"SQUEEZE” ON FOREIGNERS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28471, 28 December 1957, Page 9

"SQUEEZE” ON FOREIGNERS

New Moves By Indonesia

NEW YORK, Dec. 26. The “New York Times” said today that the “squeeze” that the Indonesian Government was putting on British, American, French, Belgian and other Western interests m Indonesia, revealed a general policy against all foreign interests. Thus, the newspaper said, the situation in Indonesia had gone beyond that country’s claim of sovereignty over Netherlands New Guinea, a claim which the United Nations General Assembly had repulsed For this, the Indonesian Government was not only taking its revenge against Dutch nationals in Indonesia, but was holding 1500 million dollars worth of Dutch property. The question of New Guinea might best be solved by means of a United Nations trusteeship, “but the issue now involves the legality of the Indonesian seizure and the right of other countries and the United Nations to intervene in what the Indonesians, like the Communists, claim is an internal affair. “Furthermore, it involves the whole programme of aiding the development of underdeveloped countries in which private capital must do the main job but cannot do it in a climate of confiscation. “Finally, it involves the fate of Indonesia itself, where growing famine and anarchy could lead to a Communist triumph that could imperil the defences of the whole free world. It was a question whether Indonesia’s acting president, Mr Sartono could bring the situation under control.