Every December 1, the people of Papua are always worried that there will be chaos or riots orchestrated by several groups of people calling themselves the Free Papua Organization or the West Papua National Committee. Each of these dates, they raise the Morning Star flag and sometimes threaten residents to participate in the ceremony. Clashes between the pro-separatist masses and the police are often inevitable. They claim that December 1, 1961 was the day West Papua declared itself independent from the Netherlands. On the one hand, some media in Indonesia stated that December 1, 1961 was the day the Free Papua Organization was formed.
Both parties, both the Indonesian government and the Free Papua Organization, misinterpreted the incident on December 1, 1961. December 1, 1961 was the date on which the Dutch colonial government formed a body called the Nieuw Guinea Raad in order to thwart the incorporation of West Papua into the Republic of Indonesia. This is the same mode used by the Dutch during the War of Independence (1945-1949) by forming states to divide the people of Indonesia. Nieuw Guinea Raad consists of 28 members and is led by J. H. F. Sollewijn Gelpke as chairman of the board. Selected members of the New Guinea Guinea Raad are Papuans who are still loyal to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. They are privileged people during the Dutch colonial period. Therefore, the claim of the Free Papua Organization that West Papua declared independence on December 1, 1961 is an illogical claim. If we analogize it, this is like Indonesia making the day of the formation of the Indonesian Independence Preparatory Agency for Investigation the day of Indonesian independence. If we have a way of thinking like the Free Papua Organization, then we will not celebrate Indonesian independence on August 17 but on March 1.
