the two narrow border zones. The styles of the two administrations differ greatly,
although in each area administration acts as the agent of the centre, and not necessarily as
an agent of the people of the remote border. Yet, in Irian Jaya local people have voiced
concerns which are not present in Papua New Guinea. The agents of the centre in Irian
Jaya are also often the agents of a people who are of a different race, with little interest in
maintaining the traditions of the indigenous peoples of the frontier. Thus the central
administration proposed to 'raise national consciousness' and to provide 'guidance for
community life' to the Irianese people: to bring Irian Jaya into the modem world and to impose a model of civilisation upon the province fNusantara. 6 February 1969, quoted in IC A TS. 1969: 73]. This 'civilizing' mission has affected the style of administration, as well as the nature of the development effort in Irian Jaya, and has been rejected as paternalistic by many Papuans.
Direct comparisons of Irian Jaya's development with Papua New Guinea's border area are few. An overview of development efforts in the province is provided here in order to draw some conclusions about the nature of the border zone, administrative goals and the nature and impact of administration in the province, which will in turn provide a basis for consideration of bureaucratic policies and how they affect bilateral relations with Papua New Guinea.
The Irian Jaya border zone differs from that of Papua New Guinea in another important respect. In Papua New Guinea, violent OPM activity - as distinct from propaganda activities - has been confined to the immediate border area. In Irian Jaya, there appears to be no such localisation of violence, although there may well be concentrations of activity in the border area, in the Jayapura region and perhaps elsewhere. The widespread, if spasmodic, nature of OPM activity in Irian Jaya may explain why the border area has not been singled out for special attention as has been the case for the border zone in Papua New Guinea.
Although there is occasional reference to the border area as a region more susceptible to dissident activity than some other areas in Irian Jaya, in general it can be seen that development policy has made little distinction between districts within the province. For example, although transmigration to areas adjacent to the border has been proposed and has to some extent been implemented, and although a Trans-Irian highway is being constructed in the border zone, basic patterns of transmigration settlements do not appear to vary across districts. There also appear to be no surveys of conditions particular to the border area, although some specified sites within the zone have been surveyed for transmigration purposes. There is some distinction made, however, between the coastal districts and the interior districts, for it is the inland, highland areas which are more inaccessible - and thereby more culturally resistant - to the Indonesian administration than the more urbanised coastal regions, and the coastal areas have a far longer history of intercultural contact and contain a far higher proportion o f non-Papuan Indonesians, making them more amenable to Indonesian influence and control.
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When W est New Guinea passed from Dutch to Indonesian hands, several institutions were retained by the new government, although personnel changes were made. One Presidential Decree of 1963 indicated that regulations in force under the Dutch rule would remain valid 'so long as they are not contradictory to the Constitution and other principles o f the Republic of Indonesia' [Soewardi, 1973: 2]. The aim o f the administration was to introduce the same system o f local administration to West Irian that operated in other Indonesian provinces [Creasy, 1969: 89; Roosman, 1974: 20] and to bring 'development' to the province. However some important differences in administrative arrangements remained. The responsibility for drawing up the provincial budget was retained by the central government in Jakarta. Unlike other Indonesian provinces, administrative control in West Irian was not extensive throughout the province, and large areas were at least initially inaccessible. The currency of W est Irian was different to that used in the rest of Indonesia, development budgets were managed by the Department of Home Affairs rather than by provincial officials [IBRD, 1981: 38] and special developm ent efforts were established under the auspices of FUNDWI for West Irian.
In 1963, the position of governor replaced the Dutch administrator. He was appointed by and was directly responsible to the President [RIOP, 1985:32.] His duties were to adm inister all aspects o f the Province, with the exception o f defence [Brookfield and Hart, 1971: xlvii]. One account [RIOP, 1985] states that the duties of the governor were established in a secret Presidential Decree (InPres 1963/2). This decree gave the governor general authority over the territory and over the police and the civil administration, and the right to appoint sectional heads o f departments, with the approval of the President.
In 1963 the mainly elected New Guinea Council was replaced by an advisory body to the governor - the Regional People's Assembly (DPRD) - appointed by the President [TAPOL, 1983: 24; South Pacific Dossier, 1978: 53; RIOP, 1985:32]. Later the governor took over responsibility for appointing and chairing the advisory Regional People's Assembly [RIOP, 1985: 30]. According to a report by TAPOL, the Regional People's Assembly had 38 members in 1963 and 'consisted of appointed representatives o f functional groups as well as Indonesian department heads, military officers and religious figures' [TAPOL, 1983: 24], wheras another report stated that the Assembly had 42 members, 33 o f whom were Papuans [RIOP, 1985:32]. It was not until 1969 that the first elections were held for the Assembly [Gamaut and Manning, 1974: 25]. By 1987, the Assembly had grown to contain 45 members [Indonesia Reports. No. 27, February
1988].
Just as the provincial assembly had been dissolved in 1963 so too the elected regional councils were replaced by nine appointed 'representative' councils, one in each kabupaten