VZCZCXRO3824
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1339 1340337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140337Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4693
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0747
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 3348
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 3326
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0516
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1499
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 7570
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0615
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS JAKARTA 001339 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MTS, INR/GGI AND INR/EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ID
SUBJECT: WEST IRIAN JAYA PROVINCE RENAMED "WEST PAPUA" 
 
 
¶1. (U) The Indonesian Department of Home Affairs issued a 
directive on April 18 officially changing the name of West 
Irian Jaya province to West Papua ("Papua Barat" in Bahasa 
Indonesia).  Post reporting will henceforth reflect the new 
usage. 
 
¶2. (U)  The Home Affairs directive provides a transition 
period of one year during which time the new name as well as 
the old will be officially acceptable.  After April 18, 2008, 
only the new name will be used.  The political leaders in 
both Papua and West Papua provinces are on board with the 
change, which has been under discussion since well before 
direct elections for governor on March 10, 2006.  At an April 
18 summit in Biak, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu, West Papua 
Governor Bram Atururi and the leaders of both provincial 
parliaments and the Papuan People's Council (Majelis Rakyat 
Papua) signed off on an agreement using the name West Papua 
for the province with its capital at Manokwari. 
 
¶3. (U) The change will initially cause a certain amount of 
controversy and confusion among foreign Papua watchers.  For 
years, "West Papua" has been a term used by some activists to 
describe Indonesia's half of New Guinea, and it has become 
associated with the separatist cause.  At least one foreign 
academic has alleged that by bringing the term into official 
usage, the GOI is attempting to undermine the separatist 
movement. 
 
¶4. (U) In Indonesia, however, the move is not controversial 
and is regarded by most as a positive step.  It reflects the 
improving relationship between the governors of Papua and 
West Papua, and is part of an ongoing effort to correct West 
Papua's questionable legal basis, which has been in limbo 
since the Constitutional Court issued an ambiguous ruling on 
the matter in November 2004. 
 
¶5. (U) Moreover, the old name Irian Jaya had become an 
anachronism.  Originally designating all of former Dutch New 
Guinea, it was used in Sukarno's campaign to annex the 
territory and subsequently in the Suharto regime's strategy 
to integrate it into the rest of Indonesia.  While some have 
advanced dubious claims that the name "Irian" actually exists 
in a local Papuan language, the generally accepted 
explanation is that it is an artificial acronym derived from 
the nationalist Bahasa Indonesia slogan, "Ikut Republik 
Indonesia Anti Nederlands" ("Follow the anti-Dutch Indonesian 
Republic").  "Jaya" simply means "great" or "victorious." 
For this reason, the vast majority of indigenous Papuans 
welcomed then-President Abdurrachman Wahid's 1999 decision to 
replace "Irian Jaya" with "Papua" as the name of the province 
with its capital at Jayapura.  The move to rename West Irian 
Jaya eliminates a lingering incongruity. 
HEFFERN