A SINGLE EMPIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26043, 5 January 1946, Page 5

A SINGLE EMPIRE

NETHERLANDS POUCY FUTURE OF INDONESIANS NO LONGER SERVANTS (Ret. 10 p.m.) AMSTERDAM, Jan. 4. “ The Indonesians are no longer bur servants, and we must come to a mutual understanding with them,” said Dr van Mook. He was addressing 500 Dutch students and representatives of youth organisations. It was his first public appearance since his arrival from Batavia to confer with Dutch and British Government officials. Dr van Mook said the people of Java were no longer a defenceless mass, but people with a strong national feeling who realised the need for national defence. Dr Sjahrir embodied the most constructive elements, which did not condone the extremists’ savagery. The mass of the intellectual and moderately intellectual Indonesians, also the greater mass of the peace-loving people, stood behind Dr Sjahrir. The aim of the Dutch Government with those in her service was “to lay the foundation for collaboration as participants in a single empire.” Dr van Mook attributed the Indonesian misunderstanding and distrust of the Dutch to assiduous Japanese propaganda, but he emphasised that outside Java the situation in the Indonesian islands was generally quiet. The people of the Moluccas and the Celebes were particularly receptive of his broadcast repeating Queen Wilhelmina’s pledge of selfgovernment for the Netherlands East Indies within the framework of the empire.