Lush Landscape
West Papua sits on the eastern fringes of the 17,000 island chain that makes up the country of Indonesia. The island of New Guinea's Area is: 786,000 km2, (bigger than the state of Texas) New Guinea is divided in half: on the eastern half of the island lies the country of Papua New Guinea, while West Papua lies on the western side. Though it is technically part of Indonesia, their cultures are as far apart as the ocean that divides them. West Papua is made up of triple canopy rain forests, snow capped mountains, waterfalls, and is (along with its sea) home to some of the rarest plants and wildlife on earth.
Rich in Resources
Rich in natural resources, you can also find the largest gold and copper mine in the world here. Papua is most famous for its people. Known as "the people time forgot", Papuans are of Austronesian descent. It is an anthropologist’s heaven, as it has preserved its primitive culture up to today, making it one of the most remote places on earth. Not only is it a central place for anthropology, but for linguists as well. It is said that of the known languages in the world, over HALF are found on this island, with West Papua having over 300 languages and 200 additional dialects on her side alone. This is due to the harsh terrain that runs through the island, making deep pockets of land that are secluded to the rest of the world, where people have settled and called home for thousands of years.
"The people of West Papua have been denied their basic human rights, including their rights to self determination. Their cry for justice and freedom has fallen largely on deaf ears." - Desmond Tutu
Robbed of Liberty
No one knows when Papuans first inhabited the island, but it was colonized by the Dutch in 1828. During the 1950's the Dutch government began to prepare the island for independence. It received independence in 1961, but was quickly threatened with invasion by the Indonesian government with support from the Soviet Union. Because of pressure from the United Sates during the Cold War, the Netherlands was forced to turn their attention away from Papua, leaving it vulnerable to their neighbor, Indonesia. Indonesia took control of the island in 1963 and renamed it Irian Jaya. In 2001 a law passed granting "special autonomy" status to Papua, allowing them to change their name to West Papua. Unfortunately, many of the autonomy laws have not been implemented, and if so, only minimally.
Ongoing Corruption
Since the 1960s, consistent reports of government suppression and terrorism, including murder, political assassination, imprisonment, torture, and aerial bombardments have filtered out of the territory. The Indonesian government disbanded the New Guinea Council and forbade the use of the West Papua flag or the singing of the national anthem. There has been considerable resistance to Indonesian integration and occupation, both through civil disobedience (such as Morning Star flag raising ceremonies) via the formation of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, or Free Papua Movement).