New Guinea Council | |
---|---|
Leadership | |
Chair | Frits Sollewijn Gelpke |
Vice-Chair | |
Clerk | J. W. Trouw |
Seats | 28 |
Elections | |
16 elected | |
16 appointed | |
Last election | 1961 |
Meeting place | |
Hollandia |
The New Guinea Council (Dutch : Nieuw-Guinea Raad) was a unicameral representative body formed in the Dutch overseas territory of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961.
Prior to the formation of the New Guinea Council, there existed a Council of Directors, which consisted of the heads of government departments. Dutch authorities initially began to establish local government bodies such as village councils and regional councils.
The New Guinea Council was inaugurated on 5 April 1961 with 28 council members, 16 of whom had been elected in elections held during January 1961. The council's inauguration was attended by representatives from Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and other Pacific Forum nations with exception of the United States. [1] [2]
The council was requested to make its wishes on self-determination known within a year. [3] During an emergency session the council drafted a national manifesto and symbols including the Morning Star flag for a new national identity to be known as "West Papua". [4]
Following the August 1962 New York Agreement between the governments of the Netherlands and Indonesia, the administration of Western New Guinea was assumed by the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) on 1 October 1962. The New Guinea Council was reconvened by United Nations administrator on 4 December 1962 and members took new oaths of office, swearing allegiance to UNTEA. [5] The council was disbanded when Western New Guinea was handed over to Indonesia on 1 May 1963.
Frits Sollewijn Gelpke was Council Chairman and Nicolaas Jouwe was Vice-Chair. J. W. Trouw was the Clerk of the Council.
A council building was built in Hollandia from 1960 to 1961 and used until the abolition of the council in 1962. Currently the building houses the regional legislature of Papua, People's Representative Council of Papua . [6]
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. It contained what are now Indonesia's six easternmost provinces, Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua, which were administered as a single province prior to 2003 under the name Irian Jaya, and now comprise the Papua region of the country.
The Free Papua Movement or Free Papua Organization is a name given to an independence movement based on Western New Guinea, seeking secession of the territory currently under Indonesian administration. The territory is currently divided into six Indonesian provinces of Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua, also formerly known as Papua, Irian Jaya and West Irian.
The Republic of West Papua, alternatively known as the Federal Republic of West Papua is a quasi-state consisting of the Western New Guinea region, which is currently part of Indonesia on the continent of Oceania. The region has been part of Indonesia since 1 May 1963 under several names in the following order, West Irian, Irian Jaya, and Papua. Today the region comprises six Indonesian provinces: Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, West Papua, and Southwest Papua.
The New York Agreement is an agreement signed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Indonesia regarding the administration of the territory of Western New Guinea. The first part of the agreement proposes that the United Nations assume administration of the territory, and a second part proposes a set of social conditions that will be provided if the United Nations exercises a discretion proposed in article 12 of the agreement to allow Indonesian occupation and administration of the territory. Negotiated during meetings hosted by the United States, the agreement was signed on 15 August 1962 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, United States.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western, formerly Dutch presently Indonesian, half of the island of New Guinea, granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region is also called West Papua.
The Morning Star flag was a flag used in Netherlands New Guinea for official purposes in addition to the flag of the Netherlands. It was first raised on 1 December 1961. The territory would come under the administration of the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) on 1 October 1962 and would be transferred to Indonesian control on 1 May 1963. Today, the flag represents the Republic of West Papua, a proposed country consisting of the Western New Guinea region, which is currently administered as part of Indonesia in the continent of Oceania.
This article surveys the postage stamps and postal history of Western New Guinea, particularly in 1949–1963.
The West Irian rupiah was a distinct currency of West Irian between 1963 and 1973. It replaced the West New Guinea gulden at par and was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah at the rate of 1 West Irian rupiah = 18.9 Indonesian rupiah.
Hai Tanahku Papua was an anthem of Netherlands New Guinea and of the unilaterally declared Republic of West Papua.
United Nations Administered West New Guinea refers to the period between 1 October 1962 and 1 May 1963 when Western New Guinea was administered by the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) in accordance with in article two of the New York Agreement reached between the governments of the Netherlands and Indonesia in August 1962.
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea.
The History of Western New Guinea refers to the history of the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea and other smaller islands to its west. This region is also known as Papua and was previously named Irian Jaya. The eastern half of the island is Papua New Guinea.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Netherlands East Indies, otherwise known as the Dutch East Indies, and which today is known as Indonesia.
Nicolaas Jouwe was a Papuan leader who was selected to be vice president of the New Guinea Council that governed the Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea. As the president of the New Guinea Council was the Dutch civil servant Frits Sollewijn Gelpke, Jouwe was the highest ranking Papuan politician in the colony.
Operation Trikora was a combined Soviet-Indonesian military operation which aimed to seize and annex the Dutch overseas territory of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961 and 1962. After negotiations, the Netherlands signed the New York Agreement with Indonesia on 15 August 1962, relinquishing control of Western New Guinea to the United Nations.
Major TNI Marthen Indey (1912–1986) was a colonial police officer in New Guinea, Dutch East Indies who later became nationalist fighter in the Indonesian National Revolution and a supporter of Papua becoming part of Indonesia. He was declared a National Hero of Indonesia in 1993 along with two other people of Papuan descent, Frans Kaisiepo and Silas Papare.
Silas Ayari Donrai Papare was a Papuan–Indonesian politician and guerilla leader who is a National Hero of Indonesia.
The West New Guinea dispute (1950–1962), also known as the West Irian dispute, was a diplomatic and political conflict between the Netherlands and Indonesia over the territory of Dutch New Guinea. While the Netherlands had ceded sovereignty over most of the Dutch East Indies to Indonesia on 27 December 1949 following an independence struggle, it retained control over its colony on the western half of New Guinea. The Indonesian government claimed this territory as well, on the basis that it had belonged to the Dutch East Indies and that the new Republic of Indonesia was the legitimate successor to the former Dutch colony.
General elections were held in Dutch New Guinea for the first and only time in January 1961.
Dorkas Tokoro-Hanasbey is a Papuan and Indonesian teacher and politician. She was the only female member of the New Guinea Council, serving from its inauguration in 1961 until its dissolution in 1963. Upon the annexation of Papua by Indonesia, she became a member of Papua's regional parliament, the Papua Regional People's Representative Council, and Indonesia's House of Representatives.