63 Years Since the “Act of No Choice”: End Colonial Occupation and Imperialist Exploit in West Papua!
- Merdeka Secretariat
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
August 15 marks 63 years since the signing of the so-called New York Agreement, a backroom deal brokered by the imperialist United States between the Netherlands and Indonesia, without the consent of the West Papuan people.
This betrayal paved the way for the sham “Act of Free Choice” in 1969 which is in truth, an Act of No Choice. Under armed intimidation, only 1,026 handpicked Papuans were coerced into voting for Indonesian annexation.
From the start, the US interest was never about Papuan self-determination, but about protecting corporate plunder, especially Freeport-McMoRan’s vast Grasberg mine which started operating in 1967, just two years after Indonesia government took control of the West Papua and two years before the Act of No Choice. This secured Indonesia as a strategic ally in the US’ Cold War and Pacific domination plans.
That same agenda persists: the US, Australia, and other powers arm and train Indonesian forces to suppress West Papuan resistance, ensuring extraction of gold, copper, timber, and gas while flooding the land with military posts and corporate enclaves.
This same agenda also defines West Papua’s importance in the imperialist island-chain military strategy to encircle and contain rivals in the Asia-Pacific. Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua is a linchpin in this chain, with Papuan land and waters turned into military corridors, surveillance outposts, and sites for joint war exercises.
For 63 years, West Papuans have resisted in the streets, in the forests, and on the international stage amid years of impunity for massacres, imprisonment, and torture.
We call on the international community to join us and stand with the West Papuans in demanding the end of Indonesian occupation, the dismantling of imperialist control, and the recognition of West Papua’s right to self-determination.
No to colonial occupation, imperialist exploitation and militarization!
Papua Merdeka!
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