Before the Rooster Crows in 1963

On December 19, 1961, after diplomatic solutions came to a deadlock, Soekarno ordered under entitled of Trikora to seize Irian Barat (West Papua). He fiercely delivered a speech announcing that before the rooster crowed in 1963, the West Papua should become part of Great Indonesia.

Soekarno was very proud of Indonesian history in which the then Nusantara covering the areas from Lemuri in Aceh, the western part of Indonesia, to today’s known as Papua was united by Gajah Mada, the Grand Field Commander of Majapahit under his oath of “Palapa.”

We can trace back the diplomatic efforts for Indonesia to get back West Papua to the moment when Dutch Colonial recognized the sovereignty of Indonesia on December 27, 1949. All the former colonized areas became parts of Indonesia but West Papua. The Dutch considered that the region still became one of the provinces of the Netherlands.

Indonesia, on the other hand, claimed that West Papua historically had been part of Great Indonesia (Nusantara). In 1950, the UN stipulated that West Papua had the right to get their independence in concordance with the article 73e of the UN Charter. Indonesia rejected the Dutch invitation to settle the dispute to the International Court. On August 17, 1956, Indonesia established the Irian Barat province with Soasiu, Tidore Island, as the capital.

Following his Tritura Command, Soekarno established Mandala Military Operation and appointed General Soeharto to lead the whole operation. The target was to destroy the Dutch Navy Base in Biak and to submerge the aircraft carrier Karl Doorman.

General Soeharto launched air infiltration dropping troops deep into the West Papua jungle, thanks to Hercules air carriers funded by the US. A famous battle that took place in Aru Sea foiled the troop infiltration by the sea where one leading motor torpedo boat (MTB) was destroyed and submerged together with Commodore Yos Sudarso, who hierarchically was not supposed to command such a mission.

The Navy prepared the army operation, the biggest of its kind in Indonesian history. The massive military war machines from the Soviet Union consisting of more than a hundred battleships, thousands of heavy artilleries including around 300 tanks, and 16,000 personnel were ready to launch a big battle. The destroyer KRI Irian, the biggest in its class, was the mainstay of the marine operation.

The Air Force strengthened the operation by deploying squadrons of Mig-15, Mig-17, Mig-17 and Mig-21 jet fighters, Ilyushin-28 light bombers, and  25 Tupolev-16 strategic bombers.

Just before Indonesia launched a grand battle to Dutch positions in West Papua, a US spy U-plane took pictures on a large Indonesian military concentration in the Ambon Sea. The day after, the US Government urged the Dutch to negotiate with Indonesia to settle West Papua’s case peacefully.

Being pressured by the US, which didn’t want to see Indonesia to side more deeply with the Soviet Block, on August 15, 1962, Netherlands negotiated the case with Indonesia in UN headquarters, New York.  Australia, which had been the strong proponent of West Papua independence, changed their position apparently under US counsel.

The Dutch finally agreed to hand over the West Papua to United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA), which later on would hand over it to Indonesia. Indonesia assisted by the UN would allow West Papua people to take free choice (Pepera) as whether staying with or separating from Indonesia.

In 1969, the vote as the implementation of Pepera took place witnessed by UN representatives. The result was that West Papua officially incorporated into Indonesia territory.

West Papua then became the 26th province of Indonesia. But at what cost? The foreign debt of Indonesia increased tremendously, deteriorating the people’s welfare. Indonesian people, however, were aware that such was the cost that they should pay to realize their old dream, the Great Indonesia, which now comes true.