Meanwhile, in 1960, diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken after the Netherlands’ dispatch of its aircraft carrier to New Guinea waters in order to safeguard its on-going preparations for internal self-government in West Guinea. In response to such maneuvers, the Indonesian Government adopted a more assertive policy outlining a possible military take-over of the occupied territory by announcing the “In Komando Rakyat” (People’s Triple Command) i.e.;
1. to thwart the formation of a puppet state of Papua by the colonial power;
2. to raise the Indonesian Red and White flag in West Irian; and
3. to prepare a general mobilization to defend national inde¬pendence and unity;
Such a pronouncement demonstrated beyond any doubt that a military confrontation between Indonesia and the Netherlands was inevitable.
As a co-sponsor and ardent supporter of the historic landmark General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), Indonesia objected to the Government of the Netherlands to invoke the said resolution not to complete the independence of the Indonesian nation but to partition its territory.*Indonesia continued to extend its cooperation to resolve the dispute in a peaceful way but made clear that it would not hesitate to use force to defend its territory.
The Government of Indonesia also took strong exception to the efforts of the Netherlands to confuse the meaning of Article 73 of the United Nations Charter and of General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV). In this context, it emphasized that Article 73 could not apply to West Irian as it forms an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia and was occupied by force by the colonial authorities.** Likewise, it stated that Resolution 1514 (XV) had no relevance to the case of West Irian in view of paragraph 6 which declared that “the partial or total disruption of national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter”. Furthermore, Indonesia maintained that if the United Nations was sincere in resolving this issue, it would eradicate Dutch colonialism and return that territoly into the fold of the Republic of Indonesia. Bringing this dispute under Article 73 would mean a negation of the letter and spirit of the Round Table Conference as well as a denial of freedom and such an approach was contrary to the purposes of the United Nations Charter and, in essence Article 73 itself.
For eight long years, the General Assembly had been unable to assist the parties in finding a solution. Thus, it became apparent that only bilateral negotiations would provide a reasonable solution — the transfer of the administration of West Irian to Indonesia. Since such a transition was of compelling national interest as it concerned the completion of its territorial sovereignty and also in light of breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Indonesia had no alternative but to seek a third party as intermediary in the needed bilateral negotiations. Indonesia availed of the initiative of the UN Secretary-General to join the Netherlands in informal discussions. Both Governments agreed to the intermediary of the Secretary-General U Thant and Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker. Largely due to their tireless efforts and coupled with the desire of both Indonesia and the Netherlands, a settlement was reached within a period of two weeks which can be regarded in the annals of international affairs as a speedy settlement considering a conflict that had lasted for 13 years. This gave birth to the New York Agreement which was signed by Foreign Minister Dr. Subandrio of Indonesia and Ambassadors JR. van Roijen and C. Schuurman of the Netherlands, in the presence of the Secretary-General, in New York, on 15 August 1962.
*Document A/4944 — Note Verbale dated 27 October 1961 from the represent aLt ye of Indonesia, transmitting
a statement of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesian.
* *Document S/SI 28— Letter dated 25 May 1 962 from the representative of Indonesia to the Secretary-General
The End
No comments:
Post a Comment