Irian \I"ri*an\, a. Of or pertaining to the iris. ``Irian nerves.'' --Dunglison.
Lewis is in Jayapura, in Irian Jaya, hoping for a surat jalan (permission to travel) for the central highlands.
But Indonesian troops invaded in 1962, and the next year the United Nations awarded Indonesia administrative control with the understanding that a free election would determine Irian Jaya's status.
But it will take years, even generations, before education allows Irianese to play a major role in the government and economy of Irian Jaya.
Irian Jaya also poses a political challenge for Jakarta. Many native Melanesians have never liked being part of Indonesia.
Far east of everything else in the sprawling Indonesian archipelago lies Irian Jaya.
Though Irian Jaya is larger than Japan and almost as large as California, it is home to only 1.5 million people.
In department-store displays, faux-Asmat carvings cradle the palette of colors plugged as "natural." Behind the counter is a videotaped fashion show, where Irian university students dressed in ethnic costume hoist models down the runway.
Rescuers searched today for a domestic passenger plane missing with 22 people on board in the eastern province of Irian Jaya, an airline official said.
The Twin Otter aircraft was reported missing Friday on a flight from Manokwari to Bentuni in northern Irian Jaya, 1,856 miles northeast of Jakarta, said M. Djubaedi, spokesman for the state-owned Merpati Nusantara Airline.
"For the time being we will discourage any producer from making a film on Irian Jaya," said Narto Erawan, director of the government's development center for film and video recording.
In Indonesia's easternmost province, Irian Jaya, rescuers have found 16 bodies buried in a landslide that struck Saturday in the district of Gurabesi on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Jayapura, a spokesman for the governor's office said.
It allows Freeport to work in an area of Irian Jaya covering 2.6 million hectares.