Third Time Lucky?

INDONESIA will bring its claim to Dutch New Guinea before the United Nations General Assembly again—this year, or maybe next, according to Indonesian leader Sastroamidjojo.

This will be the third time that the problem infant has been left on UN’s door-step. Unlike the first two occasions, this time it may be more difficult to produce technicalities to show that the child is not yet there. Indonesia’s third claim will be mtade against a different background—the changed attitude of the West, particularly the United States, to Indonesia.

America has adopted a “neutral” attitude for which many observers, basing their beliefs on some of the utterances of Dulles (PIM April, p. 105) read “support for Indonesia.”

The West obviously believes now that it can get more out of Indonesia that out of the Dutch — i.e. Indonesia as a bastion against the march of Communism, although Sastroamidjojo has already gone on record as saying that Indonesia intends to get the best out of the two worlds, East and West, and

has already done some preliminary flirting with Russia.

These propagandists for the so called neutral line in Indonesia are ignoring one interesting fact: As the Dutch are shoved out of key commercial positions in Indonesia, it is not Indonesians who are taking their place, but Chinese.

What claim has Indonesia to Dutch New Guinea? One—the territory was once Dutch. This is as logical as saying that the Indonesians now have a right to claim Curacao in the West Indies, which is also Dutch.

Ethnologically the Indonesians have no more claim to DNG than they have to Fiji. The natives of both are basically Melanesian.

The big unanswered question for Australia is (if the Trust Territory is not to have Indonesian neigh bours across the invisible line that runs through the NG mainland about the 141 degree of E.

Longitude) whether now, in view of the West’s “neutrality,” it is worth while for the Dutch to hang on in New Guinea. Perhaps it is, in view of the oil that is known to

be there and the other miner; suspected to be there.

But after New Guinea, whj Already there has been so: grandiose talk in Djakarta of campaign for the “liberation”

Portuguese Timor from colonialis The Indonesians already have 1 former Dutch half of Timor and the West has already recogni! this it might be hard to be nice about a similar claim to i Portuguese portion. After Indonesia here has some logic its side in that geographically £ racially Timor is akin to Indones and Portugal does not do v much with this t e r r i t o ] Certainly, Portugal is traditions England’s “oldest ally.” But < anyone imagine England (or A tralia) going to war to save Tii from the Indonesians?

After Dutch New Guinea s Timor, what? There is, of cou British Borneo (the Indonesi already have the former Du possessions in Borneo) and althoi this could be a tougher prob than getting the Dutch out of 1 Guinea and the Portuguese out Timor, nothing is impossible in era of high global strategy.

As Dr. S’Jojo himself has sa: the Indonesians are a peac> people.