INDONESIA BUILDS A WELFARE STATE
TAS, SAL
INDONESIA BUILDS A WELFARE STATE By SAL TAS THE HAGUE. NDONESIA has gained her independence and the history of three hundred years of colonial rule has come to an end. After weeks of...
...The growing intransigence of the more radical elements tempted the Communists to attack the moderate socialist regime of Ilatto, Sjahrir and Sukarno...
...The Indonesians claim it because they say that the inhabitants have declared themselves in favor of the Republk...
...They were defeated by the Republican Army under the resolute leadership of Hatta whose prestige increased considerably as a result, especially in America...
...THE INDONESIAN federal constitution has already been worked out...
...For a year Dutch marines are to patrol Indonesian waters under the high command of the Indonesian Defense Minister...
...THE SECOND military action enabled the Dutch to occupy Djokja, the capital of the Republic, and arrest the Indonesian leaders...
...In the senate each state will have two representative^, The powers of the federal government cover everything not covered by stute governments, in the main foreign policy, defense, finance and economic policy...
...If it had not been for international intervention and in particular, pressure from America, the Right would not have yielded to the inevitable, but would have continued a senseless struggle...
...At first, the Indonesians SaleTat, who is an expert on Indonesia, is correspondent for the Dutch socialist paper...
...One of the Indonesian state chiefs proposed to include New Guinea in Indonesia but to lease it to Holland for 99 years with guarantees for invested capital...
...7 East 15th Streen...
...They have had a hard struggle to get this idea accepted by the other parties, and their moat obstinate oppaaaass were the Cathottes...
...The Socialist party of Holland has been the first to recognize the necessity of coming to an understanding with the responsible leaders of the Indonesian Revolution...
...In principle, Indonesia has her own foreign policy, which is, however, to be coordinated as far as possible with that of the Dutch Kingdom...
...But the UN requested them to set the leaders free and return them to their capital...
...TWIOE A YEAR a conference of three ministers from each country will meet...
...All domination by one of the partners is thus excluded...
...Reassured on this point, and continually annoyed by the arrogance of the Dutch officials on the ('spot, the small states withdrew more and more from Batavia's tutelage...
...Holland has a chance to make a valuable contribution in the Far East, and her success will mainly depend on the quality of human material she can muster for the task...
...If no majority can be found, an appeal can be made to the International Court of Justice...
...The Indonesians also have been put under pressure on several occasions to accept reasonable proposals...
...Tho many former Dutch officials and soldiers of the demobilized colonial army who want to serve under the Indonesian* will be taken over under the...
...It was tragic for Holland that in the decisive postwar years, when Indonesian nationalism asserted itself, she ¦was represented by a caste bound by arrogant and outworn traditions...
...Without this international action the two nations might still be at loggerheads...
...The ministers can set up commissions for special tasks...
...Piracy, which ha* been growing, must be eradicated...
...The idea of settling, under Dutch protection, Eurasians there —a mixed race whose members are difficult to fit into the- Republic — is quite unreal because the Eurasians could not develop the country...
...Should We Recognize China...
...In any case, the Dutch Vvill help to train the diplomatic and consular personnel which Indonesia needs...
...Even during the most bitter fighting, therefore, the idea of negotiating was never abandoned...
...nanus conditions they formerly enjoyed...
...There will be close economic collaboration, with Holland becoming the market for some Indonesian products and the Dutch helping Indonesia to secure capital, In the financial agreement Holland has renounced claims to the value of two million florins—a large sum...
...It was in these territories that the Dutch Administration in Batavia had set up small states intended to act as satellites of the Dutch, to counterbalance the influence of Djokja...
...This caste had no understanding of the force that was gathering in the nationalistmovement...
...M wished only to be freed from the tyrannical and semi-fascist colonial system and to be allowed to live under their own leaders...
...Four years of fighting and the failure of two military actions were necessary to make the Dutch people, especially its light-wing sections, accept the result...
...But once created, these states were drawn into the orbit of Djokja with its irresistible attraction as the vanguard of Indonesian independence...
...The prologue to Union is, therefore, clearcul separation...
...Het Parool...
...The Princess of Orange will be the head of the Union, but this is to be merely a personification of the :dea of enduring co-operation between partners who base their communities on democracy...
...A convention is to be drawn up t<i regulate financial and economic relations...
...The Indonesians recognize treaties concluded by the Dutch for them Holland will help them to become a member of the UN...
...Time: 10:00 p. m. Station: WEVD...
...A new era is now opening up...
...The Union has hardly any characteristic of an autonomous body...
...Moreover, the Dutch were weakened and impoverished by years of spoliation under German rule...
...A "Court of the Urfion," composed on the basis of parity, is to arbitrate on disputes...
...ThTe was hardly any sympathy for their policy on the side of the Allies...
...it resembles rather an agreement under international law, and the Indonesians hare obtained the right to have it registered by the United Nations...
...Their main aim Is to increase mats purchasing power and create a "welfare state...
...The UN Commission is to be maintained and will control the execution of the military arrangements and the plebiscites to bo held in some areas...
...Thus it was decided to summon a final conference — the Round Table Conference at the Hague...
...Naturally, in this entente the much more powerful and politically advanced Republican partner dominated...
...When the Round Table Conference started, a complete entente existed between them and the Republican representatives...
...After weeks of negotiations at the Hague, difficult at times, but always carried on in an atmosphere of perfect cordiality, the new state has been founded on a contract of voluntary collaboration with Holland...
...A union between the two countries has been concluded on the basis of absolutely equal status...
...The Dutch rejected the idea but may well come back to it after they have steered the Union agreement through their parliament...
...Works of peace and reconstruction are the best means of combating the communist danger...
...This weakened the position of those Indonesian leaders who were most inclined to come to an agreement with the Dutch —not because they had any special love f6r them, but because they realized the weakness of their own country...
...Will she follow Holland into the Atlantic Pact...
...ON ONE POINT, the future of New Guinea, no agreement was reached, and the decision was postponed for one year...
...Listeners are invited to comment on the broadcast...
...It is based on God, humanity, national interest,^democracy and social justice, and will have a president who is "invulnerable" and "responsible" ministers...
...The Dutch position is no more convincing...
...There was a significant divergence of views between Dutch finance and industrial circles...
...The former were against ait concessions regarding cancellation of debts, whilst the latter, in the interest ol having markets in Indonesia, did not wish to overburden her financially...
...Holland is to help Indonesia build up land and naval forces to the extent she desires' and needs...
...For her, too, communism is a deadly menace...
...But the few Republicans who live there are a drop in the ocean...
...The United States of Indonesia is now acknowledged by Holland as a sovereign stale...
...The provisions regarding Dutch property and trading rights are- fair and should make possible a responsible" functioning of the economy without any interruption...
...The Dutch Army will be evacuated as quickly- as possible — it will take seven months, it was stated...
...Nor have either Holland or Indonesia the capital needed for this purpose...
...The example of India will probably have a great influence...
...New York 3, New York...
...But as time went on and the Dutch showed themselves adamant, distrust grew and an ever higher degree of independence was demanded by the Nationalists...
...It is interesting to retrace the course of these negotiations...
...The way for this had been prepared by the Conciliation Commission of the UN...
...Its decisions must be unanimous and must be ratified by both parliaments...
...On November 2 the Round Table Conference ended with agreement on almost every point...
...write The \ew Leader...
...On this point the Indonesians were rightly obstinate, because a luge part of this sum, allegedly spent for the "good of Indonesia," paid for the two military actions...
...Whenrthe Indonesian Republic appealed 1o the United Nations and succeeded in gaining the solid backing of the United States, the international position of the Netherlands became extremely embarrassing...
...There is to be collaboration on foreign policy and defence, on finance and economy, on cultural and social questions...
...Eventually, the Djokja leaders saw the danger and proclaimed a policy of decentralization, of an Indonesian Federation to be created after complete liberation...
...On the whole, the common tasks are more specifically denned than the common organs...
...After a ferocious struggle between the Left, led by the Dutch Socialist party, and the Righ* led by the Catholic party, the Government had the good sense to accept the UN's verdict...
...The Indonesians will direct it, however, so us to advance tho material and moral interests of tho Indonesian people...
...They still thought of close links with the Dutch...
...They would not see that the colonial army, a police force rather than an army for war, was unable to master an insurrection backed by a •whole people whose traditional obedience to the w4nte race had been shattered by wartime experiences...
...What tied them to the Dutch was the desire to keep some of their own prerogatives, their provincial autonomy, which, it was widely felt, might be swept away by the dynamic nationalism of the Republic In the ease of the leaders there was also personal fear for their own positions...
...The precarious military situation lent force to the argument...
...The Indonesians are confronted with far greater difficulties than they have as yet experienced, in their tusk of building a modern society-coherent enough to hold its own among other states and to resist communism...
...The date: Wednesday, January 11...
...High Commissioners will be appointed by both states and delegations from both parliaments will m*et from time to time to stimulate collaboration...
...On the side of the Indonesians, there were two parties: The Republic and the Commission which represented the non-Republican territories of Indonesia...
...Parliament will have 150 members, half of them from the Djokja Republic...
...will be the title of the first of The Mew Leader's monthly radio forums this year...
...New Guinea is an enormous, still uncultivated country inhabited by primitive tribes, which is thought to have economic 'potentialities (in oil, coal, or even more valuable minerals) of substantial extent...
Vol. 33 • January 1950 • No. 1
