Photo: Spaarnestad
Based on the Round Table Conference, 1949, in one of the clauses it was stated that matters relating to West Irian would be taken care of at a later date. The Netherlands was willing to leave the territory of Indonesia, but not from West Irian. The reason was because the Dutch considered that the people of West Irian were separate from Indonesian society in general. The West Irian is a Melanesian race with black skin and curly hair, different from most Indonesians.
However, President Soekarno did not agree with this assumption, according to him the entire former territory of the Dutch East Indies was Indonesian territory. Soekarno then inflamed the spirit of reclaiming West Irian from the Dutch. Soekarno even expelled the Dutch in Indonesia, and took over the Dutch companies in Indonesia.
Soekarno's political rhetoric later turned into a military campaign to seize West Irian in the 1960s. The UN finally intervened to mediate the conflict between Indonesia and the Netherlands. It was agreed that a referendum would be held in the next few years, the people of West Irian were left to determine their own destiny. The referendum itself took place after Soekarno stepped down and was replaced by Suharto. With pressure and manipulation by the Indonesian military, the result of the referendum finally decided that West Irian would join Indonesia.
The photo above shows the office of a newspaper, Harian Bintang Timur, with graffiti that reads "Seize West Irian!!!" on November 4, 1957. After joining Indonesia, West Irian was given the name Irian Jaya, becoming one of the provinces in Indonesia. Decades later, the Indonesian government changed its name back to Papua, according to the name the locals want.