West Papua Information Kit

Newspaper articles

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

'Black Fan' Terrorists defy Allies; Plan Guerrilla War
.. .. ..

#

Blck Fans plan to resist Allies in Java
Indonesians and Japa form Terrorist Group
.. .. ..

#

Japs on Java band to resist all occupation
Nationalistic Indonesians and rebel Japanese have organized a terrorist secret Black Fan society to conduct guerrilla resistance against allied troops who are expected to begin the occupation of Java before the end of September.
The terrorist activities already have started, and a number of Europeans have been stabbed and high ranking Japanese army officers have been murdered in their cars as they drove thru the streets of Batavia at night.
THE BLACK FAN society is lead in western Java by a Japanese named Shimizu and in eastern Java by a Japanese named Iwanmutu who was former manager of the Oranje hotel in Soerbaya. The society operates its own espionage system and propaganda campaigns.
These terrorists are assembling weapons, oil and supplies to prolong their guerrilla war. They have three secret radio transmitters and daily conduct violent anti-Japanese and anti-Dutch propaganda. They call the Japanese "policemen of the allies" and "traitors, fascists and imperialists." PAMPHLETS BEING distributed in Batavia state, "We don't want to be ruled by the Dutch." The group issued threats against prominent Indonesians still loyal to the Dutch who have opposed a nationalist independence movement.
The entire political situation is confused, since high Dutch leaders are still interned by the Japanese and Nationalist Leader Soekarno last Aug. 17 proclaimed a "republic of Indonesia" - an act ignored by the Japanese.

#

Japanese arrest 'Terror Fanatics'
Japanese mmilitary police ... arrested seven so-called "terrorist fanatics"
The prisoners were accused of violating a general ban on the possession of arms and stealing automaobiles from the Japanese. The police also confiscated a large amount of ammunition, grenades, guns and knives.
Subversive elements were at work. A "nationalist" leader, one Dr. Sukarno, told a crowd last night that Indonesia already was independent and would remain so. But he advised his followers to keep quiet, at least for the time being.
Military police were looking for a leader of the "Black Fan" organization of dissidents, ostensibly to put him in "protective custody".

#

#

Indonesians kill British leader
Grave developments follow truce
Renewal of fighting
 Brigadier A. W. F. Mallaby, Commander of the Forty-Ninth Indian Brigade, which is occupying the Java city of Sourabaya, was murdered at 6 p.m. yesterday while he was arranging details of the cease-fire order in company with Indonesian extremist leaders.
.. .. ..

#

Jungle takes back its own in desolate Hollandia base
Hollandia, one of the greatest war bases in the Pacific, from which we launched the campaign that reconquered the Philippines, is now desolate and forlorn. Gerald R. Thorp, Chicago Daily News Far Eastern correspondent, recently visited New Guinea.
 Hollandia the great sprawling military base from which much of the Philippines campaign was launched, today is as desolate and forlorn as a fading Summer resort.
 Only a few months ago traffic flowed noisily and endlessly along the 30 mile highway from Hollandia town, on Humbolt bay, to Gen. Douglas MacArthur's hilltop headquarters overlooking Lake Sentani. Now the broad, gravelled thoroughfare is travelled less than a country lane.
 The house they once called MacArthur's mansion - actually a rambling shack - still stands in its gleaming white paint on the crest of a towering hill. But its rooms are cobwebbed and bare, and its entrance door hangs uncertainly on one hinge.
 A score or more equally deserted buildings cluster around the white house, structures which once housed MacArthur's general headquarters.
 From the vast valley 1500 feet below comes the occassional drone of planes on Sentani airstripe, refueling point along the route from the Philippines to Australia. From the "mansion" one can look down the site of the Air Transport Command and the Naval Air Transport Service offices a short distance from the Far East Air Forces Service Command.
.. .. ..

#

New Premier named in Java
First aim declared to be halt in Soerabaja fight
Sutan Sjahrir, youthful Socialist leader described as a moderate, became Premier of the unrecognized Indonesian republic today and said he probably would fly to Soerabaja to try to halt fighting between armed Indonesians and British Indian troops.
.. .. ..
"The tactics employed by the Indonesians are of Japanese standard practice." the British statement said. "and there is little doubt that some Japanese are still actively engaged in the disturbances at Soerabaja."

#

UNO Trusteeship may be proposed for Indonesia
.. ..

#

#

325,000 Japs in Indonesia, Says Dutch Leader
290,000 under control of Allies; rest soomewhere in Java
.. .. ..

#

Indonesia: Test for the West
Back in 1945, as the Japanese Empire was crumbling, the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed. It got a malevolent boost from the defeated Japanese before the Dutch or their victorious Allies could re-enter the sprawling islands of the Netherlands East Indies, but even the Dutch in time came to admit that it was primarily the product of an independence movement conceived long before the Japanese marched south.
.. .. ..

#

Australia asks U.N. to expel Holland from Council until attack on Indonesia halted
U.N. Observers report Dutch killing Indonesian civilians
.. .. ..
U.S. Call for Dutch to Withdraw
.. .. ..

#

#

#

#

#

#

Indonesia rejects UN peace proposal

#

#

#

Indonesia
Premier Sukiman announced Monday that the Indonesian government has uncovered a "foreign-supported underground movement" to assassinate President Sukarno and overthrow the regime.
The premier dsclosed that some 15,000 "subversives" have been arrested during recent security actions and added that the situation in the eastern section of West Java has become "untenable" because of renewed agitation.
He declared that the government has been forced "to take quick action."

#

#

Rebels' Bows, Arrows oppose Indonesian Tanks
Twenty thousand native guerrillas armed only with bows and arrows are fighting Japanese officered Indonesian troops on the "spice island" of Ceram for independence from Indonesia, a South Moluccan government official said here today.
.. .. ..

#

Indonesian troops out of New Guinea
The Dutch Army in a two-day battle has driven off Indonesian troops who invaded Dutch New Guinea, it was announced Saturday.
.. .. ..

#

#

Dutch protest infiltration try by Indonesians
.. ..

#

Indonesia bares Dutch invasion, Moslem revolt
.. .. Antara reported .. ..

#

#

Indonesians stage coup in Islands
Former bodyguard of Sukarno leads bloodless revolt
.. .. Greater automy is the main demand of 51 leaders of the eastern islands who proclaimed the coup, just as it was in the abortive uprisings in Sumatra.
.. .. ..

#

#

Indonesia nips coup; seizes Army officers
Civilians also arrested in Moluccas
.. .. ..

#

#

#

#

U.S. Indonesia close Arms deal
The United States is selling Indonesia enough light weapons and vehicles to equip 20 new battalions, or about 14,000 troops. It is the first major sale of American mmilitary equipment to the island republic in several years.
The deal also includes one Navy ship - type not disclosed - and other Navy and Air Force items.
.. .. ..

#

Friendship for Asia not yet tested
Appeal for more Australian Trust
The Indonesian Foreign Minister (Dr. Subandrio) said today that there are many newly independent Asian countries whose friendship Australia has not yet tested.
Appealing for more Australian trust in Indonesia, Dr Subandrio said he woould not say Australia distrusted these countries - but that Australia had not yet proved her friendship towards them.
.. .. ..

#

U.N. Trusteeship in N.G. urged
United Nations trusteeship of the whole of New Guinea was urged today at the Menangle annual meeting of the Australia Council of the World Council of Churches.
.. ..

#

Dutch N.G. Policy "A step forward"
Misinterpreted, M.P. tells House
The Government's assurance to Indonesia that Australia would not oppose any peaceful agreement reached with the Netherlands over Dutch New Guinea was a definite step forward which would let Indonesia know where Australia stood, Mr. Joske (Lib., Vic.) said today.
Mr Joske who has represented Australia on a trusteeship committee of the United Nations, was speaking during the address in reply debate in the House of Representatives.
Article 73 if the United Nations Trusteeship Charter clearly defined the duties of a Government towards its trust territories, he said.
The people of West New Guinea had to be brought out of their primitive state to a position where they could govern themselves.
Speaking earlier, Mr Haylen (Lab., NSW) said a trusteeship under the United Nations was the only answer to the problem of West New Guinea.
He attacked what he called the "package deal" made between Australia and Indonesian.
The negotiations, he said were like "a game of international strip tease poker in which Australia had lost all."
Mr Hatlan said a United Nations trusteeship for West New Guinea would preserve Australia's security and look after the welfare of the native peoples at the same time.
.. .. ..

#

Friendship 'Down Under'
A friendship treaty between Australia and Indonesia is ggod news for the Free World. The pending pact removes the East Indies further from the grasping tentacles of world communism. Only recently Indonesia signed a similar friendship agreement with Cambodia which pleadged perpetual peace.
In joining hands with Australia, the Indonesian government probably will be able to purchase bombers from the country "down under." Australia doubtless will receive a goodly portion of badly needed natural resources. Indonesia on turn will get manufactured goods from Australia.
.. ..

#

Suddenly Enlightened
 The Netherlands has .. ..
 The enlightenment will be manifest today when a new legislative council convenes in Hollandia, the capital of Dutch New Guinea. This Council is comprised of 15 elected and a dozen appointed members. Its powers will be advisory for the most part but it does have the right to initiate legislation and it does have a majority of native Papuans.
.. ..

#

Volunteered to invade New Guinea, captured Indonesian guerrillas say
The remnants of an Indonesian guerrilla force, captured by police after four months in the New Guinea jungle, said Sunday they had not been commanded to invade the island but volunteered.
Seven of the original band of 23 interviewed in Hollandia's jail told of a gruellling trek across Dutch New Guinea during which some were killed or wounded and one was believed to have been eaten by a crocodile.
Members of the party said they landed on the south coast of Dutch New Guinea Hov. 18 after an overnight trip by motor launch from Indonesia. They said they carried hand grenades, machine guns, and two American made mortars plus provisions for the long march.
A week after they landed nar Etna Bay they were spotted by Papuans who called the police who attacked the guerrillas killing one and wounding another.
The band fled into the mountains, then for two months theys went from village to village where they were treated well by nearly wild and naked tribesmen. The guerrillas wore green uniforms of the Indonesian army.
 :"But the natives had never heard of Indonesia." said a guerrilla spokesman, Suad Abduk Rasach 25.
Their plight grew worse after another police ambush which split the force in two.
.. .. ..

#

PRESS COMMENT
U.N. SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT DUTCH-INDONESIAN DISPUTE
The Netherlands has proposed that the United Nations send a fact finding commission to West New Guinea (West Irian) to determine for the world just what is going on there.
 Indonesia contends that what is going on is tyranny and that the Dutch are holding territory which belongs to Indonesia - an argument hard to support either in logic or history. And Indonesia according to Foreign Minister Subandrio, opposes any UN mission unless it is previously agreed that within a year or so West Irian will betaken from the Dutch and turned over to Indonesia.
The Dutch have just announced a plan under which West Irian would eventually be granted self-determination. It is a long overdue plan, but welcome nonetheless. It proposes an educational and development program, along with increasing participation of local people in running their own government. Now governmental administration is 52% in the hands of local inhabitants. In 10 years it would rise to 95% under the Dutch plan. There is encouragement too for the Dutch-Australian plan for uniting New Guinea in time and giving it self-determination.
How far the Dutch plan gets may depend upon how seriously the Indonesians push their threats. .. ..

#

NEW GUINEA: A Stone-Age Land with 20th-Century problems
New Guinea, the second biggest island in the world, has been awfully quiet back there in the last pages of the history and geography books. You'll be hearing more about it from now on.
.. .. ..

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#