UN General Assembly
1954

35. We were still more surprised to hear the representative of Australia raise before this Assembly the rather worn argument that West Irian cannot rightfully constitute a part of the Republic of Indonesia because of an alleged difference in ethnic and racial origins between the Irianese and the rest of the Indonesian people. As I stand here before the representatives of 59 other Member nations, I cannot help wondering which, if any, delegation — including the Netherlands and Australia delegation — represents a nation whose citizenry is solely and exclusively descended from a single racial or ethnic group. In this connexion, the publications of UNESCO on the question of race are most instructive. But, as we all know, the criteria by which to determine the political affiliations of the people of a given territory are not based on an examination of racial origins or anthropological characteristics, unless we wish to fall into the obsolete and fatal Blut und Boden (blood and soil) theory.