Dutch more than six years ago.
  General Murod said it had been launced after the rebel | been launched after the Free Papua Organization ignored a ultimatum to surrender.
 

1969 Negotiations end in Japan

TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - The Freeport Sulphur Company and a group of eight Japanese copper smelters have ended negotiations here on the development of copper reserves estimated at 30 million tons in West Irian, Indonesia, Japanese industry sources said today.
 

1969 Irian flare-ups worry Australia

Clashes on Frontier follow unrest over Jakarta rule

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By Robert Trumbull
Special to The New York Times
SYDNEY, Australia, May 1 - Native discontent with Indonesian plans for determining the future political status of West Irian, the former Dutch colony in New Guinea, is blamed here for a series of disturbances along the border between Indonesian and Australian jurisdictions on the huge island.

More is involved than the sanctity of a wild jungle frontier. Many Australians are deeply agitated over whether the national moral principle of one man, one vote is more important to them in the case of West Irian than the need to maintain good relations with 100 million Indonesian neighbors.

The latest flare-up involved the violation of the boundary by Indonesian police who fired at an Australian official and two New Guinea policemen and an interpreter on the scene. They also fired at a group of about 80 West Irianese men, women and children fleeing into Australian territory. No one was hurt in the firing which occured last Saturday.
.. .. ..

More than 500 other West Irianese crossed into Australian territory in previous months, reportedly because of dissatisfaction with Indonesian rule. The new border incident followed reports of sizable demonstrations against Indonesian Indonesia last week in Jayapura, formerly called Hollandia and Sukarnapura.

Indonesia has periodically announced the quelling of native uprisings since she gained control of the territory after the Dutch withdrawal in 1962.
.. .. ..

Rejecting native demands that the issue be decided by a referendum in which the rule would be one man, one vote. Jakarta has decreed that the question shall be settled through the Indonesian method of "Mushawrah" (consultation).
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1969 Radio reports Indonesia used Rockets in West Irian

PORT MORESBY, Papua, Tuesday, May 6 (Reuters) - The Australian Broadcasting Commission reported today that Indonesia had used rockets in a military operation in mountainous West Irian to quell an uprising among 30,000 highland tribesmen.
  The radio, in a report from its Jakarta correspondent, said an Indonesian bomber used the rockets in a raid on the town of Enarotali in the former Dutch territory's central ranges area following a ground attack by rebels on an aircraft carrying the West Irian Army commander. The radio said its correspondent, who returned to Jakarta yesterday, reported two commando campanies were parachuted into the jungle near Enaratali Sunday for an advance on the town.
  The correspondent said the trouble began two weeks ago when "growing resentment among primitive tribesmen forced officials of the Indonesian administration and their families to leave Enaratoli
 

1969 Indonesia reports West Irian terror campaign

Outsiders are Forbidden to enter area - Jakarta sees start of wide plot JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 8 (Reuters) - A top Indonesian official said today that an anti-government terror campaign had begun in West Irian, and the Jakarta administration banned journalists and foreign diplomats from the vast, primitive region.
  West Irian, the western half of the island of New Guinea is about the size of California - 159,000 square miles. The people of West Irian who are Papuans, are scheduled to decide this summer whether to remain part of Indonesia. The guarantee of such an "act of free choice" was part of the
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1969 Rebel 'President' reported

JAKARTA, May 10 (Reuters)
- Rebels in West Irian have named a president to head a state called Papua separated from Indonesia, it was announced here today.
  An Indonesian Army spokesman said that documents seized from the rebels showed that they had named as president Marcus Kassieppo, a leader of the banned Free Papua Movement who lives in the Netherlands.
  Government officials just returned from Biak Island said today that the situation there was tense, with troops patroling the street and a curfew in force at night.
 

1969 Indonesia reported to reject U.N. plea for an Irian Amnesty

By Charles Mohr
JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 10 - Indonesia has rejected an appeal for amnesty for political dissidents who oppose Indonesian rule in vast and primitive West Irian, informed sources said today.
  The reported development followed Indonesian government accounts of widespread terror and violence in the island territory, where a decision is to be made this summer on the continuation of Indonesian rule. News correspondents have been forbidden to travel to West Irian, but informed sources in Jakarta express doubt that a large or well-organized rebellion is under way there.
  The amnesty appeal was made by Ferdinand Ortiz Sanz of Bolivia, United Nations represpentative here. According to the informants, Mr Ortiz has also urged an expansion of civil liberties and freedom of expression for the 800,000 Papuan, Melanesian and Negrito residents of the 159,000-square-mile territory, which lies east of Indonesia's island chain. No Exceptions Allowed   According to these sources, Indonesia has argued that she cannot extend to West Irian civil liberties and leniency for dissidents that she does not extend to other parts of Indonesia.
  Officials in Jakarta asserted yesterday that government parratroops had taken "complete control" of the towns and airstrips of Enaratoli and Wakboe in the Lake Wissel region of the central highlands of West Irian, formerly known as West New Guinea.
  These airstrips and three others primarily used by Christian missionaries were seized April 29 by a rebellious force of local policemen and Negrito tribesmen.
  A series of incidents and disturbances have erupted since Indonesia announced in April that she would not permit a one-man-one-vote plebiscite to determine whether the people of West Irian wish to remain part of Indonesia.
  .. .. ..
  The Indonesian military commander in West Irian, Gen. Sarwo Edhie, made a reconnaissance flight over the Enaratoli airstrip and was fired upon. Informed sources said that five bullets hit his Otter aircraft and wounded at least one passenger, but not the general.
  According to some sources, a punitive rocket-firing run was later made by an Indonesian B-26 bomber, and 300 to 500 paratroops were dropped into the area and "pursued the rebels into the bush."
  It is still unclear how much resistance the paratroops met or whether they rounded up any rebels, but it is known that the rebellious policemen were only lightly armed.
  Prolonged - but minor - resistance to the government has also been carried out for years by primitive tribes in the so-called Bird's Head region of the northwest, where at least several hundred Arfak tribesmen are in hostile exile.
  An informed observer said today, "I doubt the Papuans expect or hope to get a real, fullscale insurgency going. They just want to put the spotlight on West Irian and embarrass the Indonesian government as much as possible." Chiefs to Decide   Eight regional councils made up of 1,025 tribal chiefs and more or less loyal urban residents will hold the "musjawarah" consultations with Indonesian officials in July.
  It is regarded here as a foregone conclusion that under such circumstances the "act of free choice" will result in a decision to remain part of Indonesia.
  Knowledgeable sources tend to agree that racial tensions between the Irianese and the Indonesian administrators as well as the severe economic neglect and exploitation that took place under President Sukarno until his ouster in 1965 created formidable political difficulties in West Irian.
  Under the regime of President Suharto, officials such as Foreign Minister Adam Malik have sought to improve economic conditions, but because of Indonesia's limited assets these efforts have had scant results.
 

1969 West Irianese Predict Long Struggle

By Robert Trumbull
Special to The New York Times

VANIMO, New Guinea, May 15 - Refugees from West Irian, the Indonesian-administrated part of New Guinea, predict a long guerrilla struggle if Indonesia takes formal control of the former Dutch colny in August, as scheduled without a vote of the 800,000 inhabitants.

Indonesian spokesmen have announced that paratroops and other forces put down an up-rising earlier this month in which rebels put five air-fields out of commission, forcing the Indonesians to drop troops by parachute. [Informed sources in Jakarta maintained that the violence amounted to isolated outbreaks rather than full-scale rebellion.]

Leaders of the dissident Irianese who have fled here to Australian New Guinea declare that the rebellion will go on.

"The real trouble will start when the Government in Jakarta announces that we are Indonesians," said a middle-aged refugee who identified himself as an officers of a militant rebel group known as the Komando Pembebasan Papua Bharat, or Free Papua Liberation Command, one of the 13 known anti-Indonesian organizations in West Irian.

Ethnic Link Stressed

The refugees persist in calling their homeland West Papua, stressing the ethnic link with indigenous inhabitants of the Australian territory of Papua.
.. .. ..

"The Indonesians had three-quarters of the population with them in the beginning," said Adrian Visser a 25-year-old Netherlands national who left a profitable lumber enterprise in Jayapura, the capital of West Irian, to move to this town near the border.

The misgivings began, Mr Visser said, when the Irianese observed their new rulers industriously collecting "junk to send back to the skimpy bazaars of an improverished Indonesia. The disillusion became complete, he continued, when the acquisitive Indonesian troops began systematically stealing pigs and chickens for food.

According to Australian records, approximately 600 West Irianese have fled across the border in recent months. About 400 of them have been resettled on Manus Island in the Admiralty group, part of the New Guinea trust territory. Some returned, "not in peace, but to fight," said Jacob H Pray, a bearded 25-year-old militant.

Among the 108 refugees now living in a tent settlement provided by the Australian administration at the village of Yako, 11 miles this side of the West Irianese border, many are educated and skilled. Mr Pray was one of several who spoke English.

The ability of the West Irian rebels to resist the overwhelming force on Indonesia is doubted even by their sympathizers here. A similar movement has gone on for years in Indonesia's South Molucca Islands without having achieved much apparent effect beyond keeping dissidence alive through external propaganda.

Under the gentle authority of Len Mitchell, a young administrative officer of the Tasmanian Government, the refugees are biding their time in an idyllic setting by a white beach and blue-green lagoon.

Most refugees arrive in Australian territory through the Australian police border post at Wutung, a few hundred yards from the jungled frontier. New barracks for police reinforcements were being built yesterday.

Landing Beneath Cliff

Visitors by air to Wutong, a World War II United States Army camp 20 miles west of Vanimo, the district administrative center, get there in a six-seat Cessna that strides sideways, like a crab, to come down on a tiny grass strip beneath a chalk cliff. Going out, the pilot, Alan Cheers, lifted sharply and dodged a wooded headland by yards.

Tony Try, the bearded young Australian commander of the post, is a hero in Australia for having single-handedly confronted an Indonesian police contigent that crossed the border in pursuit of 79 refugees on April 26, firing their rifles as the came "The Indonesians were probably just trying to force them back into Irian or farther this way, and simply followed them into Australian territory," he said.
 

1969 West Irian unease is found Increasing

SYDNEY, Australia, June 4 - The people of West Irian, the part of New Guinea under Indonesian control, are increasingly unhappy as the scheduled "act of free choice" approaches, according to Australian reports.
  At least 1,000 West Irianese have left their country to protest the Indonesian administration. The latest to leave are said to include two members of the group chosen by Indonesia to speak in behalf of the other people in the "act of free choice" scheduled for July and August. This process is in lieu of a plebiscite on whether the West Irianese wish to remain with Indonesia.
  The Australian authorities in New Guinea reported that the two West Irianese leaders, who were not identified, crossed into Australian territory on Sunday.
 

1969 Irianese Begin 'Act of Free Choice' on Whether to Remain Part of Indonesia

By Philip Shabecoff special to The New York Times
JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 5 - The people of West Irian have started to exercise what is decribed as their "act of free choice" to decide whether they wish to be part of Indonesia.
  This complex process, some of whose participants are neolithic tribesmen, will contine until Aug. 4, shortly after President Nixon's scheduled visit to Jakarta.
  More than 1,000 delegates from all parts of West Irian - the Indonesian name for Western New Guinea - will take part in consultative assemblies to represent its 750,000 inhabitants. Some of these delegates will be transported hundreds of miles through some of the most forbidding jungle in the world to participate.
  'Going Through the Motions'
  However, Jakarta's diplomatic community insists and members of the Indonesian Government frankly admit in private that the entire process is a meaningless formality.
  "We are going through the motions of the act of free choice because of our obligation under the New York agreement of 1962," a member of the Indonesian Parliament declared. He was referring to the accord reached at the United Nations for the transfer of the former Dutch territory to Indonesian rule.
  "But West Irian is Indonesiam and must remain Indonesian." he added. "We cannot accept any alternative."
  The 1962 agreement ended hostilities on West Irian - adjacent to Australia-administrated territories in eastern New Guinea - between the young Indonesian republic and the Netherlands, the colonial master of the East Indies until World War II.
  Under the agreement, the Dutch agreed to turn over to Indonesia the administration of the territory, which has an area of about 150,000 square miles, provided Jakarta grant self-determination, to the Papuan, Melanesian and Negrito Irianese population. The Indonesians were charged with responsibility for allowing the act of free choice, with the United Nations to "advise, assist and participate in arrangements."
  Suggestion is Rejected Ambassador Fernando Ortiz-Sanz of Bolivia, special repreresentative of Secretary General Thant, noted in an interview today that he had suggested to the Indonesian Government that it conduct the act of free choice on a "one-man, one-vote" basis
.. .. ..
 

1969 Freeport Sulphur will sell smelter copper to Japan

  Freeport Indonesia, Inc., a subsidiary of the Freeport Sulphur Company, announced yesterday the signing of a letter of intent with a group of Japanese smelting and trading companies covering the purchase by the group of copper concentrates from Freeport's West Irian deposit.
 ... ... ..

1969 Kennecott gets Concession

  The Kennecott Copper Corporation announced yesterday that one of its subsidiaries, Kennecott Indonesia, had been granted the right to search for minerals in specified areas of Java, Sumatra and West Irian.
 

1969 Indonesia Oil move by Gulf & Western

  An oil exploration venture in Indonesia has been announced by Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., whose previous diversification moves have taken it into such varied businesses as motion pictures, insurances, cigars, metal products and paper.
  Gulf & Western said it had been awarded the exclusive right to conduct petroleum explorations on a 50,000 square-mile tract at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago.
  The area covered by the agreement is located in the Banda Sea and is bounded by the islands of Halmahera, Timor, West Irian, and Sulawesi. It includes tthe islands of Ceram, Buru, Ambron, Sula and the surrounding waters.
  The signing of the agreement was announced in Jakarta by Dr J R Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Indonesian Minister of Mines; Maj. Gen Dr. Ibnu Sutowo, president of P N Pertamina, Indonesia's government-owned oil company, and David N Judelson, president of Gulf & Western.
 

1969 U.N. is examining West Irian poll

African nations want close look before approving it

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By Sam Pope Brewer Special to The New York Times
  UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Nov. 15 - The General Assembly is taking an extended look at the results of a poll in which residents of the Pacific territory of West Irian asked to be ruled by Indonesia.
  The poll - a so-called act of free choice in which community chiefs were consulted by officials - was held last summer. The result announced by Indonesia was a unanimous decision to retain the Indonesian rule that began in 1962 when the Dutch left the area, formerly known as West New Guinea.
  Last Thursday, when the issue arose in the General Assembly, a group of African countries demanded a chance for further investigation before the Assembly approved the result.
  Instead of automatically approving Secretary General Thant's report, a group headed by Dahomey obtained adjournment of debate until next Wednesday.
  A principle cause of their action seems to have been a Reuters news agency report from Indonesia that the authorities were going to transport 200,000 children - about a fourth of all the Irianese - to "civilized surroundings" to be brought up by foster parents.
  This report followed complaints by those Irianese who feel no racial or cultural link with Indonesia that feared that Indonesia was trying to suppress their indigenous language and culture.
  ... ... ...

Like many of the Reuters reports, the leading claim of this reflects the view which the US oil and mining industry wanted the world to believe; rather than what the facts indicated. The UN confirmed the "Act of Free Choice" took place, but did not claim it to be Self-determination or to have complied with UN Resolutions 1541, 1514, the UN Charter, or the New York Agreement
1969 U.N. backs Jakarta on West Irian Rule

  UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Nov 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations endorsed today Indonesia's take-over of the former territory of Dutch West New Guinea, despite fierce African opposition to the recent "act of free choice" there.
  The General Assembly voted, 84 - 0, with 30 abstentions, for a joint Netherlands-Indonesian resolution in which both countries agreed to recognize and abide by the results of the act, under which the territory - now known as West Irian - became part of Indonesia.
  Most Western, Warsaw Pact and Asian nations voted for the resolution. Besides 24 African countries, Israel, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil abstained.
  Under the "act of free choice" - held under United Nations observation - 1,025 specially selected delegates cast votes on behalf of the Papuan population. The vote was unanimous in favor of Indonesian rule.
 

2005 "Below a Mountain of Wealth, a River of Waste"

The Cost of Gold, examines how American-owned company has been allowed to dump billion tons of mine waste directly into jungle river in easternmost province of Indonesia; Freeport-McMoRan's intricate web of political and military ties has shielded it from rising pressures that other gold miners have faced .. .. ..