Departmental Dispatch 4/1948 (extracts) BATAVIA, 27 February 1948

SUBJECT: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AUTONOMOUS
TBRRITORIES

I have to report on recent developments in the establishment of
autonomous states in the territories of Java and Madura.

1. Madura
2. Indonesia saw its first plebiscite in January, 1948, when adult
Madurese voted to decide the status of Madura as a member of the
future United States of Indonesia. This plebiscite was organised
by a central committee through executive and subcommittees
throughout the island. Adult members of the various villages were
assembled and had read to them a resolution from the central
committee which stated, inter alia, that relations between Madura
and the central Republican Government had been severed as from
11th November, that authority in the island had been assumed by
R.A.A. Tjakraningrat, ex-Regent and Republican Resident, and that
the government of Madura was now autonomous and co-operating with
the Central Government at Batavia.

3. The villagers were then invited to express their opinion on the
following
points:

(a) The status of Madura as an independent state within the United
States of Indonesia;

(b) the appointment of R.A.A. Tjakraningrat as Madura's
representative to the provisional Senate of the interim
Government;

(c) the granting of authority to the Wali Negara (Head of State)
and the central committee to determine the political organisation
of the island;

(d) the conformity of the Government of Madura to the Linggardjati
Agreement;

(e) the expansion of Madura's representation on the senate of the
interim government to three members;

(f) the requesting of the Netherlands East Indies Government to
recognise the status of the island.

4. The villagers' votes were duly taken on 23rd January and the
following figures on the plebiscite have been released:

Number qualified to vote 305,546
Actual voters 219,660
In favour 199,510
Against 9,923
Abstentions 10,230
It is not clear just how these figures are related to the points
set out above; however, the large majority 'in favour' was hailed
sympathetically by all but the Republican press, as expressing the
wish of the overwhelming majority of Madurese for an independent
state.

5. Taking into consideration the facts that the population of
Madura is well over two million people and that there are very
substantial numbers of Madurese living on the main land who did
not vote in the plebiscite, the number of voters was extremely
small, certainly not an overwhelming majority of the total
population. Furthermore, even if the voting was free and not, as
Republican critics declared, closely supervised by the Dutch, the
number of people qualified to vote represents a very restricted
franchise. The result of the plebiscite could in no way be
regarded as a 'verdict of the people'.

[matter omitted]

2. West Java
11. The third West Java Conference opened in Bandoeng on 23rd
February. Its purpose was to implement the resolution of the
second Conference in December, 1947, which called for the
establishment of a State of West Java with a provisional
Government and parliament. [1]

[matter omitted]

15. On the following day, Soejoso attempted to secure an amendment
to the agenda, but the session became out of hand and was
adjourned by the Chairman after one hour. Informal discussions
were held overnight between the five supporters of Soejoso's
amendment and the Chairman of the Conference Preparatory and
Contact Committee and a compromise was reached in an amendment
which proposed the implementation of the resolution from the
December Conference on the understanding that the status of West
Java should be decided by a future plebiscite. This amendment was
signed by five representatives, including the Chairman of the
Conference and Soejoso. However, at the beginning of the session
the following day, the Chairman read out a letter from the Civil
Governor of West Java to the Preparatory Commission of the
Conference which stated that from the expressed view of the
Government it could be assumed that the Government already
approved of the resolution from the December Conference, so that
it could be concluded that West Java state had already been
formed. The letter further pointed out that the Government had
invited representatives from West Java to participate in the
Netherlands [Delegation] [2] and in the provisional Federal
Council. In view of this letter the Chairman withdrew his
signature from the compromise amendment and ruled that it could
not be discussed. Soejoso sought to speak, but was ignored. The
Conference then appointed a Committee to request the Civil
Governor to seek from the Government recognition of the Conference
as the Parliament of the State of West Java.

16. The fourth day of the Conference opened with a reading of a
reply from Dr. van Mook to the request from the Conference. The
relevant portion of this reply read as follows:

'The Government is prepared to comply with the above-mentioned
request if there is certainty concerning two points.

In the first place it seems desirable that this request be clearly
seconded by a statement of the Conference itself now that it is
meeting; it is not known to the Government whether such a
statement has been obtained.

In the second place it goes without saying that such a recognition
in itself would have little significance unless at the same time
the Conference were also to deal with the further organisation of
the provisional Government of West Java. Proposals in this regard
should be made to the Government, for a provisional representative
body would not be able to fulfil its tasks without more detailed
regulations and without a well defined executive.

Consequently it will have to depend upon the further decisions of
the Conference whether this recognition can be combined with a
definition of the task and a further organisation which will make
a further regular development possible.'

17. Following the reading of this letter, a note from Soejoso and
thirty-four others was read which protested against the
'undemocratic proceedings of the previous day'. A resolution,
signed by a large number of delegates, was also read which opposed
Soejoso's amendment whereby the Conference gained the right to
determine its own agenda. The Conference then passed a resolution
calling upon the Preparatory Committee to inform the Government,
through the Civil Governor, that it was the wish of the Conference
that it be recognised as a provisional parliament with the task of
producing a State Regulation and establishing a provisional
government of West Java on the basis of this Regulation. [The
resolution was passed by 62 votes to 35, with one abstention.]

18. The Conference has not yet ended.

19. It is noteworthy that Bandoeng is a closed city for which
residence permits are necessary. Raden Djajadiningrat has denied
that Dr. Budiardjo, the Chairman of the Republican Plebiscite
Movement in Batavia, was ordered to leave the city, though he was
not able to produce a permit when asked. Dr. Budiardjo did leave
the city, but of his own accord, added Djajadiningrat.