Word: guineas
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...cancerous dispute over New Guinea is almost entirely one of national prestige. Sukarno bases his claim on the 1946 agreement between Indonesian leaders and Dutch representatives that gave sovereignty to Indonesia over "the whole territory of the Netherlands Indies." There were loopholes, however, providing "special arrangements" for regions not wanting to join the Indonesian union. The Dutch did withdraw from some 3,000 islands inhabited by 95 million people, but under the treaty loophole held onto New Guinea, on the ground that the Papuan inhabitants are ethnically, linguistically and religiously different from the Indonesians and (claimed the Dutch...
Sunken Millions. To the Indonesians, the continued Dutch occupation of barren, poverty-stricken New Guinea represents the loss of one-sixth of the land area of Indonesia, and, valueless or not, they want it. As for the 700,000 Papuan inhabitants of New Guinea, many of them living deep in impenetrable jungle valleys are unaware that there is either a Netherlands or an Indonesia, much less a dispute. The few educated Papuans seem inclined toward independence but recognize their present inability to stand alone...
...seemingly senseless struggle has cost both sides dear. In 1957 Sukarno brutally expropriated $1.5 billion in Dutch investments in Indonesia and expelled 50,000 Dutch residents. In addition, the Dutch government has had to sink nearly $30 million a year into New Guinea just to keep it economically afloat. Because of Indonesia's determination to regain its "lost" territory, Sukarno devotes a large part of his annual budget to arms, thus further wrecking the wobbly economy of his island nation...
Legal Cloak. At the U.N. last September, Foreign Minister Luns stated that "The Netherlands wishes irrevocably to terminate its history as a colonial power." He proposed handing over New Guinea to the U.N., which could then allow the native Papuans to determine their own fate. Indonesians view the Dutch move as simply an attempt to give a "cloak of legality" to an illegal act. In a speech to a mothers' meeting last week, in which he urged them to put their sons and daughters in uniform, Sukarno cried: "I call on the whole world not to bother trying...
...Cabinet also backs negotiations but a stubborn and potent minority, including Luns himself and Home Affairs Minister Edzo Toxopeus. wants Papuan self-determination guaranteed by the Indonesians before sitting down to the conference table. In Indonesia, Sukarno is restrained by the fact that an invasion of New Guinea is a far more risky military operation than was the Indian walkover in Goa. Should the invasion fail, Sukarno might well be overthrown as a consequence...