Approaches to the study of China

Abstract

West Papua—or Irian Jaya, as it has been renamed by the Indonesian government—is Indonesia's 26th province, occupying the western half of the island of New Guinea. For the people of West Papua, however, Indonesia is an occupying power. Since the area is so little known, most non-Papuans are unaware that West Papuans have been struggling for independence there ever since the mid-1960s, led by the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM—Free Papua Movement).