Discusses

Ng Council

Dilemma

By F. A. Jones, of the Australian Broadcasting Commission

Hollandia.

In Hollandia, West New Guinea, in late January, the

newly created Legislative Coun

cil began the most important meeting of its short history.

THE Council was set up by the Netherlands Administration as a voice for the Papuan inhabitants of West New Guinea. Originally it was required to submit to the Netherlands Government by next April its views on the target date for self determination—the Dutch proposal is that the inhabitants should decide their own future.

However, in view of the tense situation which has developed over West New Guinea, a special meeting of the Council was called for January 22. It is expected the session will last for two or three weeks.

The opening coincided with the arrival in Hollandia of the Nether land’s Secretary of State for New Guinea affairs, Dr. Theo Bot. Dr.

Bot says the aim of his visit is to see for himself the progress made since his last visit. He hopes also to see more of the country and get the feeling of the people.

Local Reaction How do the Papuan leaders in the Council feel about all this? Among the more vocal of them, feelings seem to be running high. They say they have not until now been consulted on what their future will be if the area is handed over to Indonesia.

Herman Womsiwor, one of the most articulate members of the Coun cil, claims there is a real fear among educated Papuans that if West New Guinea comes under Indonesian con trol, there will be no possibility at all of the people being allowed to run their own affairs. He says that Indo nesia would be substituting Asian colonialism for Dutch colonialism.

Womsiwor and some other members say that Indonesia doesn’t have the “know-how” economically or tech nically, to run the country.

Although there is no party system in Papuan politics, the members of the

Legislative Council can roughly I divided into two groups—-the co? servatives and the progressives. T 1 conservative group doesn’t want ' rush into self-determination, for says that freedom before the peop are ready for it would be meaningles The progressives, on the other han: are talking about self-determinatio in five or at most 10 years.

The conservative leaders claim th< can out-vote the progressives alor with proposals for self-determinatio: It’s likely that the conservatives w; propose to the Council a scheme ft closer ties between West New Guin< and Australian Papua-New Guinea.

Some conservatives say that plau should be formulated now for future federation of New Guine Another proposal the Council w dicuss is one for over-all conscriptio to raise a force of Papuans to defer

(Continued on p. 137)

* Broadcast by the ABC on January 23 and printed by permission.

the Territory, should Indonesia try to take it by force.

The first Netherlands Government reaction to this proposal came from Dr. Bot when he reached Hollandia.

From his remarks, it is apparent that the Dutch Government at this stage does not want to stir up Indonesian anger by any large-scale military preparations.

Apart from anxiety among the educated Papuans about the future of their country, Dutch and Eurasians who migrated from Indonesia also are worried. There is a steady trickle of people leaving the country by air

for Holland, In addition, 300 families left by ship in December, and another 200 already are booked to leave by sea in February.

The feeling among the Dutch and Eurasians appears to be that a year ago they believed they could count on another 20 years in West New Guinea, as Papuans moved along the road to self-determination. As events developed over the past year, they thought they might have 10 and then five years, but now they don’t know what to expect.

The Eurasians face a particularly difficult problem. Although they are Dutch citizens, many of them have never seen Holland and have always lived either in Indonesia or New Guinea. They are not happy about starting a new life in another country.

The Papuans, or at least, those who can express their views, want the status quo maintained and to move along to self-determination as pro mised.