CALL TO ARMS FROM JOGJAKARTA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25242, 22 July 1947, Page 7

CALL TO ARMS FROM JOGJAKARTA

Broadcast By Indonesian Prime Minister

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 1.30 a.m.) BATAVIA, July 21. At a Republican Cabinet meeting at Jogjakarta the Indonesian Ministers and the Working Committee unanimously accepted the present war situation as the consequence of Dutch aggression, says Reuters correspondent at Jogjakarta. A Republican Army spokesman said that heavy fighting was raging in the Bandoeng, Samarang, and Surabaya areas. After the Cabinet meeting at Jogjakarta the Indonesian Prime Minister (Mr Sjarifuddin) broadcast a call to arms to the Indonesian people. “We shall defend our Government,” he declared. “We are a nation with a Government and we shall defend it. We still have many friends outside as well as inside our country.”

Mr Sjarifuddin asked if the Dutch had realised the full consequences of what they had begun with to-day’s attack. It would be impossible, he said, to subdue the hate and revenge in the hearts of the people which the Dutch action would cause. In a world where there was already a United Nations organisation and where every nation wanted peace one nation now had decided to use weapons against the Indonesian people, although they had said they wanted peace and arbitration on their differences.

Lieutenant-General Sudirman, commander of the Republican Army, today told the population: “Now is the time for all Indonesians to defend their country against Dutch attack. Our defence is based on the defence of our nation.” He claimed that the Dutch had attacked without handing over any declaration of war. In Batavia, Dr. Gani, the Indonesian Vice-Premier, and Mr Tamzil, a member of the Cabinet, protested that the Dutch Note severing relations with the Republic was received at 10.50 p.m. yesterday and that soldiers placed them under arrest at 11.5 p.m. before they had had time to communicate the document to their Government at Jogjakarta. Dr. Gani said: “Britain and America must do something at once to end this catastrophe.” He protested against the rough and ruthless method by which he and his fellow-Republicans had been taken into custody by Dutch and Ambonese soldiers. Dr. Gani and Mr Tamzil have applied to see the British, American, Chinese. French, and Australian Con-sul-Generals. so that they may ask those countries to intervene to stop the fighting. Indonesian Reports of Fighting Reuters correspondent in Jogjakarta reports that a Republican Army spokesman this morning announced Dutch air raids on various Indonesian airfields. He said that Dutch troops opened gun and mortar fire on all fronts and crossed the demarcation lines. The population of Jogjakarta received the news of the fighting calmly. The people did their usual work, and shops were opened. According to the Jogjakarta radio, Dutch forces are driving from Surabaya perimeter, heading in the direction of the hill city of Malang, about 45 miles south of Surabaya. The Dutch radio announced a curfew in Batavia to-night t beginning at 6.30 o’clock. The city is quiet. Antara, the Indonesian News Agency, has been closed down by Dutch guards. With the closing down, a complete blanket on military news has descended. Earlier, the agency reported that an Indonesian passenger train was ma-chine-gunned by Dutch aeroplanes in the Lawany area of East Java, and that the Malang airfield was attacked by three Dutch fighters, which damaged buildings. The aeroplanes attacked again later, and anti-aircraft guns returned their fire. Four Dutch aeroplanes were reported over the Republican capital, Jogjakarta, this morning, flying low for 5Q minutes. A Dutch amphibious aeroplane and a warship have arrived in Cheribon harbour.

The rain that has fallen incessantly all day in a continuous tropic thunderstorm is described as a miracle by Moslem Indonesians, who regard today’s fighting as a holy war because it began during Ramadan. The rain has undoubtedly slowed up the Dutch ground troops and restricted aerial activity. The remarkable part about the weather is that it has come during Indonesia’s dry season, when rain such as to-day’s is not experienced once in 20 years. A Dutch aeroplane this morning dropped pamphlets signed by the Dutch commander (Lieutenant-Gen-eral S. H. Spoor) over Cheribon, appealing to the population to be calm and not to undertake a scorched earth campaign.

The pamphlets appealed for the help of the civil administration and Moslem priests, and asked the people to trust in the Dutch Army.