Implementation
Some members of the quasi-legislative New Guinea Council established under the Dutch were disappointed that the Netherlands had signed the agreement without consulting the Council. Nevertheless, the Council decided to support the agreement, and to cooperate with United Nations and Indonesian authorities in keeping peace and order. A small minority of Council members, including Nicolaas Jouwe, refused to support the Agreement and went into exile in the Netherlands. The period of United Nations administration ended in 1 May 1963, as envisioned by the New York Agreement.
Fernando Ortiz-Sanz, the United Nations Secretary-General's representative in New Guinea, observed and approved the process of musyawarah during March and April 1969 for the final Act of Free Choice, although recommending that the councils be enlarged to better comply with the adult eligibility provision of the New York Agreement. In his report, he said that the majority of petitions he received from the New Guineans were pro-Indonesian, although this assessment of local opinion is contradicted by reports from foreign embassies. Between July and August 1969, the Act of Free Choice overwhelmingly concluded in favor of staying with Indonesia. Professor of International Law H.F. Van Panhuys attributes the lopsided results to the lack of demilitarization of the territory, the process of musyawarah ("talking until an unanimous decision is reached... not conductive to an atmosphere in which people could secretly and therefore fearlessly express their preference"), and the lack of an option for union with the Netherlands.
At the United States General Assembly, a group of African states, led by Ghana, denounced the Act of Free Choice "Moslem imperialism" and "Asian racialism". Other states such as India refuted the charges and celebrated Indonesian unity. In October 1969 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution 84 to 0 with 30 abstentions that noted "with appreciation the fulfillment... the 1962 Agreement" and thanked Indonesia for "its efforts to promote the economic and social development of West Irian". The dissenting African states proposed an amendment to direct a second referendum in 1975, but it failed because of Indonesian and American opposition. The Dutch government accepted the results, and said that the process was compliant with the New York Agreement. Reflecting on the vote, retired under-secretary-general Chakravarthy Narasimhan said in 2001, "The mood at the United Nations was to get rid of this problem as quickly as possible", and "y heart isn't bleeding ". The United States partially achieved its goal "to win over to the West", although the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and the struggling Indonesian economy cooled relations.
For Indonesia, the implementation of the New York Agreement completed the early Indonesian nationalist goal of what Sukarno called a "Republic of Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke", and represented successful resistance against partition on ethnic or religious grounds. On the other hand, the implementation of the New York Agreement is one of the most cited grievances of the militant Free Papua Movement (OPM), and the years immediately following its implementation were the most violent in the emerging guerrilla conflict with independence supporters, as OPM fighters kidnapped and attacked police, military, and transmigrant targets while the Indonesian military strafed whole villages in response. Although supporters of independence for West New Guinea regard the Act of Free Choice as illegitimate and noncompliant with the New York Agreement, the United Nations officially maintains that West New Guinea's status as part of Indonesia is "final". In 2002, a nationalist assembly of Papuans led by independence activist Theys Eluay declared the New York Agreement "unlawful and morally unacceptable, because Representatives from were not involved in it".
Read more about this topic: New York Agreement