Indonesia, the Netherlands and the New Guinea Issue

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Southeast Asia continued to be disturbed by the colonial issue even after the major dependencies in the region had won their independence. One of the sources of disturbance was the retention by the Netherlands of West New Guinea when Indonesia obtained its independence on 27 December 1949. But the colonial issue did not disappear with the “recovery” by Indonesia of West Irian, as they called West New Guinea, nor even by the termination of the “confrontation” against Malaysia. The issue persisted for another decade because the eastern half of New Guinea was governed by Australia, the northern part as a trust territory under the United Nations and the southern half as a colony. Moreover, what is the actual status of West Irian? Is it any less a colony now than it was under the Dutch?