INDONESIA: The Startled World

Only last year Indonesia’s handsome, personable President Sukarno came to Washington, talking largely of Abraham Lincoln, the rights of man, and his devotion to democracy and the West. Overwhelmed by his sentiments and his charm, Washington’s National Press Club gave him a standing ovation. Last week Sukarno was displaying his devotion to the West by energetically trying to boot out of his country all Westerners of Dutch citizenship, with never a backward thought for their rights or their properties.

The issue was West Irian (Netherlands New Guinea). For years Sukarno has been claiming as part of Indonesia the wild, raw-material-rich western portion of the world’s second largest island (after Greenland). For years the Dutch have refused to hand it over. Sukarno appealed to the U.N. “If the United Nations fail us,” he warned last month, “we will resort to methods which will startle the world.” The U.N. refused to consider Indonesia’s demand, and last week Sukarno made good his threat.

From northern Sumatra to the Moluccas, apprehensive Dutch nationals (there are 46,000 of them throughout the islands) took refuge in their homes as Indonesian workers swarmed through the streets, forcibly took over Dutch commercial installations. The Netherlands was summarily ordered to close every consulate in the republic except for Djakarta’s. Dutch nationals were told they would be expelled from the country immediately. The expulsion order, said Justice Minister Gustaaf Adolf Maengkom, meant “within three days, if I have my way. But that is impossible.”

Last Flight. At Djakarta’s sprawling port of Tandjong Priok, lean little Indonesian commandos swirled up in dusty U.S. trucks and mounted guard over Dutch ships and port facilities. In the capital itself, workers of the Communist-dominated SOBSI (an all-Indonesia association of trade unions) ejected Dutch officials from the gleaming white colonial buildings that house the Royal Packet Service Co. (K.P.M.) and the Netherlands Handelsbank.

In the once luxurious Hotel des Indes, the Dutch manager and his staff were seized. A Dutchman who tried to haul down an Indonesian flag planted atop the Jacobson van den Berg Trading Co. was arrested on the spot. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ landing rights were summarily canceled. Some 100 KLM employees and families prepared to depart.

Though Indonesian Premier Djuanda threatened “drastic action” against unauthorized seizures of Dutch property, SOBSI-led workers seized a Dutch club in Palembang, largest city of south Sumatra, two banks in Semarang in central Java, tea, coffee, rubber and palm-oil plantations in northern Sumatra and west Java.

Seizures & Censors. Indonesian censors laid a heavy pencil on outgoing news. All Dutch publications, films and news agencies were banned. In Djakarta, Indonesian papers reported that Indonesian passengers and crewmen had forcibly prevented Dutch captains from diverting Dutch-owned ships into “neutral ports.” The Indonesian government ordered its 5,000 nationals in The Netherlands to leave at once. In Paris, Foreign Minister Subandrio declared that a complete break in Indonesian-Dutch diplomatic relations was “only a matter of time.”

Amazed and alarmed at the violence of Indonesia’s reaction, The Netherlands government ordered Dutch naval forces in Indonesian waters (one destroyer, one frigate, a few patrol boats) to stand by for action, dispatched additional warships to the Far East. The Netherlands’ Permanent Representative Eelco Van Kleffens called an emergency meeting of the NATO Council in Paris to plead for diplomatic support against Indonesia.

At week’s end. tempers seemed to have subsided. Information Minister Sudibjo was still threatening stern punishment for Dutchmen who disobeyed orders given by the Indonesian Workers’ Committees of the seized companies, but hinted that Sukarno was having second thoughts about expelling every last Dutchman. Only some 8,000 Dutch unemployed would have to leave immediately, said Sudibjo. Dutch technicians, particularly those in positions for which there are no Indonesian replacements, would remain on the job—in fact, would be forced to stay on the job.

Sobering Advice. Sukarno had been listening to some sobering advice from able Financial Expert Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, president of the Bank of Indonesia. “Disaster may befall Indonesia because of the reprisals against the Dutch,” said Sjafruddin flatly. He pointed out that The Netherlands’ $1.5 billion capital investment in Indonesia is the base of 70% of the country’s industrial production. Sukarno himself already knew that the anti-Dutch seizures had touched off a heavy run on Indonesia’s banks ($3,000,000 U.S. in two days from one bank alone).

Only Sukarno knew whether Indonesia would continue its reckless and blatantly illegal grabs. In Djakarta, observers predicted that though Indonesia was still determined to expel the hated Dutch forever, it would not do so precipitately and thereby run the risk of self-destruction. Many Dutch in Indonesia deplored The Netherlands government’s refusal to negotiate the question of West Irian. To them, the steaming jungles and matted mountains—however much wealth they may hold—seemed scarcely worth the loss of The Netherlands’ rich investments in Indonesia itself. Even the U.S., if forced to a choice, would be reluctant to take sides. Said one top Washington diplomat: “Choices like this are often hard political choices. There isn’t much chance that The Netherlands will go Communist over an issue involving colonial holdings. But there’s a strong chance that 82 million Indonesians will.”