Tension in Indonesia
More trouble seems to be brewing in Indonesia. Over the week-end the Dutch Government at The Hague issued a communiqué defining, primarily for the benefit of the Committee of Good Offices, an important modification in its attitude. Mr. Hatta's Republican Government, the communiqué claims, has gone back on its word. In their original discussions with the Dutch authorities the Republicans agreed to recognise the Netherlands Government's share of responsibility for the administration of the Archipelago during the interim period. This undertaking provided a basis for co-operation, and in the light of it the Dutch sent two Cabinet Ministers to Indonesia in quest of a solution to outstanding constitutional and political problems. This mission, according to the Dutch, failed because it found the Republicans unwilling in practice to accord more than a purely formal recognition to Dutch sovereignty over the islands, a conception which the Dutch regard—understandably enough—as incompatible with the discharge of their responsibilities, particularly if a state of emergency should arise. The Dutch point also to an increase in the incidence of truce-violations and in attempts to murder or kidnap Indonesian civil servants. Their position, they say in effect, is being made impossible, and they propose to regulate it by issuing a decree for the government of Indonesia during the interim period ; this decree has been drafted in consulta- tion with the federal territories, in which (they point out) roughly two-thirds of the population lives. This blend of Dutch stubborn- ness with Republican irresponsibility is likely to produce a situation to whose potentially explosive character the Communists of South East Asia will be neither blind nor indifferent.
Previous page
