New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name papua has also been long-associated with the island: this is discussed further under History, below.

Political divisions

The island is divided politically along east-west lines, roughly into equal halves:

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• The portions of the island of New Guinea (Irian in Bahasa Indonesia) located west of 141°E longitude (see map) are incorporated into Indonesia as the provinces:
• West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat) with Manokwari as its capital
• Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) with the city of Jayapura as its capital. A proposal to split this into Central Papua (Papua Tengah) and East Papua (Papua Timur) has not been implemented.

:Papuans actively have supported a broad-based independence movement, the Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM, against Indonesia since 1962. Its military arm is the TPN, or the Liberation Army of Free Papua. The Indonesian authorities view this as a separatist and a terrorist movement, the members of which are guilty of high treason. The OPM has charged the Indonesian government with racism, genocide, political assassination, torture and terrorism. Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000 Papuans have died as a result of government-sponsored violence against Papuans, while others have set the number at more than 200,000.

Related Topics:
Indonesia - 1962 - Separatist - Terrorist - High treason - Amnesty International

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• The eastern part forms the primary part of the nation of Papua New Guinea, which has been an independent country since 1975.