ABSTRACT
West New Guinea is a large area of rugged inland mountains and uninviting coastal swamps. Opinions differ in Indonesia about the methods and the urgency of incorporating West New Guinea into the national territory, but not about the essential justice of the assertion that it should be incorporated. Political changes within Holland acted as a further obstacle to compromise at this stage, although many Dutch businessmen in Indonesia were anxious that the dispute should be amicably settled, in the hope that overall relations between the two countries would then improve. Ever since 1950, calm assessment of the issues at stake in the West New Guinea dispute has to a large extent been obscured by the moral indignation aroused on both sides. Historical ties always constitute one of the most controversial criteria of nationhood, but although the links between Indonesia and West New Guinea have certainly been loose, they have been definite enough to constitute the strongest part of Indonesia’s case.
