INDONESIAN AIMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26041, 3 January 1946, Page 5

INDONESIAN AIMS

NO CHANGE OF POLICY FULL INDEPENDENCE BATAVIA, Jan. 1. At least one 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 the city lasting an hour. Many groups were convinced that a new conflict had broken out. Adding to the mass hysteria came a rumour of a general Indonesian uprising set for midnight. The police state that the rumour was groundless. They believe the shooting. was entirely due to drunkenness and nervousness. The Australian Associated Press correspondent says the Allied command is slowly progressing with two tasks in Java, but it is authoritatively stated that there is no basis for the suggestion that March 1 has 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 transhipment, a task which the Indonesion Peace Preservation Corps will perform if the present negotiations succeed. Although women and children in the Relief of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees’ camps are now much less vulnerable, the shipping shortage is still vitiating the R.A.P.W.I. efforts. Politically the situation will be in a state of flux until Dr van Mook’s return about January 10, when the new offer to the Indonesians will be made. It is impossible even to speculate whether a compromise can be reached. Although the atmosphere is now more favourable than it has been for many weeks, the Indonesians still stand firmly by their demand for acknowledgment of their right to full independence as a preliminary to further negotiations.