What remains at issue is the meaning of the Rome Joint Statement (see below). The Netherlands government knew according to this statement that the Indonesian administration planned to pick just over 1,000 people to participate in the "Act of 'Free' Choice".
Did the Netherlands government raise any objection to this method? If it didn't, why didn't it?
Did the Netherlands agree this Act would be an "act of self-determination to be carried out in accordance with international practice" (the phrase used in Article 18 of the New York Agreement, signed by the Netherlands on August 15th 1962 at UN headquarters)? If it didn't, why did it raise no objection at the time?
Does the current Netherlands government see this Act as an "act of self-determination" which was "carried out in accordance with international practice"?
These questions will no doubt be addressed either in the "historical research" commissioned by the Netherlands government in 1999 and due out soon, or in the debate surrounding it. Indeed these questions could be answered now.
The West Papuan people would no doubt be very interested in the answer of the Netherlands government to these questions.