JAVA NEGOTIATIONS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24799, 13 February 1946, Page 7

JAVA NEGOTIATIONS

Indonesians Considering Dutch Statement

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) fiATAVIA, Feb. 11. “No time has been fixed for a further meeting between the Dutch Lieutenant-Governor (Dr. van Mook) and the Indonesian 1 Premier (Sutan Sjahrir) with Sir Archibald Clark Kerr as adviser,” says the Australian Associated Press correspondent.. “With the Indonesians it is a case of waiting. Sutan Sjahrir’s emissary has placed the Dutch statement of policy before the Indonesian President (Dr. Soekarno) and Sjahrir’s right-hand man in the Cabinet, the Minister of Internal Security (Mr Sjarifuddin), at Jokjakarta, in Central Java, and their comments are urgently desired by the rest of the Ministers at Batavia. Dr. Soekarno is the one who has consistently relied on the present Dutch military weakness to ensure recognition of the Republican Government. “The Dutch cannot afford to have a breakdown in the negotiations,’ he has said. ‘When the British go they will not be strong enough to attempt to overthrow us.’ “ On the other hand, many Dutchmen see in the economic instability of Java a reason why the Nationalist Government cannot afford to withdraw from the discussions. They say: The Indonesians are facing chaos inside Java, and only our help can put things right.’