INDONESIA

Negotiations
According to yesterday's radio reports, the informal discussions
between the Dutch Ministers and the Republicans have broken down,
apparently on the question of control of the armed forces.

Critchley reported a few days ago that the question of the supreme
command of the federal armed forces, and co-operation between the
Federal and Netherlands forces during the interim period had still
not been settled. Hatta was insisting that the Dutch forces should
only be used in an emergency and only at the request of the
interim Federal Government. The Dutch were claiming that this
represented a withdrawal by Hatta from the position he had taken
up in his aide memoire to Stikker [1] setting forth the Republic's
position. Hatta replied that this was a misunderstanding of his
aide memoire and that he was forwarding a letter [2] of
clarification to the Netherlands Ministers. Critchley reported
that the Dutch regarded this letter as crucial, and were going to
postpone any further decisions until it arrived. It can only be
assumed that the letter has come and that the Dutch regard it as
unsatisfactory. The Dutch Ministers are reported to have left for
The Hague; it is suggested that they may return to Batavia later.

Republican Membership of ECAFE
Whether as a result of the deadlock over control of the armed
forces or as a result of promptings from the Indian Government,
the Republic has now said that it has 'no objection' to its
application for membership being discussed at Lapstone. It has
sent messages in this sense to us and to the Indian delegates and
states that it is forwarding credentials to Usman.

It now appears certain that the question will be discussed again
on Wednesday, and that the Commission will be asked to vote on the
question of admission. Our object should be to let it come to a
vote as soon as possible and with a minimum of debate. It is
probable that with New Zealand support there would be a majority
in favour. We had better send a telegram in the attached terms [3]
to New Zealand.