Netherlands New Guinea, 1961; West-Papua, 1963
The “Morning Star flag” was designed by Nicolaas Jouwe and adopted on 20 November 1961; the 13 stripes represent the tribes, the red stripe the political struggle, the morning star is the star of hope, and the red-white-blue stands for gratitude. It was first raised on 1 December 1961 as a National flag in the last days of Netherlands New Guinea. The Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, Organisation for a Free Papua) was founded in December 1963 and adopted the flag as its own.