That Indonesia’s ongoing occupation of West Papua continues to be largely ignored by world governments is one of the great moral and political failures of our time. West Papuans have struggled for more than fifty years to find a way through the long night of Indonesian colonization. However, united in their pursuit of merdeka (freedom) in its many forms, what holds West Papuans together is greater than what divides them. Today, the Morning Star glimmers on the horizon, the supreme symbol of merdeka and a cherished sign of hope for the imminent arrival of peace and justice to West Papua. Morning Star Rising: The Politics of Decolonization in West Papua is an ethnographically framed account of the long, bitter fight for freedom that challenges the dominant international narrative that West Papuans' quest for political independence is fractured and futile. Camellia Webb-Gannon’s extensive interviews with the decolonization movement’s original architects and its more recent champions shed light on complex diasporic and intergenerational politics as well as social and cultural resurgence. In foregrounding West Papuans’ perspectives, the author shows that it is the body politic’s unflagging determination and hope, rather than military might or influential allies, that form the movement’s most unifying and powerful force for independence. This book examines the many intertwining strands of decolonization in Melanesia. Differences in cultural performance and political diversity throughout the region are generating new, fruitful trajectories. Simultaneously, Black and Indigenous solidarity and a shared Melanesian identity have forged a transnational grassroots power-base from which the movement is gaining momentum. Relevant beyond its West Papua focus, this book is essential reading for those interested in Pacific studies, Native and Indigenous studies, development studies, activism, and decolonization.

In alignment with Indigenous Politics, an emerging sub-field of Politics and IR, this book considers West Papuan Indigenous nationhood. Combining Settler Colonial Studies and Critical Indigenous Theory, the research opens up sovereignty as a political category of analysis to reveal an embedded nation within Indonesia. In June 2000 the Second Papuan People’s Congress in Jayapura rejected the basis on which West Papua had been incorporated into Indonesia and resolved that the “people of Papua have been sovereign as a nation and a state since 1 December 1962”. Indonesian president Wahid firmly opposed this resolution and state officials posted historical narratives on the Australian Embassy website that legitimated Indonesia’s incorporation of the once non-self-governing territory. A mapping and analysis of these narratives demonstrate a settler colonial present within Southeast Asia. It is argued that the US’s appeasement of Indonesia’s takeover in the 1960s was based on the Great Power’s concern to promote its strategic and economic status in the region. “This is a timely intervention that contributes to a growing debate on settler colonialism as a mode of domination that characterises the global present and involves locales not normally seen as settler colonial. West Papua fits the bill”. -Associate Professor Lorenzo Veracini, author of Settler Colonial Studies: A Theoretical overview.

This is a history which deals with the end of Dutch colonial rule, the early years of independent Indonesia, the West New Guinea question, and the emergence of Papuan nationalism. The book covers several key themes. The Indonesian Revolution (1945-1949) is treated only summarily. The book chiefly concentrates on Dutch policies and perspectives, which have so far generally been ignored in existing English-language publications. Netherlands-Indonesian relations between 1950 and 1958 are treated in depth, with a description and analysis of the struggle for power between the early, more Western-attuned and economic-rationalist cabinets, on the support of which the fate of the vast Netherlands-controlled export economy was dependent, and the masses, driven by Sukarno and the populist parties. West New Guinea and Papua nationalism began as early as the 1920s and 1930s, and by the early 1950s the Dutch had set about guiding the Papuans towards independence. This policy had to be aborted, however, with the threat of an Indonesian invasion and the unwillingness of the US to provide armed support to Dutch forces. As a result, Australia, too, was reluctantly forced to abandon the Dutch. Australia was forced to accept the inevitable. It had actively encouraged the Netherlands to hold onto West New Guinea, completed agreements on economic and social cooperation, and conducted in-depth studies about a possible Australia-Dutch defense system against Indonesian aggression. Without US military support, however, the situation became untenable. This book will be required reading for those seeking to understand the genesis of the situation in West New Guinea today, where Papuan nationalism is again in the ascendant following the recent dramatic events leading to the independence of East Timor.

This important study introduces the history and people of West Papua, tracing the origins of the international conflict surrounding their struggle for self-determination following the Second World War. Based on three decades of exhaustive research and focusing particular attention on the sham referendum of 1969 - which Indonesia dubbed 'The Act of Free Choice', an election rigged to legitimize Indonesian control over West Papua - Droogleever highlights the continuing impact of this injustice on Indonesia's most underdeveloped and poverty-stricken province.

This book examines the role of the international community in the handover of the Dutch colony of West Papua/Irian Jaya to Indonesia in the 1960s and questions whether or not the West Papuan people ever genuinely exercised the right to self-determination guaranteed to them in the UN-brokered Dutch/Indonesian agreement of 1962. Indonesian, Dutch, US, Soviet, Australian and British involvement is discussed, but particular emphasis is given to the central part played by the United Nations in the implementation of this agreement. As guarantor, the UN temporarily took over the territory's administration from the Dutch before transferring control to Indonesia in 1963. After five years of Indonesian rule, a UN team returned to West Papua to monitor and endorse a controversial act of self-determination that resulted in a unanimous vote by 1022 Papuan 'representatives' to reject independence. Despite this, the issue is still very much alive today as a crisis-hit Indonesia faces continued armed rebellion and growing calls for freedom in West Papua.

This book charts the previously untold story of the mobility of Indigenous peoples across vast distances, vividly reshaping what is known about decolonisation.

Papuan nationalism is young, evolving, and flexible. It has adapted to and reflected the political circumstances in which it has emerged. Its evolution as a political force is one of the crucial factors in any analysis of political and cultural change in Papua, and the development of relations between the Indonesian government and Papuan society. This study examines the development of Papuan nationalism from the Pacific War through the movement?s revival after the fall of President Suharto in 1998. The author argues that the first step in understanding Papuan nationalism is understanding Papuan history and historical consciousness. The history that so preoccupies Papuan nationalists is the history of the decolonization of the Netherlands Indies, the struggle between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the sovereignty of Papua, and Papua?s subsequent integration into Indonesia. Papuan nationalism is also about ethnicity. Many Papuan nationalists make strong distinctions between Papuans and other peoples, especially Indonesians. However, Papuan society itself is a mosaic of over three hundred small, local, and often isolated ethno-linguistic groups. Yet over the years a pan-Papuan identity has been forged from this mosaic of tribal groups. This study explores the nationalists? argument about history and the sources of their sense of common ethnicity. It also explores the possibility that the Special Autonomy Law of 2001, if implemented fully, might provide a framework in which Papuan national aspirations might be realized.This is the fourteenth publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center Washington series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner.