As far as Indonesia was concerned, West Papua was legally and constitutionally a part of the Netherlands East Indies. It is also an indisputable fact that the core of the Indonesian freedom struggle during the years 1945-1949 was independence for all of its people on the entire Indonesian archipelago comprising all of its islands. Proceeding from this basic premise, Indonesia viewed West Papua as an integral part of its territory that was forcefully occupied by the Dutch colonial authorities.
Consequently, Indonesia has since 1950, assiduously sought to reach a peaceful settlement both within and outside the United Nations. Imbued by the desire to bring back West Papua into the fold of the Republic, it accepted in principle the Bunker proposal and expressed its willingness to discuss it further. Indonesia, thus welcomed the initiative of the Acting Secretary-General to bring the parties together for informal discussions under his guidance. As noted in the previous chapter, after long years of conflict, the Bunker proposal resulted in the conclusion of the New York Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands concerning West New Guinea or West Papua (UN Doc. A/51~O) on 15 August 1962. Instruments of ratification were exchanged between the two countries during 20-21 September 1962.
Salient Features of the Agreement
One of the salient features of the Agreement (Article II) was to provide for the initial transfer of administration of West Irian by the Neth¬erlands to an interim UN authority - UNTEA - on 1 October 1962 and subsequent transfer from UNTEA to Indonesian control after 1 May 1963 (XII). In this context, it should be noted that the Agreement provided for the first phase of the UNTEA administration (Article IX, X, XI) which included, inter alia, the rapid replacement of top Netherlands officials with non-Netherlands and non-Indonesian officials. Furthermore, it authorized UNTEA to employ Indonesian personnel to disseminate the terms of the Agreement to the Irian Jayan population and to promulgate new laws.
The second phase of the Agreement (Article XII, XIII) envisaged the transfer of all or part of the administration to Indonesia and the replacement of United Nations security forces by Indonesian security officers. This meant the complete and final end of colonial rule as demanded by Indonesia. Following this significant event, the Secretary-General in his report (UN DOC.A/5.578) informed the General Assembly of the unique and highly successful cooperation that existed between UNTEA, Indonesia and the Dutch officials from 1 October 1962 to 1 May 1963. Reflective of such cooperation after long years of conflict, the Governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands established liaison missions to UNTEA on 1 October 1962, headed by Dr. Sudj arwo Tj ondronegoro and Mr. L.J. Goedhart respectively
Following his consultations with the Government of Indonesia and the United Nations Administrator, the Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, Mr. CV Narasimhan announced in Jakarta that the transfer of administration would take place on 1 May 1963 and the replacement of Dutch officials by Indonesian officials would be accelerated. Following that announcement, Mr. CV Narasimhan representing the Secretary-General, attended the ceremony transferring full administrative control from the United Nations Administrator to the representative of the Republic of Indonesia and the United Nations flag was subsequently lowered.
It should be noted that throughout this period, from the transfer of Dutch administration to UNTEA and later from UNTEA to the Republic of Indonesia, the process was carried out peacefully and proceeded without an incident. The people of IrianJaya were helped to adjust to the inevitable changes resulting from the agreement. Every effort was exerted to ensure a smooth transition, including the continuation of essential public services and utilities as well as employment.
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