By: Adam Keawe

West Papua, which is part of Melanesia, was once recognized by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory—a land awaiting independence, not annexation.

In 1963, under pressure from the U.S. (which feared a Communist takeover in Indonesia and it aligning with the Soviets), the UN brokered a deal called the New York Agreement: the Netherlands handed West Papua over to a temporary UN administration, which then gave it to Indonesia—on the promise of a future vote for decolonization.

In 1969, the so-called “Act of Free Choice” sealed the theft. Only 1,026 Papuans, selected and intimidated by the right-wing Suharto dictatorship and the Indonesian military, were forced to vote under threat. The world watched—and let it happen.

Since then, West Papua has lived under occupation. Military raids. Massacres. Arrests for raising the Morning Star flag. Entire villages displaced. Forests destroyed. Culture criminalized. The Indonesian state—and its multinational corporate partners—see not a nation, but a gold mine: Grasberg, one of the richest in the world, carves into sacred mountains while rivers run poisoned.

Yet West Papuans resist. They organize student uprisings, protect their forests, and speak their truth in the face of silencing. Their struggle is not forgotten—it is part of the living pulse of Pacific resistance.

The U.S., Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN, and much of the world remain complicit in silence—because empire doesn’t see Indigenous freedom as profitable. But we must.

West Papua is not a mine.
West Papua is a nation.