West Irian Jaya
Encyclopedia
West Papua is a province
Provinces of Indonesia
The province is the highest tier of local government subnational entity in Indonesia. Each province has its own local government, headed by a governor, and has its own legislative body...

 of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 covering the western peninsula of the island of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. It is the least-populous province of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 and one of two situated in Indonesian New Guinea
Western New Guinea
West Papua informally refers to the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea and other smaller islands to its west. The region is officially administered as two provinces: Papua and West Papua. The eastern half of New Guinea is Papua New Guinea.The population of approximately 3 million...

, with the province of Papua also lying to the east. Prior to 2007, the province was known as West Irian Jaya . The region covers the Bird's Head (Doberai)
Bird's Head Peninsula
The Bird's Head Peninsula or Doberai Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the Province of West Papua, Indonesia.-Location and geography:...

 and Bomberai
Bomberai Peninsula
Bomberai Peninsula is located on the Western New Guinea region at the opposite south of the Bird's Head Peninsula in South East Asia. To the west lies the Sebakor Bay and the south Kamrau Bay. Sabuda island lies off the western tip of the peninsula, which is separated from the mainland by Berau...

 peninsulas and the surrounding islands of Raja Ampat. Its first census, in 2010 recorded some 761,000 people.

Regencies

The capital of West Papua province is Manokwari
Manokwari
Manokwari is a city in Indonesia. It is the largest city and, since 2003, the capital of the province of West Papua, at the western end of New Guinea. The city has many resorts and is a major tourist area. It is one of the seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manokwari–Sorong. It is also the...

. It is administratively divided into ten regencies (kabupaten) and one city (kota):
Regency - Principal Town - Area - Population
  • Fak-Fak Regency
    Fak-Fak Regency
    Fak-Fak Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Fak-Fak....

     - (Fak-Fak) - 38,474 km ² - 50,584
  • Kaimana Regency
    Kaimana Regency
    Kaimana Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Kaimana....

     - (Kaimana) - 18,500 km ² - 26,703
  • Manokwari Regency
    Manokwari Regency
    Manokwari Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Manokwari....

     - (Capital of West Papua: Manokwari
    Manokwari
    Manokwari is a city in Indonesia. It is the largest city and, since 2003, the capital of the province of West Papua, at the western end of New Guinea. The city has many resorts and is a major tourist area. It is one of the seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manokwari–Sorong. It is also the...

    ) -34,970 km ² - 209,308
  • Maybrat Regency
    Maybrat Regency
    Maybrat Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Kumurkek....

     - (Kumurkek)
  • Raja Ampat Regency
    Raja Ampat Regency
    Raja Ampat Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Waisai....

     - (Waisai) - 46,296 km ² - 27,071
  • Sorong Regency
    Sorong Regency
    Sorong Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. Its capital is Aimas, it also surrounds Sorong City. . Sorong has an airport, Sorong Airport which also serves the Regency.-Statistics:...

     - (Aimas) - 7,415 km ² - 90,933
  • South Sorong Regency
    South Sorong Regency
    South Sorong Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Teminabuan....

     - (Teminabuan
    Teminabuan
    Teminabuan is a small town in South Sorong Regency, West Papua, Indonesia. The town serves as the capital city of South Sorong Regency. As of 2005 it had a population of 7969. The town is located in the southwestern-central part of the Bird's Head Peninsula. The area was bombed between January and...

    ) - 9,408 km ² - 48,750
  • Tambrauw Regency
    Tambrauw Regency
    Tambrauw Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Fef....

     - (Fef) - 5,179 - 29,119
  • Teluk Bintuni Regency
    Teluk Bintuni Regency
    Teluk Bintuni Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Bintuni....

     - (Bintuni
    Bintuni
    Bintuni is a small town in West Papua, Indonesia and seat of the Teluk Bintuni Regency. The village is located near southeast coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula on Bintuni Bay. It is served by Bintuni Airport....

    ) - 18,637 km ² - 52,403
  • Teluk Wondama Regency
    Teluk Wondama Regency
    Teluk Wondama Regency is a regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The principal town lies at Rasiei....

     - (Rasiei) - 14,953 km ² - 22,731
  • Sorong City - (Sorong) - 1,105 km ² - 184,239

Administrative history

Even after Indonesia's independence in 1949, Irian Jaya was retained by the Dutch for various reasons. However, Indonesia claimed all of the territory of the former Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

, including the Dutch New Guinea holdings, so it invaded Irian Jaya in 1961. In 1969, the United Nations supervised the Act of Free Choice
Act of Free Choice
Act of Free Choice was an event in July to August 1969 by which Indonesia asserts that the Western New Guinea population decided to relinquish their sovereignty in favor of Indonesian citizenship...

 in which Papuan leaders decided in favour of joining Indonesia. This was however rejected by the Free Papua Movement
Free Papua Movement
The Free Papua Movement is a militant organisation established in 1965 to encourage and effect the violent overthrow of the current governments in the Papua and West Papua provinces of Indonesia, formerly known as Irian Jaya to secede from Indonesia, and to reject economic development and...

 (OPM). The OPM group then conducted guerrilla warfare against Indonesia
Papua Conflict
The Papua conflict is an ethnic separatist insurgency in Indonesia, predominantly in the Papua and West Papua provinces on the island of New Guinea. Since the withdrawal of the Dutch colonizers in 1963, the militant Free Papua Movement organization has conducted a low-level campaign of attacks on...

.
West Papua was created from the western portion of Papua province in February 2003, initially under the name of Irian Jaya Barat; it was renamed Papua Barat (West Papua) on 7 February 2007.

In November 2004, an Indonesian court agreed that the split violated Papua's autonomy laws. However, the court ruled that because the new province had already been created, it should remain separate from Papua. The ruling also prohibited the creation of another proposed province, Central Irian Jaya, as that division had not yet been formalised.

The split is inline with the general trend of provincial splits that is occurring in all parts of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 in the post-Suharto era. The new province has so far been widely supported by the province's inhabitants, as the new entity created more jobs and more government subsidies flowing into the province.

The province changed its name to West Papua on 7 February 2007. The new name applies from that date, but a plenary session of the provincial legislative council is required to legalise the change of name, and the government needs to then issue a regulation.

Earthquake

At 4:43 am local time on 3 January 2009, an earthquake 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....

 struck near the northern coast of the Doberai Peninsula. A tsunami warning was initially issued but lifted within an hour of the quake. The earthquake occurred about 150 km west-northwest of Manokwari
Manokwari
Manokwari is a city in Indonesia. It is the largest city and, since 2003, the capital of the province of West Papua, at the western end of New Guinea. The city has many resorts and is a major tourist area. It is one of the seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manokwari–Sorong. It is also the...

 and about 170 km east-northeast of Sorong.

External links

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