The Wanganui Chronicle. THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1949. AUSTRALIA AND INDONESIA

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 January 1949, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1949. AUSTRALIA AND INDONESIA

T'HE calling by Pandit Nehru of a conference of Asiatic Governments to take place in New Delhi has shown the people of Australia to where their external policy or lack of policy is leading the country. Now it becomes apparent to the simplest minded individual that to allow foreign policy to be manufactured on the waterfront is to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The position of Australia, and to a similar extent that of New Zealand, is that of a European enclave in Asia. Because Australasia happens to be divided by some sea from the mainland of the Asiatic continent that enclave is none the less real. There is moving over the people of Asia a spirit of unrest and it is unlikely that this spirit which is so potent in almost every other part of the world should leave unaffected the teaming millions of the tropical areas bordering the Pacific Ocean. Recent history has been the writing of the results of an uprising of an Asiatic people who believed that by a policy of military adventure they could win for themselves a position in the world which would otherwise be denied to them. The accommodating of the newly developed Japanese economy within the world was proving to be .a very difficult problem. The method of adjusting the different claims to consideration had not been worked out. indeed it might well be that the various factors had not even been properly evaluated and it was by no means clear in which direction lay the solution. In these conditions which defied the best minds that werg attracted to the problem there were in this imperfect world competing interests and these interests had to be considered. The question for Australia was not a racial one only: obviously enough it was also economic. The Japanese textile industry was a good buyer of: Australian wool and as such was appreciated, but the Japanese textile operative was 'no buyer of Australian cheese and butter and meat. Tp retain the wool-buying operations of the Japanese textile manufacturer, but to lose the buying strength of the Lancashire cotton operative was not to the liking of Australia, any more than it was to the liking of New Zealand. What was to be done? Obviously nothing could be done along bilateral lines between Japan and Australasia which promised a solution of even, their immediate problems. The whole problem fanned out and interlocked with the structure of world economy. The war came and now a new set of conditions has arisen concerning Japan which even now have not yet been properly evaluated let alone the problem which those conditions comprise being solved. The ferment, however, which took Japan into the recent World War against Australia and New Zealand is still operative in Asia. That ferment is responsible for the Republican Movement being sustained in Indonesia. Without going into the merits or the demerits of the Indonesian situation today it might well be for the people of Australia and New Zealand to ask themselves what will be their position if they are in a few years time completely isolated communities within the Asiatic population mass? Ask, too, what is likely to be the result of such a situation in a period of stress when neither the United Kingdom can send help and when the United States of America is so heavily committed elsewhere that it must for the time being give up any engagements in respect to Far Eastern Asia and the South Pacific generally. Is there any reason for believing that any Indonesian States in the hands of Inexperienced leaders who in turn were responsible to an electorate that is without knowledge would be well and wisely directed in their negotiations with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand? Obviously there is every reason for entertaining grave apprehensions. On the other hand should the Dutch remain in Indonesia gradually developing the people for the responsibilities of selfgovernment is there any reason to fear that negotiations with such a Government will be more difficult in the future than it has been in the past? Obviously, no. The Dutch have been successful in integrating the economy of Indonesia with the economy of the world and there has in consequence been no -important friction point to disturb international relations in respect to Indonesia as 1 was the case with pre-war Japan. Is not this something for which the Dutch Colonial Administration should be thanked? Yet, unfortunately, it is lightly passed over as a matter of no consequence Australia with her White Australia policy now more strictly adhered to. will do well to contemplate long and deep the invitation to sit in conference at New Delhi. Should New Zealand send no delegate, then Australia will be able to see in the one white face of its delegate to that conference the actual isolation which her policy is building up. A nation cannot allow hei- house to be out of order and go into the international conferences and instruct others. It would have been more appropriate had Dr. Evatt played a less prominent part in recent conferences until he could speak with authority for the country which he is supposed to represent. To have the dissident elements hi Indonesia convinced that the Australian Government is impotent insofar as the Asiatic problem is concerned and that the Indonesians have a virtual control of the Australia wharves and shipping is undoubtedly encouraging to them. It inspires the belief that they have only to persist and the dominance of the Dutch win be brought to an end. Then, it is to be assumed, the Indonesian Government will quietly forget that it can influence Australian national policy and the former will treat with the Australian Federal Government as though it is the sole voice of the Australian people. But is such an assumption sound? Is it not more probable that :'n any future negotiations between the Indonesian Republic and the Government of Australia the Indonesians, believing their influence in Australia to be considerable, will prove themselves to be equally intractable then as they are today in their dealings with the representatives of the Netherlands Government? The sound policy for Australia and New Zealand to follow in respect to Indonesia is to assist the Dutch to carry out their obligations in Indonesia by fulfilling all the obligations resting upon a friendly Power. Thus,-only will the integration of the Indonesian economy with that of the rest of the world be smoothly achievedany other way must lead to chaos.