REPRESENTATION IN THE N.E.I.

Acting 'by direction of his Government', Netherlands Minister has
informed us that no official standing can be granted any longer to
any representatives formerly accredited with A.F.N.E.I.; that his
Government expects that we 'will withdraw the former Australian
Political Observer with A.F.N.E.I; and that, if we wish to appoint
a consular representative in the Indies, we should approach the
Netherlands Government from whom an exequatur would have to be
sought through the ordinary channels at The Hague.

2. Your 274. [1] Please ascertain from United Kingdom Consulate
whether United Kingdom has in fact applied for and obtained from
Netherlands Government, without reference to Indonesian Republic
Government, an exequatur for United Kingdom Consul-General in
Batavia. What formalities in this connection are being employed by
foreign consulates in the Indies?
3. You can inform Sjahrir that our reading of the Cheribon
agreement appears to preclude us at this stage of the negotiations
from formally accrediting a consular or diplomatic representative
to his Government. You should assure him however that we wish to
establish close links with the Indonesian Government and ask for
his general comment on the situation. What we have in mind is that
you should be, for all practical purposes and for the time being,
the Australian representative with the Indonesian Republic.

4. In the absence of any Indonesian commentary on the Cheribon
agreement, we are inclined to attach some weight to the view that
the agreement would facilitate the emergence, as a self-governing
state in international law, of the United States of Indonesia
rather than the Republic of Indonesia.

5. We have an open mind on these matters and would appreciate
early advice of the Republican Government's view of its status
under the agreement and particularly of its interpretation of
Article 7(3). [2]