Papua conflict: A Visual History

The Papua conflict began when the Netherlands, preparing West New Guinea for independence, handed it to UN and then Indonesian administration in 1962-1963 under US pressure. The 1969 Act of Free Choice, in which 1,025 hand-picked delegates voted for integration, was denounced by Papuans as a sham. The Free Papua Movement (OPM) has waged guerrilla war since 1965, met by Indonesian military operations, transmigration of settlers, and the exploitation of the Grasberg mine; deaths are estimated at 100,000 or more, with claims of far higher. Special autonomy in 2001 did not end the demand for a referendum; the West Papua National Liberation Army has intensified attacks since 2018, and the conflict, with a growing military presence and displaced highlanders, continues.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Papua conflict. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Population of Papua by origin

Transmigration and spontaneous migration have shifted the balance.

Timeline of the Papua conflict

1. 1961
   Papuan council; Morning Star flag
2. 1962
   New York Agreement
3. 1969
   Act of Free Choice
4. 1977
   Highland uprising and bombing
5. 2001
   Special autonomy; Theys Eluay killed
6. 2018
   Nduga killings; escalation
7. 2019
   Papua protests and riots
8. 2023
   New Zealand pilot taken hostage

From Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia

The Dutch kept western New Guinea when Indonesia became independent in 1949 and in 1961 set up a Papuan council and flag; Sukarno mobilised for war and the Kennedy administration, fearing Indonesia would go communist, brokered the New York Agreement of 1962. Indonesia took over in May 1963 and in 1969 held the Act of Free Choice under military pressure, with delegates voting by open show; the UN 'took note'. Papuans call it the Act of No Choice.

Insurgency and repression

The OPM raised the Morning Star flag in 1965 and fought with bows and captured rifles; the Indonesian army answered with village bombings in the 1970s highlands and reprisals. The Freeport Grasberg gold and copper mine, opened in 1973, brought revenue to Jakarta and pollution and troops to Papua. Transmigration made Papuans a minority in coastal towns. Journalists were banned; killings such as those of Theys Eluay (2001) and at Paniai (2014) went largely unpunished.

Autonomy and escalation

After Suharto's fall the 2001 special autonomy law gave Papua revenue and a Papuan governor but the referendum was refused; the ULMWP was formed in 2014 to lobby Pacific states. Since the killing of 19 road workers at Nduga in December 2018 the TPNPB has ambushed soldiers, shot down aircraft and taken a New Zealand pilot hostage (2023-2024); Indonesia has deployed tens of thousands of troops, split Papua into six provinces and displaced highland communities. Racist incidents against Papuan students in 2019 sparked riots. The conflict draws little international attention.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Dutch Empire (1602 to 1975)
• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• Third Portuguese Empire (1822 to 1999)
• Second French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)
• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)
• Empire of Japan (1868 to 1947)

Wars of the same era and region

• World War II (1939 to 1945)
• Cold War (1947 to 1991)
• Civil conflict in the Philippines (1969 to present)
• Myanmar conflict (1948 to present)
• Cambodian Civil War (1967 to 1975)
• Vietnam War (1955 to 1975)

8 surprising things about the Papua conflict

1. The Grasberg mine is one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world and Indonesia's biggest taxpayer.
2. Raising the Morning Star flag can bring a 15-year sentence for treason in Indonesia.
3. The Act of Free Choice's 1,025 voters were chosen from a population of about 800,000.
4. The New York Agreement was signed by the Netherlands and Indonesia; no Papuan took part.
5. The New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens was held by the TPNPB for 19 months before release in 2024.
6. Foreign journalists have been effectively barred from Papua for most of the conflict.
7. The Pacific Islands Forum and Vanuatu have raised Papua at the UN; Melanesian solidarity is a driver of the diplomacy.
8. West Papua's western half of New Guinea has about 250 languages, some spoken by a few hundred people.

Sources

• Papua conflict Wikipedia
• West Papua: The 'forgotten' conflict BBC News
• Papua (province) Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Human Rights Watch reports on Papua Human Rights Watch

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