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returned to their respective regions. So, since the beginning of 1900, there were a lot of
people from different ethnic groups of Indonesia arriving and working in Papua, but due to
World War II, most of them returned to their own regions. During World War II, the allied
forces built several runways in Papua and Maluku. Some of those runways were then used
by the Indonesian Air Force as military bases. Two runways which were large enough were
at Biak and Morotai. From the writer’s observation, it appears that almost in every Air
Force complex, there were wives who came from Maluku, Papua and East Nusa Tenggara,
or altarnatively; the husbands were from these three regions.
On August 17, 1945, Indonesia proclaimed its independence. Five years later, on April
24, 1950, DR. Soumokil proclaimed the founding of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS).
This movement was crushed, but until now they continue their struggle abroad, but with
different concepts of struggle. Welfare of the people of Maluku should take precedence
over the use of political violence.
In addition to the problems of insurgency in the country, Indonesia still had to face the
problem of West Irian (Papua). Until 1962, the Dutch still controlled Papua. They handed it
over to UNTEA May 1, 1963, and then UNTEA handed it to Indonesia. Although the Dutch
ruled over Papua for only 64 years, some of the impacts of their occupation can still be
seen today. The impacts of the Dutch occupation in Papua are generally similar to those
seen in Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara. These include, for example, the creation of social
and political changes in the structure of the society by upholding modern governance.
The Dutch government also moved communities living in scattered villages to a new
location, which was more centrally located so that it was easier to control the activities of
the community in addition to building health centers, educational facilities, transportation
and development of evangelism (Sinaga, 2013: 277-279). At that time, the local authorities
were turned into working partners, especially in terms of tax collection, the maintenance
of security and order in the region, but their position was under the Dutch government
authorities stationed in the area. Since the enforcement of the Dutch government in
Papua, from 1898 to 1962, they have formed six afdeelings, 22 onderafdeelings and 3
exploratory areas. Unfortunately, they did not make any significant development. In 1962,
the Dutch was involved in a confrontation with Indonesia on the issue of West Irian.

From Trikora to the Independence Period
The Indonesian government seemed to be very confident that they would be able to get
back West Irian (Papua) from the Dutch. Thus, since 1962 the Indonesian government had

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