PAPUA - Provinsi Papua

Papua is the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia, comprising most of Western New Guinea. It is bordered by the state of Papua New Guinea to the east, the province of West Papua to the west, the Pacific Ocean to the north, and the Arafura Sea to the south. According to the 2010 census by Statistics Indonesia, Papua had a population of 2,833,381, the majority of whom are Christians. The 2015 Intermediate Census revealed a population of 3,143,088, while the latest official estimate (as at mid 2019) is 3,347,100. The province is divided into twenty-eight regencies and one city. Its capital and largest city is Jayapura. The province was formerly called Irian Jaya and comprised the entire Western New Guinea until the inauguration of the province of West Papua (then West Irian Jaya) in 2001. In 2002, Papua adopted its current name and was granted a special autonomous status by the Indonesian legislation. Puncak Jaya is the province's highest mountain as well as the highest point of Indonesia.

Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945 and claimed all of the territory of the former Dutch East Indies, including Western New Guinea. However, the region was retained by the Netherlands until the mid-1960s, which caused Indonesia to repeatedly launch military operations there. It was agreed through the New York Agreement in 1962 that the administration of Western New Guinea would be temporarily transferred from the Netherlands to Indonesia and that by 1969 the United Nations should oversee a referendum of the Papuan people, in which they would be given two options: to remain part of Indonesia or to become an independent nation. This vote was referred to as the Act of Free Choice. The referendum was recognised by the international community and the region became the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. The province has been renamed as Papua since 2002.

In January 2003 President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed an order dividing Papua into three provinces: Central Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Tengah), Papua (or East Irian Jaya, Irian Jaya Timur), and West Papua (Irian Jaya Barat). The formality of installing a local government for Jaraka in Irian Jaya Barat (West) took place in February 2003 and a governor was appointed in November; a government for Irian Jaya Tengah (Central Irian Jaya) was delayed from August 2003 due to violent local protests. The creation of this separate Central Irian Jaya Province was blocked by Indonesian courts, who declared it to be unconstitutional and in contravention of the Papua's special autonomy agreement. The previous division into two provinces was allowed to stand as an established fact.

The province of Papua is governed by a directly elected governor (currently Lukas Enembe) and a regional legislature, People's Representative Council of province of Papua (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Papua). A government organisation that only exists in Papua is the Papuan People's Council (Majelis Rakyat Papua) Papuan People's Council), which was formed by the Indonesian Government in 2005 as a coalition of Papuan tribal chiefs, tasked with arbitration and speaking on behalf of Papuan tribal customs. 

The province of Papua is one of three provinces to have obtained special autonomy status, the others being Aceh and West Papua. The island has an estimated 16,000 species of plant, 124 genera of which are endemic. Papua's known forest fauna includes; marsupials (including possums, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, cuscuses); other mammals (including the endangered long-beaked echidna); bird species such as birds-of-paradise, cassowaries, parrots, and cockatoos; the world's longest lizards (Papua monitor); and the world's largest butterflies.

Since 1963 Western New Guinea has been part of Indonesia. The Indonesian postal service is responsible for mail in the region, and has issued a few stamps in honor of the area. From 1950 to 1962, stamps were issued as the Nederlands Nieuw Guinea. Netherlands New Guinea came under temporary United Nations administration from 1 October 1962 to 1 May 1963 when stamps were overprinted “UNTEA”. The first were overprints reading "UNTEA" (United Nations Temporary Executive Authority) applied to the stamps of Dutch New Guinea, issued in 1962. There are four slightly different types of overprint, three types applied locally, and a fourth made in the Netherlands and sold by the UN in New York City. These were superseded on 1 May 1963 by stamps of Indonesia overprinted "IRIAN BARAT" and a series of six commemoratives whose designs included a map of Indonesia stretching "from Sabang to Merauke" and a parachutist landing in New Guinea. These, as were later issues in 1968 and 1970, were inscribed both "IRIAN BARAT" and "REPUBLIK INDONESIA".

Geographically Papuans are Melanesian people so they are fighting to secede from Indonesia as Independent. This cover is posted from Timika, a main town in Papua. The cover posted on September 09, 2014 and I received on October 01, 2014.