BRITISH CREW MENACED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 262, 6 November 1945, Page 5

BRITISH CREW MENACED

ARMED INDONESIANS TROUBLE ABOARD SHIP AUSTRALIA CRITICISED Recd. 7.35 p.m. London, Nov. 5. For permitting Indonesians to carry arms aboard the liner Esperance Bay and creating a situation in which the ships officers said they ran the risk of being murdered thruughojt the voyage from Australia to Bataw.i, the Australian authorities were severely criticised when the ship brought 1400 Indonesian seamen to Batavia yesterday, says the “Daily .Mail's” correspondent. The Indonesians smuggled arms aboard the Esperance Bay in a fantastic amount of furniture and personal possessions. They produced them soon after leaving the Australian coast and adopted a menacing attitude. The ship’s captain called for an escort and the H.M.A.S. Arunta joined the Esperance Bay the day before her arrival off Timor, where, according to orders, some Indonesians were to be disembarked. They refused to leave the ship, and, in the interests of peace, no action was taken except the embarkation of 100 Australian troops.

‘‘This was appeasement of the worst form, and resisted in the Indonesians becoming more Belligerent,” says the “Daily Mail. “This slipshod attitude endangered the lives of the Australian guard and the ship’s crew. When the Esperance Bay arrived at Batavia the ship flashed an urgent signal to the shore, asking for an armed guard without Dutch troops. The Indoner’ans still refused to be loaded into small craft for the trip ashore, but responded when 20 men, with tommy guns, went below. The ringleaders of the mutiny were not allowed ashore. Their fate will be decided by the Dutch authorities. The Dutch won’t thenk the Commonwealth for shipping such a boatload of trouble to Java.” Mr. K. C. Plumb, Australian political liaison officer to the South-east Asia Command, was a passenger. He addressed the Indonesians several times. He was inclined to play down the incidents, but Colonel T. W. Bartley, the officer commanding the Australians aboard the ship, and also the ship’s company were most outspoken. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Batavia correspondent says a certain number of Indonesians were detained in cells on the Esperance Bay and will be taken back to their original destination. Timor. Had the Indonesians attempted to take the shin there would have been terrific bloodshed. The Australian guards were sufficient only to watch the gangways, bridge and engine-room. , The correspondent interviewed Dr. Sopdihiat, one of th® alleged ringleaders, who once spent several years in prison with Dr. Hatta. who is at present Dr. Soekarno’s Vice-President. Siedihiat was exiled for his part in the Batavian uprisings in 1926, and went to Australia in 1942. where he became president of the Victorian branch of the committee for Indonesian Independence. Soedihiat alleged that the partv had been double-crossed by the Australian Government. He added that Mr. Calwell (Minister of Information) assured him they would be disembarked at a “Soekarno” port.