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P.J. Drooglever, Een daad van vrije keuze. De Papoea's van westelijk Nieuw-Guinea en de grenzen van het zelfbeschikkingsrecht (Amsterdam, Den Haag 2005). Marginality, morality, and the nationalist impulse: Papua, the Netherlands and Indonesia: a review articleDrooglever's large and detailed analysis of the course of 'West New Guinea problem' demonstrates a mastery of sources and of the skills of synthesis, and will certainly become the definitive work on the subject. The book may be read at many levels, as a story of Dutch imperial decline and diplomatic failure, of Indonesian powerlessness, and of Papuan victimhood, as the Dutch refused to concede New Guinea, attempted to develop an indigenous Papuan political capacity, and were finally overwhelmed by a combination of Indonesian determination and the changing circumstances of international politics. The book's greatest weakness, just like the post-war Dutch policy which is its subject, is its failure to appreciate the strength, depth and moral force of Indonesian nationalism, something reflected not only in the one-sided moral tone of the book, but also in its failure to analyse Indonesian sources and attitudes with sufficient seriousness. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Een daad van vrije keuze' (P.J. Drooglever).

P.J. Drooglever, Een daad van vrije keuze. De Papoea's van westelijk Nieuw-Guinea en de grenzen van het zelfbeschikkingsrecht (Amsterdam, Den Haag 2005).Marginality, morality, and the nationalist impulse: Papua, the Netherlands and Indonesia: a review articleDrooglever's large and detailed analysis of the course of 'West New Guinea problem' demonstrates a mastery of sources and of the skills of synthesis, and will certainly become the definitive work on the subject. The book may be read at many levels, as a story of Dutch imperial decline and diplomatic failure, of Indonesian powerlessness, and of Papuan victimhood, as the Dutch refused to concede New Guinea, attempted to develop an indigenous Papuan political capacity, and were finally overwhelmed by a combination of Indonesian determination and the changing circumstances of international politics. The book's greatest weakness, just like the post-war Dutch policy which is its subject, is its failure to appreciate the strength, depth and moral force of Indonesian nationalism, something reflected not only in the one-sided moral tone of the book, but also in its failure to analyse Indonesian sources and attitudes with sufficient seriousness.

S.M. Kartosuwiryo, famed leader of the long and bloody Darul Islam rebellion which began in West Java in 1948, was a strong supporter of the Indonesian independence struggle and a champion of the Indonesian Republic proclaimed in 1945. This article seeks to understand how it was that Kartosuwiryo came to oppose that very Republic with such violence in 1948–49. Many scholars have sought to explain the origins of the Darul Islam movement in terms of Kartosuwiryo's fanatic Islamist ambition. However, a detailed examination of the circumstances of the revolt's gestation and outbreak indicates that it was a consequence of a complex interplay of historically contingent circumstances rather than any ideological fixity.