Struggles about states are usually accompanied by discussions, diplomatic rows, border issues, threats and sometimes even full-blown wars. But if you take the time to zoom in, you will find that these struggles also tend to unfold on tiny pieces of paper – stamps, the smallest expression of self determination.
When the Dutch Indies transformed into Indonesia in 1945-1949, the fate of West Papua remained unclear. The history of West-Papua, its borders and politics are all very complex, but we’ve tried to zoom into it by some postal collectibles from the fantastic collection of Jan Heijs.
Papua is an island just north of Australia. The right part, Papua New Guinea, has an independent status after being controlled by Australia for a long time; the left part is Indonesian, or at least is considered so by the Indonesian government.
The island is as big as France, extremely rich in resources and almost completely covered by jungle and swamp. The island was part of the Dutch Indies for a long time, and when they fought for Indonesian independence from 1945 to 1949, the western part of Papua remained Dutch. The Netherlands only started considering independence for this area after 1960 and started an educational program to gear the area towards independence.
As a government, the New-Guinea Council (in Dutch “Nieuw Guinea Raad”) was formed, with (mostly) chosen members from the various districts. This occasion, the formation of a new government, was the reason a special stamp was issued in 1961. The stamp bears the name Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea (Dutch New Guinea) and the council. The stamps were accompanied by a so-called first-day envelope. The envelope below even features the signatures of every chosen member, 21 Papua, 5 Dutch, 1 Indo-European and person from the Kai Islands (part of the Maluku Islands).
First day cover with autographs
Collection of Jan Heijs
First day cover with autographs
Collection of Jan HeijsIn 1962, the Netherlands officially handed over Papua to the United Nations. But the UN was under heavy pressure from Indonesia, backed by Russia, to hand Papua over to Indonesia. International pressure was needed to prevent a third world war and Indonesia acted on this by promising ‘the Act of free Choice’. A small part of the Papuans could vote in what, according to the UN, should have been a referendum about becoming independent or being part of Indonesia. Under Indonesian pressure the outcome was in favor of Indonesia and the west of Papua became Indonesian in 1963. Indonesia expelled all Dutch people and members of the New Guinea Council and their families. Because of this, about 1500-2000 Papuans are now living in the Netherlands.
These 1963 stamps below show the map of Indonesia ranging from Sabang to Merauke, flanked by an Indonesian flag. This is from a propaganda slogan by Sukarno ‘Merah putih dari Sabang sampai Merauke’, “the red-and-white flag from Sabang to Merauke”, Merauke being the most southeastern city on the island of Papua. The stamp on the right shows the name Irian-Barat, meaning ‘west Irian’, the Indonesian name for the territory.
Stamps with Indonesian claim on West-Papua or Irian Barat, as the Indonesian government calls it
Collection of Jan HeijsBut already in 1948, Indonesia regarded West Papua as part of their territory, as you can see on the stamp below.
In Indonesia and West-Papua, it’s forbidden to raise the Papuan flag, the Morning Star. But some people found a way around this by printing the West Papua flag on a stamp. At the Dutch postal services, you can have your own personal stamps printed and use it on letters. The letter below was sent from and to the Netherlands. It’s likely that this envelope would not arrive in Indonesia.
Our explorer Jan Heijs has been collecting postage stamps depicting “disputed political propaganda” since 1980. Sometimes correct franked mail with such postage stamps is accepted by another country, sometimes not. Not accepted mail is called “postal war”. For more examples see: www.postalwar.info.
