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.
.. .. ..

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
.. .. ..

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
.. .. ..

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 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.
.. .. ..

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.
.. .. ..

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.

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 .. .. ..

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 .. .. ..