The Denpasar Conference was held from 724 December 1946 at the Hotel Bali, Denpasar and resulted in the establishment of the State of East Indonesia, part of the United States of Indonesia.
It was at this conference that the Dutch government stated its position that control of Western New Guinea would not be handed over at the same time as the rest of the Dutch East Indies.
Background
The Malino Conference, organized by Acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Hubertus van Mook and held from 16–25 July 1946, resulted in an agreement among the delegates from eastern Indonesia, as well as Bangka and Belitung to work together to establish a federal United States of Indonesia which would comprise three constituent states: the Republic of Indonesia (Java and Sumatra), the State of Borneo, and the 'Great Eastern State' (the Great East or Groote Oost - which would include Western New Guinea). Due to ongoing instability in Borneo, as well as open conflict with the Republican forces in Java and Sumatra, van Mook decided to focus on the Great East, and to organize a conference in order to establish a state in this region. Before it was held, the Dutch concluded the Linggadjati Agreement with the Republicans. In this agreement, the Dutch recognized Republican sovereignty over Java, Sumatra and Madura, and both sides agreed to work together to establish the United States of Indonesia and its three component states. However, at the time of the Denpasar Conference, the Linggadjati Agreement had only been initialed by both sides, not formally signed, allowing the Dutch to claim that it was not yet valid. On 10 December 1946, the Dutch government announced its own interpretation of the Agreement in a statement from Foreign Minister Jan Jonkman. This stated that Western New Guinea would not after all be handed over to the United States of Indonesia, a statement at odds with Article 3 of the Linggadjati Agreement. This was the result of pressure from the Dutch Catholic Party, which wished to continue the missionary activities in the region, although van Mook claimed that financial and ethnic issues were the reason. Due to the fact that the request for any Papuan representatives in the conference was rejected by the Dutch authorities, on 12 December 1946, Nicolaas Jouwe, Marthen Indey, and Corinus Krey sent a telegram to van Mook in Denpasar to oppose the formation of the State of East Indonesia as it did not include Western New Guinea.
Delegates
The Great East was divided into thirteen regions, with each region selecting a number of delegates in proportion to its population. Van Mook set a limit of 55 regional delegates, with an additional fifteen representing minority ethnic groups, making a total of 70. Although the Dutch claimed that the regional delegates were elected, they were in fact selected by Dutch-appointed officials, and the majority of them were either colonial officials or regional aristocrats.
The composition was as follows: