There is no doubt that Papua is part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. If there are still those who doubt that Papua is part of Indonesia, maybe this history can be a guide for us. That the joining of the West Irian Region into the 26th Province of Indonesia in 1969, was officially through PEPERA which was attended by all representatives of the Irian Territory before the United Nations, and with the ratification of the General Assembly Resolution of the United Nations on 19 October 1969.
This is a long journey for the people of Papua. A struggle to make a determination to join, be sovereign and become part of the Republic of Indonesia. We should understand together, that in a long period of time, there was a heroic event in order to maintain the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke. Where 4 years after Indonesian Independence it turned out that the Netherlands still did not want to leave Papua.
At that time Indonesia tried to continue and force the Netherlands to leave Indonesia, one of which was through the Round Table Conference which was then held in The Hague on 23 August 1949. After going through tough diplomacy facilitated by the United Nations, the Netherlands was finally willing signed the New York Agreement with Indonesia on 15 August 1962. The contents of the agreement were the road map for resolving disputes over the Papua region.
From the story above, of course we can know how great the struggle of Indonesia in defending its territory, even after Indonesia’s independence was proclaimed. We certainly agree that the Papuan people must be independent, but not in the context of independence to separate from Indonesia. But independence to be able to develop and be independent on the ground water.
