INDONESIAN CLAIM TO WEST NEW GUINEA

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26120, 24 May 1950, Page 7

INDONESIAN CLAIM TO WEST NEW GUINEA

Dr. Soekarno Hopes for Area’s Accession Before 1951 “SERIOUS ALARM” REPORTED IN AUSTRALIA (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) JAKARTA, May 23. “I hope that West New Guinea will be incorporated in the Republic of Indonesia within this year,” said the President of Indonesia (Dr. Achmed Soekarno), in an interview with a Keuter correspondent.

Dr. Soekarno issued an open invitation to world capital to help Indonesia to develop West New Guinea on a non-colonial basis. He categorically denied that Indonesia had aspirations to Australian-controlled East New Guinea.

Dr. Soekarno said: “We hope soon to be sitting in West New’ Guinea, with Australia as our good neighbour.

“Indonesia’s claim is based on both historical and racial grounds. So long as West New’ Guinea is not back in our fold, there will always remain something not fulfilled in our national aspirations.” Dr. Soekarno’s claim to West

New’ Guinea has seriously alarmed the Australian Com-

monwealth Government, according to a Canberra message, lhe Minister of External Affairs (Mr P. C. Spender) announced that he had asked the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia (Mr John Hood) to return to Australia immediately tor discussions on the claim.

Dr. Soekarno’s statement was the second claim made by Indonesian spokesmen to New Guinea territory. An Indonesian delegate to the round-table conference at The Hague last year. Mr Mohammed Yamin claimed that the United States of Indonesia would not be complete until it embraced the whole of New Guinea.

i West New Guinea is still under Dutch control, and its permanent ' status will be determined next Janu- : ary. Jakarta sources say that there is 1 nothing new in Dr. Soekarno’s statei ment, and that the slogan. "Don’t for- | get New Guinea,” is on the lips of I every Nationalist leader.

AUSTRALIAN PRESS COMMENT

A Sydney message says that such i demands as Dr. Soekarno’s were expected from Indonesian Nationalist | extremists, but it was not believed that they would be joined by any re- • sponsible section of the Indonesian Government. Advice received by the : C mmonwealth Government was that the more responsible members of the Indonesian Government had tacitly agreed that ethnic, cultural, and geo- . gra: hie factors did not warrant any j Indonesian claim to West New Guinea. ' .he fact that the claim has now i b on enunciated by Dr. Soekarno is en in Australian official circles as ai. indication that the extreme ? onaiists have been able to stir up ■ .cient feeling in Indonesia to make litically impracticable for Dr. 5 ham to ignore the demand. y recalling its Ambassador for ‘ c uitation. the Commonwealth Gov- | foment has left Jakarta in no doubt 2 -t the seriousness with which it r .rds lire insolent assertion by Dr. £ ’ says the “Sydney Morning K raid.” "The Indonesian claim to-:

Dutch New Guinea has no foundation other than in the inflated ambitions of Javanese politicians. “The New Guinea natives are racially linked to the South Pacific, not to the Indies, and politically and economically. their fortunes lie with the Australian territories to the east.” The Sydney “Sun’’ comments: "If Indonesian officials are astonished by Lie swiftness of Australia's reaction, because ‘Dr. Soekarno’s ideas on West Guinea are not new,’ thev have httle reason for surprise. Australia’s ideas on West New Guinea are not new either. The s 'oner Indonesia realises these ideas, the better. “The nation which should control West New Guinea is not the Indo-

nesian Republic, which has not 'the slightest racial or geogranhical excuse but the Dutch nation, which has held humane authority over the area for so many years.” The Melbourne “Herald” describes the agitation by Dr. Soekarno a s ‘oa~t of an attempt to create national se"nfirnent in an unstable federation of different races, religions, and languages."