| Abstract: | Even before the Republic of Indonesia gained control over the territory of West New Guinea (with the controversial U.N.-supervised Act of Free Choice of 1969), the government had systematically tried to forge new identities for the indigenous peoples, as Indonesians rather than Melanesians. This acculturation process has aimed at incorporating the West Papuan population into the Indonesian nation-state through the education system, the media, economic development and transmigration. The process, ‘Indonesianization’, is predicated on the assumption that inculcation of the Indonesian world-view through contact with what are considered ‘more advanced’ and ‘civilized’ Javanese, will ultimately strengthen national unity and allow greater exploitation of the rich resources in the region. The influx of Asian newcomers, many of whom have taken over the administrative, commercial and industrial spheres in West Papua, has marginalized urban and rural Papuans from economic development. In consequence West Papuans are developing a sense of their own racial and cultural distinctiveness and asserting their rights to greater participation in decision-making and self-determination. |
