At independence, the Republic of Indonesia claimed to be the legal successor to the entire Dutch East Indies, including West Papua. This was despite the Netherlands retaining West Papua as the Netherlands New Guinea. The Netherlands did agonisingly slowly start to move the colony to a semblance of independence with efforts such as creating a flag, anthem and a constituent assembly. But it’s also important to note that the territory was really dispersely settled and it was estimated in 1962 that a third of the inhabitants lived totally outside the control of the colonial government.

Despite these moves by the Dutch, Indonesia didn’t drop it’s claim. And the the Netherlands retention of West Papua was increasingly problematic from a view of decolonisation. Indonesia had been rallying support for its position from newly independent African nations, while the Dutch supporters in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand became wary of the situation potentially escalating to violence, which the Indonesians were increasingly threatening. By the end of the 1950s the Dutch were essentially ready to leave. But they didn’t want to turn over to the Indonesian. Partly, no doubt, this was motivated by spite over the Indonesian’s own hostile relations towards the Dutch, but there were genuine arguments made about the Melanesian heritage of West Papua and the right of self determination of the West Papuans themselves.

At the same time, the Indonesians began ramping up their threats and rhetoric. In 1958, Indonesian riots attacked Dutch businesses, and Diplomatic relations were cut off in 1960. In December 1961, the Indonesians organised Operation Trikora to invade the territory. An undeclared war had begun that the Dutch were ill equipped to fight long term, and which its allies would not get involved in. The United States became concerned that renewed Indonesian-Dutch hostilities could lead the Indonesians to align with the Soviet Bloc and so pushed for a ceasefire. Thus a treaty was drawn up - The New York Agreement - between the Dutch, Americans, and Indonesians under the auspices of the UN. It’s useful to note that no West Papuans were involved in these negotiations, it was an agreement between Indonesia and the Dutch. The West Papuan council did protests this fact to the Dutch but by then it was fait accompli.

So in 1962 the Dutch agreed to turnover control of West Papua to the United Nations, and the UN Temporary Executive Agreement (UNTEA) took control. The end point of this temporary arrangement was to be an Act of Free Choice by the West Papuans themselves in 1969.

UNTEA was a mess made from compromise. Perhaps it was the best that could be done, but from the start it was weak on legitimacy, with an unclear role and incapacitated powers. Nevertheless, with a UN plan in place, many countries essentially stopped paying attention. Not Indonesia though, who remained committed to acquiring the territory. To pursue this, Indonesia had pressured the UN to agree to transition custodianship of the territory to them for 1963 until the vote 1969. The UN was pretty okay with this, as the UN has a general aversion to running territories for any period of time. To mitigate other countries re-involving themselves, the Indonesians remained committed (with a hiccup in 1965) to the 1969 vote.

But it was to be a vote on their terms. Indonesia invoked a form of community consensus voting that was traditional to parts of Indonesia to be used in West Papua. This situation led to a situation where out of a population of roughly 1 million, only 1026 votes were cast. And those voter hand-picked by Indonesia delivered a unanimous result to join West Papua permanently to Indonesia.

This was not technically illegitimate. The Indonesian consensus method was still a form of democracy and an expression - if a hollow one - of the West Papuan’s view. The UN Representative overseeing the vote on behalf of the Secretary General - Fernando Ortiz-Sanz - delivered a report affirming the legitimacy of the vote. This was also re-confirmed years later in passing by the International Court of Justice which noted (and i’m paraphrasing) that the lack of UN statements in opposition to ongoing Indonesian administration since the Act of Free Choice suggests that the UN views the matter of West Papuan self-determination resolved. However, the legitimacy of Indonesian control of West Papua is a legitimacy born from the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law.

Of course, the West Papuans haven’t all been entirely satisfied and the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) emerged in the years after the vote to challenge Indonesia rule. On 1 July 1971, the West Papuan Republic was proclaimed, but has failed to attract the recognition the international recognition it would need to become properly independent.

As for the potential allies for West Papua. The question split the solidarity post-colonial countries. Some such as India favoured Indonesia as a large post-colonial country itself, while others like Ghana favoured West Papua as a people under an enduring forign rule. Both the Communist and Capitalist blocs saw Indonesia as a more important player, and one they didn’t want to alienate by supporting a separatist movement. The Americans and Europeans particularly saw the question as having been resolved. Although this has changed since the end of the Cold War and the end of the Indonesian dictatorship in the 1990s/2000s, which has given some new sympathy to the West Papuan independence movement.

The status of West Papua since WWII is thus a story of the law producing a result that is unsatisfactory to many but which other countries have accepted because it was, according to the framework of international law, a legitimate and legal outcome. However, it’s also a story of keeping your eye on the prize. West Papua lacked a clear and consistent advocate for it’s own interests after 1962 (and even before this the Dutch were a largely absent colonial master), whereas the Indonesians ran a focused and consistent if at times a little ethically dubious campaign over 20 years to acquire West Papua by any means.