Fiery Appeal By Soekarno

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29797, 13 April 1962, Page 11

Fiery Appeal By Soekarno

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) JAMBI (Indonesia), April 11. President Soekarno delivered a fiery antiDutch speech before cheering students today and then brought the Australian, United States and eight other Ambassadors before the crowd to shout ’“Merdeka” (freedom), United Press International reported.

President Soekarno. is on a two-day tour through South Sumatra whipping up enthusiasm for his campaign to wrest West Irian (West New Guinea) from the Dutch by the end of the year. He reiterated that Indonesia would rather gain the territory peacefully but would use force if necessary He told' the crowd to stop complaining about the high price of rice and start thinking about the country’s great accomplishments since independence

There - had been some grumbling that the West Irian campaign was to blame for shortages of rice and other products United Press International said. The President closed his speech by leading the students in patriotic songs, including one called "Liberate West Irian.” Then, as he ha.s done before, he summoned the accompanying Ambassadors to the podium one by one. The United States Ambassador (Mr Howard P. Jones) and the others from Japan and Australia merely called out “Merdeka Indonesia." But the other Ambassadors —from the Soviet Union. Hungary. Poland. Jugoslavia, China, India and Burma—cried out "Merdeka Irian Barat” (freedom for West Irian). Proposal Rejected In West New Guinea, the three political parties today rejected proposals that the disputed territory be brought under United Nationssupervised adlministration by Indonesia.

In a joint message to the United Nations SecretaryGeneral (U Hrant) the Papuan leaders asked for self-determination for the people of West New Guinea, United Nations sources said A report from Hollandia today quoted them as telling U Thant: “We do not want Indonesian rule under any circumstances ”

Reuter reported from The Hague today that the Dutch Government will hold secret consultations today on the American proposal to place West New Guinea under United Nations supervision for two years while control is being transferred from Holland to Indonesia. Political observers said today there were considerable differences of opinion on the proposal both within the Government and in Parliament.

The plan is said to originate from Mr Ellsworth Bunker, a former United States Ambassador to India and the “third party” in recent talks between Indonesian and Dutch representatives in Washington. Opposition to Plan

In some political quarters it has been said that the Foreign Minister (Dr. Joseph Luns) and some of his Catholic Government colleagues, including the Prime Minister (Pofessor Jan de Quay) are opposed to the plan in its present form and are supported by the Liberal Party. The rest of the Cabinet is said to wish to seize this opportunity of clearing up the New Guinea dispute once and for all.