Republic of West Papua
Republic of West Papua (1963) Republic of Great Melanesia (1984) | |||||||||||||
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| 1963 1984 | |||||||||||||
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| Status | Unrecognized state | ||||||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||||||
• 1963 | 1963 | ||||||||||||
• 1963 | 1984 | ||||||||||||
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The Republic of West Papua is a separatist-proposed state that would give sovereignty to the inhabitants of the western half of New Guinea (comprising the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). The Republic of West Papua was declared firstly after the withdrawal of the Dutch in 1963, but annexation by Indonesia halted the formulation of a government. On 1 July 1971, by Indonesian powers of free referendum, the separatist Free Papua Movement unsuccessfully tried to proclaim Republic of West Papua again. On 14 December 1984 the Republic of Great Melanesia or Melanesia Raya was proclaimed, and the Fourteen Stars Flag of Great Melanesia was hoisted, but the leaders were arrested by Indonesian authorities. Great Melanesia founder Dr. Thomas Wapai Waiggai was then arrested, and sentenced to 20 years in prison, shared the cell at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta with East Timor's Fretilin Leader Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão. He died in prison within two years, suspected to be poisoned. Under Indonesian law, it is considered treason and punishable by death [citation needed] to fly the West Papuan flag, known as the Morning Star. According to individual supporters of a West Papua republic on their mailing list, a system of "tribal democracy" has been proposed by elders of the Koteka Tribal Assembly Council or Demmak (Dewan Musyawarah Masyarakat Adat Koteka) and Koteka tribes.[1]
Tribal democracy [2] refers to a free and independent confederation of tribes or tribal groups in West Papua. This was originally proposed by Sem Karoba[3], among other concepts, to the first Assembly of the Koteka tribes in February 2000, and unanimously approved by the Koteka Elders. Demmak was then established in 1999, as a confederation of Koteka tribes, united and organised under a General Assembly Council. Sem Karoba says, "Tribal Democracy for West Papua is not a new idea or concept at all. It is just the written explanation and presentation of the existing system of governance that already exists in West Papua and Melanesia in general since the time immemorial, practiced daily even today." Karoba then formulates the tribal system of governance and making drawing parallels with to the world's democratic societies.
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