APPEAL TO MR TRUMAN

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25246, 26 July 1947, Page 9

APPEAL TO MR TRUMAN

Intervention By U.S. Requested

BROADCAST BY DR. SOEKARNO (Rec. 7 p.m.) BATAVIA, July 25. The Indonesian President (Dr. Soekarno) this morning broadcast an appeal to President Truman and the American people “to exert every effort to halt this war in Indonesia and bring about a peaceful settlement.” Dr. Soekarno said that although Britain had offered mediation in the Indonesian-Dutch dispute, the influence of another great Power, such as the United States, was needed to make the Dutch accept the British offer. The Indonesian people, as well as he himself, were deeply grateful for the British offer of mediation and he was confident that “with the British as mediators we shall receive just and fair treatment.” Dr. Soekarno said that the United States should not underestimate the power of her position, and he added: “I appeal to you, President Truman, and to the people of the United States to stand by the principles of justice and right for which you fought so valiantly only two years ago.” The time had come, said Dr. Soekarno, for him, as leader of 70,000,000 Indonesian people, to speak plainly to 130,000,000 liberty-loving people of the United States. Just as the United States, in 1776, had fought until she gained her independence, so the Indonesians would fight until they were free from the Dutch. “This fight to a finish can only be stopped if the Dutch cease military action,” he said. “This is no time for diplomatic statements or to spare the feelings of anyone. Peace is an urgent necessity in Indonesia. Unless it comes, and comes quickly, the blood of thousands, if necessary millions, will flow here. My people have conceded much, but we have come to a point beyond which there will be no retreat.”