West Papua 5.49

West Papua is a province of Indonesia. It covers the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea. Same goes with Papua province, West Papua has special autonomy status that makes its special region. Its capital is Manokwari, although the largest city is Sorong, and the 2010 census recorded a population of 760,855; the latest official estimate is 877,437.West Papua was created from the western portion of Papua in February 2003, initially under the name of West Irian Jaya ; it received its current name in 2007. The province covers the Bird's Head and Bomberai peninsulas and the surrounding islands of Raja Ampat. With a population of 877,437 in 2014, it is the least populous province of Indonesia except for the newly created province of North Kalimantan.HistoryEven after Indonesia's independence in 1945, Papua and Irian Jaya were retained by the Dutch for various reasons. However, Indonesia claimed all of the territory of the former Dutch East Indies, including the Dutch New Guinea holdings, so it invaded Irian Jaya in 1961. It was agreed that by 1969 the UN should oversee a plebiscite of the people of Papua and West Papua, in which they would be given two choices: to remain part of Indonesia or to become an independent nation. This vote was referred to as the 'Act of Free Choice'. But, the vote was in fact conducted by consensus decision-making, or consensus of elders, numbering slightly over 1,000. 1,000 of these men had been selected by the Indonesian military. This body was coerced into unanimously voting to remain part of Indonesia; the territory was named as the province of Irian Jaya, later Papua.