Word: papuan
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Many. It will require more than mere conviction to govern the area. The 800,000 Papuan tribesmen of West Irian may be the world's simplest people. They live near-naked in Stone Age savagery in high, roadless valleys surrounded by nameless, unmapped tropical forests. In some of their 150 dialects, counting goes no further than "one, two, many . . . " Their weapons are stone axes, 16-ft. spears and poisoned arrows. Cannibalism, headhunting and tribal warfare are common...
Sukarno's one alleged triumph−that he has united Indonesia's 103 million people−was deflated last week by news from South Celebes, where rightist Darul Islam rebels are fighting against the army. In Sukarno's newest acquisition, West Irian, Papuan tribesmen have also launched an insurrection...
...harassment. The Dutch, under pressure from the U.S., finally agreed to hand their colony over to the U.N., which would administer the territory for seven months, then turn it over to Indonesia. Under the compromise, Sukarno promises to hold a plebiscite "by 1969" to give the 700,000 primitive Papuan inhabitants a chance to opt for independence. But as Bung (Brother) Karno arrived last week for his first visit, there was something about the way he and his Indonesian troops strutted through the streets of Hollandia (renamed Kotabaru) that made many wonder if he would ever permit the region...
...entire territory there is not one Papuan doctor or lawyer. So unsteady is the economy that a run on the territory's sole bank was averted only when the U.N. announced that it would guarantee the currency. Over the past five years, essential oil exports have dropped by two-thirds. As Dutch businessmen keep pulling out, unemployment figures climb...
Bird & Snake. Life in the interior is still only a step away from the Stone Age. The 700.000 Papuans are scattered into some 200 different tribes, each with its own language and each savagely hostile toward the others. Since killing virtually holds the status of a sporting event among the tribesmen, a Papuan convicted of murder is apt to get only two weeks in jail by a backwoods court, while a European would in all likelihood be hanged. In some areas, pigs are more valuable than women. To get strength, native warriors tie dried pigs' testicles around their arms...