SJAHRIR ON WAY TO INDIA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25243, 23 July 1947, Page 7

SJAHRIR ON WAY TO INDIA

Dakota Piloted By Friend Of Nehru DUTCH "PATROLS ELUDED (Rec. 1.30 a.m.) SINGAPORE, July 22. Sutan Sjahrir, the former Indonesian Prime Minister, arrived at Singapore early this afternoon aboard an Indian Dakota from Sumatra, on his way to India. Sutan Sjahrir, who is suffering from recurrent malaria, immediately went to bed at his hotel. He had been booked to leave for India to-morrow, but the reservation was cancelled because of his illness. His mission abroad came as a complete surprise to Sutan Sjahrir, who was summoned from Linggardjati for Monday’s meeting of the Republican Cabinet at Jogjakarta. The President

of the Republic (Dr. Soekarno) asked him to undertake the mission, and he left without baggage. The .Dakota left Jogjakarta and refuelled in Sumatra. Sutan Sjahrir eluded the Dutch air blockade when he slipped out of Indonesia. The Indian Dakota was piloted by Mr B. Patnaik, a member of the Orissa Legislative Assembly, and a former head of the Indian Air Transport Command during the war. It is believed in Singapore that Mr Patnaik, who is a personal friend of Pandit Nehru, flew Dr. Mohamed Hatta, the Republican Vice-President, back to Indonesia after a surprise secret visit to Pandit Nehru last week. The Dakota eluded the Dutch air patrols by taking off from Jogjakarta at about 2 a.m. to-day. The aircraft yesterday morning was at Maospati airfield, in East Java, when Dutch Mustangs bombed the main hangar where they believed the aircraft was hidden. An engineer, however, had removed the Dakota to a damaged hangar and the Dutch did not detect it. The aircraft flew to Jogjakarta at dusk to pick up Sutan Sjahrir. Mr Patnaik was caught yesterday in an air raid on an oil dump at Solo, and had to run 300 yards for cover as the Dutch strafed the dump. Mr Patnaik said: “That is one score I have entered up against the Dutch in my account book.”