BRITAIN’S ATTITUDE IN JAVA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 269, 14 November 1945, Page 5

BRITAIN’S ATTITUDE IN JAVA

DID U.S. PLAY FAIR? QUESTION OF TRUSTEESHIP Recd. 11.45 om. Londori, Nov. 13.

"Though most Dutchmen are as sick at heart as any Briton when they see Britain attacked for being unwilling to do anything to prevent the Dutch Empire from disintegrating, they nevertheless believe that if the trouble now erupting in the Dutch East Indies had broken out in Burma or Malaya, the British would, somehow or other, have managed to get together the ships and men required to deal with the situation."

"The Times" correspondent in Amsterdam says this view is held, although it is acknowledged that Admiral Mountbatten had the whole situation _ placed on his shoulder., almost without warning,-and without preparation, after the San Francisco conference rejected the American proposals for colonial trusteeship. The Dutch .interpret this as a sign that the Americans were willing to heln them regain the Indies as long as there was a chance of American Interests coming into the islands on equal terms with the Dutch but that they lost interest when that possibility disappeared.

The "New York Herald-Tribune’s correspondent at Batavia said that every Indonesian leader he talked with underlined his Government’s willingness to submi i to United Nations trusteeship for a fixed term, but not Dutch trusteeship. The leaders argue that if the Dutch, during their three centuries rule, failed to educate the Indonesians for self-government they are hardly qualified to assume the role of mentor now. The Indonesian Republic’s Government faces problems that will severely test its stability. It has no formal recognition from the Allied Powers. Consequently. trade Is at a standstill, and economic difficulties are acute. The ravages of war and the Breakdown Of internal transport has caused a grave food situation, which may lead to dissatisfaction in wide areas. The Indonesian leaders are trying desperately to control the extremists, a number of whom are not exactly known, it appears that most of the trouble is coming from Ultra-Nationalist factions in the Indonesian Youth Movement and also semi-secret groups of terrorists, one of which calls itself the Black Buffaloes. Japanese instigation may be behind some of the agitation, but this has not been proved.