Further to my telegram 140. [1] We saw Sjahrir on Saturday night.

He expressed surprise when we informed him of Van Hoogstraten's
new attitude, which he had not known, although he and Gani had
spent the whole morning in conference on general economic problems
with Van Mook and Van Hoogstraten. He mentioned, however, that Van
Hoogstraten had said, in fact, they should not bother with the
'trifling' matter of the ban and Van Mook had not dissented.

2. We raised the matter of Campbell's statement. He firmly
believed that this must be a distorted report and said that he
would try to obtain accurate information. He does not believe that
the new instructions to Van Hoogstraten resulted from anything
Campbell may have said but that something else lies behind them.

3. He also confirmed that he had enjoined both Campbell and Roach
and Healy to avoid statements likely to prejudice our efforts to
bring about cessation of the ban. He had also spoken to the same
effect to SOBSI before the Conference. He had gathered the same
impression as we had as to the attitude of Roach and Healy.

4. Clarification of the situation must await further reports from
Malang.

5. With reference to paragraph one above, we ascertained, in the
course of our talk, that the Indonesians want the Dutch forces
reduced before concluding an agreement on general economic
problems. They feel that in making such an agreement at present
they would be doing so under threat of force. According to Sjahrir
the Dutch insist on securing their economic objectives first.