THE LEGAL POSITION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE SOUTH MOLUCCAS

The Republic of the South Moluccas warrants international recognition because:

· The people of the South Moluccan islands, who have continuously sought independent statehood, comprise a separate and distinct population, occupying a separate and distinct geographical area;

· Under the doctrine of self-dtermination, a doctrine guaranteed by the United Nations Charter and the Round Table Conference, the people of the South Moluccas have the right to declare their preference for nationhood;

. The citizens of the Republic of the South Moluccas had exercised their right of self-determination by electing civilian leaders; they have never supported the constituted government of Indonesia;

· The Republic of Indonesia violated the provisions of the Round Table Conference and the 1947 Linggadjati Agreement when it invaded the South Moluccas in 1950, arrested and assassinated democratically-elected members of the South Moluccan Assembly and occupied the islands by force of arms;

. Historical precedent for independence can be found from the era of Dutch rule when the South Moluccas were administered separately from the West Indonesian Islands (i.e. Java, Sumatra, etc.);

· The republic of the South Moluccas was declared an independent state on April 25, 1950, three months before Indonesia became independent on August 17, 1950;

· Two judicial tribunals have upheld the Republic’s claim to international recognition. In the Netherlands: the Amsterdam Appeals Court (Republic of the South Moluccas v. N.V. Koninklijke Paketvaart maatschappij, 1951), and in Irian: Supreme Court of Justice for New Guinea, 1952). The Amsterdam Appeals Court, in the 1951 case, held:

     (1) That the people of the South Moluccas are a people of a territory, which , under the      provisions of the agreements of Linggadjati and Renville could qualify for the exercise of the right to try to realize this right of self-determination in the manner there laid down.

     (2) That the possibility of realizing this right of self-determination in this manner was in effect taken away from the people of the said territory by the creation of thr republic of Indonesia as a unitarian state for the whole of Indonesia under its own leadership and supreme authority, contrary to what was agreed to in the above-mentioned pacts and the Round Table Conference.

· The Republic of Indonesia itself is judicially acknowledged that its control of the South Moluccas is less than complete: for example, the land tribunal at Makassar on March 8, 1955, condemned a South Moluccan partisan for “ supporting the enemy during a state of war.”

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