JAVA FRONT

Grey River Argus, 4 January 1946, Page 5

JAVA FRONT

BRITISH WITHDRAWAL NOT , INDICATED. BATAVIA, January 2. A press correspondent says that the Allied Command is slowly progressing with its two tasks in Java, but it is authoritatively stated that there is no basis for the suggestion that March 1 had been fixed for the withdrawal of British forces. This will depend largely on the speed with which the Japanese are concentrated on the coast for the transhipment task 'which ■ the Indonesian Peace Preservation Corps will perform if the present negotiations succeed. A British soldier was killed and several wounded in an outburst of shooting which "greeted the New Year. Hysterical shooting by drunken men set off a blaze of gunfire throughout Batavia, lasting an hour. Many groups were convinced that a new conflict had broken out. Adding to the mass hysteria came tlv> rumour that a general Indonesian uprising was set for midnight. The police state that the rumour was groundless and that they believe the shooting was entirely due to drunkenness and nervousness.

JAVANS TO BE TRIED. BY DUTCH COURTS. (Rec. 8.30). BATAVIA, January 3. Military courts are to be instituted bjp_the Supreme Allied Commander in South-East Asia ■ to try all persons, other than those subject to British military law, for offences against the Allied military administration. The courts will be Dutch ones. This is because the Netherlands is the sovereign power in the East Judies, and no British court can legally be set up to try certain specified offences. Dutch courts will form an integral part of the Allied military administration. One or more members of the courts may be Indonesians. All cases Where sentences of death are imposed will be reviewed by the Supreme Allied Commander. Sentences exceeding two years’ imprisonment will be reviewed by the Commandei’-in-Chief of the Allied forces in the Netherlands East Indies.