CONSULTATIONS ON INDONESIA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25247, 28 July 1947, Page 7

CONSULTATIONS ON INDONESIA

Possible Australian Request For Action By UNO

EARLY ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR CHIFLEY EXPECTED

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, July 26. . C , ol ;’ n f! R- H P<tason, the Australian delegate to the United Na ions, said to-day that the Australian Government was consulting with other Governments about reuuestin? the United Nations to intervene in the fighting in Indonesia. In Canberra, an announcement by the Austmlinn Primo Minister (Mr Chifley) that Australia has decided to move that the Dutch-Indonesian conflict should be referred to the Security Council of the United Nations is expected in the next few ria vs Mr Chifley will emphasise that the Australian Govermntnt’s’ attitude is strictly neutral Three-way discussions have been taking place among Mr Chifley in Queensland, the Minister of External Affairs (Dr. H. V. Evatt), in Japan, and the Australian Minister in London (Mr J. A. Beasley). Dutch sources reported to-day that the Netherlands Government had rejected all suggestions for outside mediation in the Indonesian dispute, says the Nanking correspondent of the United Press.

These sources added that in a Note which the Dutch Ministryof Internal Affairs had delivered to the Chinese Government. the Netherlands took the view that the fighting was purely an internal affair. The Note is reported to haVe expressed appreciation for China’s expressed concern over the conflict, but added that the Netherlands did not want thirdparty mediation at this time.

Copies of the Dutch Note were- sent to representatives of Britain and the United States. Observers in Nanking believe that the Dutch Note has doomed any further attempts to end the dispute with outside help, except possibly through the United Nations, but it is stated that its charter forbids the United Nations from interfering in a sovereign nation’s internal affairs. z Mr Hedji Salim, the Indonesian Republic’s Foreign Minister, has announced that he is going to Cairo to consult officials of the Arab League on a solution of the Dutch-Indonesian conflict, and to seek support for Indonesia from the Arab States, says a correspondent of the “New York Times” in a message from Lebanon. Mr Salim said that a very strange game was being played in Indonesia. The Dutch were suddenly demanding the return of the sovereignty which they had conceded to the Republic,

while the British, who technically exercised military command over the JJutch forces, were professing that they were powerless to halt the Dutch troops actions. A message from Oslo says the Dutch ana Indonesian delegates to the World Conference of Christian Youth have th" following joint statement:— The Indonesian delegation is convinced that the use of armed force must be halted and that negotiations must be resumed. The Dutch delegation, convinced of the right of the Indonesians to liberty and independence, is acutely conscious of the danger in the use of arms to good relationships between the two peoples.” A report from San Francisco says that the national executive board of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union to-day asked the Security Council to act on the Dutch “aggression” against the Indonesian Republic.