UN General Assembly
1961

95. It is a matter of profound regret for us that the dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands over West New Guinea has not yet been settled. Were it not that that difficulty still persists, we would acclaim the proposal put forward by the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands in his speech on 26 September 1961 [ 1016th meeting] as a landmark in the progress towards resolving the colonial problem. We consider that the procedure that the Netherlands has proposed with regard to West New Guinea deserves to be carefully studied as a model to be adopted in the case of all colonial territories which have not yet arrived at the threshold of independence and the people of which have to be prepared for the assumption and exercise of the manifold responsibilities of statehood. That procedure is well designed to meet the need to which we have just made reference.