Considering its importance the dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands over Western New Guinea (Irian Barat) has received little scholarly attention. Highly tendentious treatment has characterised most writing concerning the issue, and those who would seek a full and unvarnished account have been little instructed. In so far as the press has been concerned with the problem, its attention has been largely focused on United Nations debates and on current statements by the spokesmen of the countries involved. Slight effort has been made either by journalists or by those who have professed a more scholarly approach to dig into the relevant historical background or to give any full account of the contemporary factors which shape this problem. Reissue of a 1958 Cornell Southeast Asia Programme study.