FAR EASTERN LIAISON OFFICE,
MELBOURNE, 25 September 1945

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

Subject: Conversation with the Lieutenant Governor General of the
Netherlands Indies-Dr. Van Mook
I met Dr. Van Mook on Thursday last at 12 noon, and obtained from
him the following information which I understand your Department
is interested in:

1. Indonesian Independence Movement:

While the Netherlands Government are necessarily concerned at the
expression of this Movement in Batavia, their only information
indicates:

(a) That the Movement in its more radical form is limited to the
main cities of Batavia and Sourabaya which 'had always been
centres of unrest'.

(b) Up until the time that I saw Dr. Van Mook, they had not
received any official reports of demonstrations of more than 250
people which indicates that it was not a mass movement of the
population.

(c) Any information they have got from the country districts, and
in particular Bandoeng, indicates that those areas are quiet and
they do not expect the same trouble. He also understands the
Japanese have been strictly correct in their attitude and have
forbidden these demonstrations.

(d) I mentioned to him the question of a future flag for Indonesia
and he said that the Indonesian national flag would not be
recognised in its present form, but he was himself thinking along
the lines of some flag similar to that adopted by the States of
the British Commonwealth-that is, a local flag with perhaps the
Dutch symbol in canton.

2. War Criminals:

The Netherlands Government proposes to arrest Soekarno and one
other (whose name I cannot recall) as war criminals, but Van Mook
does not expect that any other arrests will be made. Soekarno, Van
Mook considers, has prejudiced himself by his action in going to
Singapore on the 8th August and returning on the 14th August,
after which he made a public declaration in support of the
Japanese. Van Mook considered that had Soekarno maintained his
attitude of leader of the Independence Movement but disassociated
himself from the Japanese in the closing stages of the war then he
might have had some justification for his claim that he had only
used the Japanese as an instrument in the cause of Indonesian
Nationalism.

3. Foreign Representation in Java:

Van Mook stated that he had asked the United States Government to
appoint Dr. Foote as U.S. Consul General [1] although they had
proposed a new appointment on the grounds of Dr. Foote's age. He
considered that it was important, where possible, for the previous
official representatives to be appointed for a short term as they
were known to many of the officials and commercial firms, and also
knew their way about the country.

He stated that Mr. Walsh, the former British Consul General 'was
one of those former Consular representatives whom he was not going
to ask for'.

I mentioned the question of Mr. Peterson's appointment and he
considered it would be desirable for the reasons given in the case
of the United States for him (Mr. Peterson) to return to Java as
soon as possible as Trade Commissioner. He considered that the
office should as soon as possible be raised to the status of
Consul General but he did not think that Mr. Peterson would be
quite up to Consular General standard. He said that the
Netherlands officials were always friendly disposed to Mr.

Peterson and would welcome his return during the interim period
before a Consulate General was set up.

4. Status of Indonesians in Australia:

Dr. Van Mook said that he had explored this matter with the
Australian authorities and understood that they did not wish the
Indonesians in this Country to remain. He considered that most of
them, apart from any embarrassing political opinions which they
might have, are of the coolie class and therefore he could quite
understand that the Australian Government would not welcome them
permanently in the Country. As soon as shipping was available he
proposed to arrange for their repatriation to those parts of the
Indies from whence they had come.

A number of these Indonesians considered that they could exercise
considerable influence in their own districts on their return by
reason of their protracted stay in Australia, and their
association with Australian political groups. He, however, did not
consider that this influence would be very significant as he
thought that they would not be welcome by the people who had
suffered so much and were so short of necessities. The reaction in
fact that he expected was that the people would consider they had
done extremely well for themselves out of the war.

5. Rehabilitation:

Dr. Van Mook considered that the people coming from Holland and
the number of released internees would be sufficient to enable
them to look after rehabilitation on their own. He was quite
emphatic that U.N.R.R.A. would not operate in the Netherlands
Indies.

6. Civil Administration:

Only the senior officers of each District would be militarised.

The others would all be civilians, and it was his intention to
switch over to a completely Civil Administration as soon as
possible.

He explained that there might have been some difficulty in the
event of the Governor General of the Indies not being released as
he (Van Mook) would then have been head of the Government, and it
might not have been acceptable to the Dutch for the Head of the
Government to have been subordinate to an Allied Command. As the
Governor General, however, was now the titular head of the
Government and was remaining in London for some time, this problem
would not arise and he (again, Van Mook) would be in effect head
of the Civil Administration, responsible to Mountbatten. [2] He
would not, however, become militarised.

With the released internees and the people from Holland he
expected that they would have sufficient officers to handle
administration, although there would be difficulties in the out-
lying areas for some time.

Medical opinion from Java on the condition of the internees
indicated that a large number of them were fitted and were eager
to start work immediately in their old positions. The medical
authorities, however, considered that while it would be desirable
for them to go back to work so that they could readily adjust
themselves to normal life and get a new interest, it was most
unlikely that they would be able to continue working for any great
length of time (possibly three months).

No other detailed discussions took place, and a talk on Trade
Relations was limited to pious declarations of close collaboration
in the future.

No reference was made to any of the anti-Dutch feeling which had
been expressed, particularly in the Sydney Press.

I got the impression throughout the interview that he was being
fairly frank on most of these problems, but he necessarily made
reservations throughout the conversation owing to the inadequacy
of their information from Java.

He is proposing to land with the occupying Forces on October 4th
and as many as possible of the Netherlands officials here will be
flown in during that week. He did not consider it was necessary
for an Australian representative to go over in the first week, but
considered it would be desirable for him to arrive as soon as
possible after that.

The rest of the conversation was limited to general expressions of
good will and thanks for the work that F.E.L.O. had done over the
last three years.

J. C. R. PROUD