MENADO FALLS TO SOEKARNO

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28619, 23 June 1958, Page 11

MENADO FALLS TO SOEKARNO

Last Rebel City

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.)

JAKARTA. June 21. Indonesian Government troops have captured the rebel capital of Menado in the North Celebes, a Government broadcast announced today. Menado was the last city in Indonesia held by the rebels, American Associated Press reported. Menado, a tropical city of 60,000 persons, is at the extreme end of the peninsula of North Celebes. Government military spokesmen have been predicting that the collapse of Menado would mean the end of more than four months of rebellion and civil war, the news agency said. Paratroops and commandos spearheaded the Government’s final drive. The Army announced last Sunday that paratroops and commandos had landed on the coast of the North Celebes peninsula on the east and west of the volcano-ringed rebel capital. At dawn next day. Government troops landed near the fishing town of Kema on the east coast

Cabinet Changes Changes in the Indonesian Cabinet may come in a matter of days, according to political observers in Jakarta. The observers said the fall of Menado could pave the way for an important announcement by President Soekarno.

According to the observers, any Cabinet changes made are not likely to have the appearance of political concessions to the defeated rebels. The changes may be important, but not drastic. President Soekarno may be giving thought to strengthening the Cabinet’s control over Indonesia’s economic affairs, which became worse as a result of regional upheavals. The President, who recently said that Cabinet policy would remain the same, has several times conferred with leaders of the Nationalist Party, Indonesia's biggest political group.

Better Relations With U.S.

(Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 21. Major-General Abdul Haris Nasution, Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Army said yesterday that relations and understanding between Indonesia and the United States were improving, according to a dispatch to the “New York Times” from Jakarta today. It said that General Nasution announced a plan to invite Admiral Felix Stump, Commander in Chief of United States Forces in the Pacific, to visit Indonesia soon and indicated the invitation would serve as evidence of the closer Indonesian-United States relationship. General Nasution said that Indonesia intended to resume negotiations with Washington on the purchase of United States military equipment for the Indonesian armed forces.

In one of his rare press interviews, General Nasution told correspondents that he had documentary proof of United State? intervention, “not officially but in fact,” in Indonesia in favour of the rebels, the dispatch said. He did not propose to let this sour his attitude to the United States, he said.