LEADER ATTACKED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25964, 3 October 1945, Page 5

LEADER ATTACKED

EXILED FOR NINE YEARS ALWAYS CHANGING POLICY BATAVIA, Oct. 1. Dr Hubertus Van Mook, LieutenantGovernor of the Netherlands East Indies, is expected in Batavia soon. The chief of police, Mahammet Jasim, said law and order would be maintained in Java so long as there were Allied forces present, but, he said, trouble would follow when the Dutch tried to rule alone. Allied forces continue to arrive in Java, where Sir Philip Christison will take over as Allied commander. The Netherlands Government Information Office, in a statement issued at The Hague, says: “Holland has refused to enter into discussions with the Soekarno Government. The occupation of Java remains restricted for the time being to the towns of Batavia and Sourabaya, and this leaves open the question of who is to exercise authority on the remainder of the island. It is. of course, impossible to turn such authority over to the Japanese, who will have to be disarmed and made prisoners of war. The statement added that the Dutch were not yet able to move troops to take over authority, and the difficulties in consequence of this probably explained the tendency in some British circles to recognise the Soekarno Government as the de facto Administration. The Netherlands Government could not do this. The Dutch Minister for Overseas Territories, Dr Logemann. stated that the Australian trade unionists who struck in sympathy with the Soekarno Government were misguided. He de* scribed Soekarno as a distrusted demagogue with Fascist tendencies and a Japanese supporter. It was useless to talk to such a man, who was always changing his policies, and who in Jap-anese-sponsored radio talks uttered such slogans as "We shall iron out America. We shall break upon England with a crowbar. Indonesians’ duty is to do or die with the Japanese.”

Dr Logemann said Dutch forces, including Indonesians, were expected to reach Java within a month or two. The Indonesians in the force were nationalists who trusted the Dutch Government to implement its promise of a democratic Government in the Netherlands East Indies on a basis of equal partnership with Holland. Dr Logemann added: ‘ We shall have to educate the Indonesians to build up a new nation. We are ready to do it, and will do it, but will not allow Governments like Soekarno’s to disturb our plans.” Dr Logemann said Soekarno before the war was exiled for nine years because of seditious speeches. He did not return to the mainland until the Japanese installed him in the puppet Government, which had no power until the Japanese surrendered. Dr Logemann said he did not expect organised resistance when the Dutch forces arrived, but if there were it would be suppressed by force. The Netherlands representative. C. H. Van der Plas, told a press conference in Batavia that the Netherlands East Indies would achieve complete independence, but an independence based not on violence or terrorism. He termed the situation in Java as potentially explosive.