THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1949. A Notable Day In History

Northern Advocate, 28 December 1949, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1949. A Notable Day In History

The wheels of time bring with them as they revolve dramatic changes the gradual evolution of

which had not been given the attention its importance demanded. As a result the world has stood aghast when confronted with a fait accompli which might not have taken place if heed had been paid to

day-to-day developments. Though these observations may not be strictly and entirely applicable to Indonesia, it is nevertheless, a fact that there was consummated yesterday at The Hague, capital of the Netherlands, and at Batavia, the capital of Java, an agreement, unexpected till recently, which will exert far-reaching influence upon history, particularly in the Pacific and South-East Asia.

Yesterday will mark another great turning point in the relationship of peoples who have lived for centuries on terms which made one dependent

very largely on the will of the other, though the later years witnessed changes which allowed both peoples to enjoy equality previously undreamed of.,

India provides a classic example in this respect, but, even in that case, many people in other parts of the world were aghast when they awoke to the fact that Britain had decided to grant to the people of the great sub-continent the right to break away from the Commonwealth and to become subjects of an independent sovereign state. Today, India is a Republic, with Pakistan, hitherto a component part of India, occupying similar independence, but, paradoxical as it may seem, tjie Indian Republic has of its own accord chosen to remain within the Commonwealth. In somewhat the same relationship have been the people of the

Dutch East Indies, or, as the fabulously wealthy confederation of islands is known, Indonesia.

This relationship existed for over three centuries, but comparatively recent years have witnessed tremendous changes which have fanned the nationalistic aspirations of the Indonesian people.

What Queen Juliana of the Netherlands said yesterday was one of the most profound and moving events of this time would probably not have occurred so soon but for the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in the course of their victorious southern sweep during the world war. When compelled to evacuate the islands, the Japanese granted independence to the Indonesians, who,

when the Dutch returned some weeks after the Japanese hao departed, contested the Netherlands’ claim to sovereignty.

The course of events since then is well known, for the Dutch, in spite of the military might which they had assembled, were obliged, by the combination of Indonesian guerilla

warfare, the pressure of opinion in India and America, and the finding of a United Nations Commission, to negotiate an agreement by which the Dutch and Indonesians are to be equal and sovereign states in a Netherlands-Indonesian Union. The formal signing of this historical agreement, which took place yesterday, has thus affected a change of control with tremendous possibilities for good or evil. That the Dutch and Indonesians will prove themselves worthy partners pledged to work for the peace of the world is devoutly to be prayed. especially by the people of Ausralia and New Zealand, who are their near neighbours.