2025/05/04 by Emma Kluge · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography #Asian Studies and History #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/03086534.2025.2500357
openalex publication_date 2025/05/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
In 1961, West Papuan leaders declared their intent to become an independent nation in opposition to both Dutch colonial control and Indonesia’s campaign to incorporate the territory into its Republic. However, in 1962 the territory of West Papua was transferred from Dutch to Indonesian control under a UN-sanctioned agreement. This process left open the potential of future independence through an act of self-determination conducted under Indonesia before the end of the decade. While this process was later coopted by the Indonesian administration, the UN’s involvement in the voting process in West Papua created a unique moment for local petitioners. Papuan activists petitioned UN officials in person and delivered covert letters to field-based officials This article argues that by petitioning the UN West Papuans spoke across temporalities – narrating their claims to the international community in the 1960s while also ensuring their voices were preserved in the historical record. For historians, these petitions are a rare glimpse into the campaign of West Papuan activists on the ground. Narrating this history through these petitions produces a West Papuan focused account of their political struggle and writes their campaign into a more expansive history of decolonisation.