The Dutch N. Guinea

Australian Prime Minister In Indonesia

There Does Australia Stand On The Dutch N. Guinea

By Stuart Inder

When Australian Prime Minister Menzies went off to take irst close look at Indonesia in December as guest of the jblic, he left some people wondering just what line he d take over the Netherlands New Guinea issue.

matter was certain to be ussed according to the pre nary announcements from des. The Indonesians, tly, were hopeful of getting ,tion from Mr. Menzies on xactly Australia stood on the They have in the past, ig to the published state -3f Indonesian leaders, been mzzled and hurt” at Aus support of the Dutch claim Jtherlands New Guinea was neant to be part of the ian Republic. is one thing certain though f Indonesian representatives have been doing only half ning job they are paid to do, akarta knows very well that a is not committed to to anything of any con e over the New Guinea issue, it Mr. Menzies will have a iscience in listening to what karno has to say. of course, is not what the i the street in Australia, , and, no doubt, Indonesia to be the picture.

hat The Public Thinks

DUld tell you that Australia Hand had surely combined sort of secret pact and that re drawing closer and closer • in the common task of the Indonesians out. ould remind you that fol th e Australia-Netherlands ice in Canberra in October r, the Netherlands and Aus ad developed a much closer n New Guinea and were ex g personnel and ideas, and iey obviously knew where ire going together. ; what he thinks, ruth is that the two countries ;one exactly nowhere to- This is because Australia is gingerly on a fence and re get off. her perch, Australia is able an eye on the minor activity ping a few facts and figures, rsonnel. She is able to talk ‘co-operation” and “under g” and “good-will”, but until

she gets down from the fence, on one side or the other, she is not going to be able to say that she stands anywhere at all on the New (rUinea issue guinea issue.

The New Guinea issue has got nothing much to do with how many New Guineans will be sent to the Hollandia Nautical School for training courses, or how many

Dutch Papuans will be sent to P-NG to study local government councils.

The Questions at Issue

The real questions on the issue are: • Whether or not Australia will subscribe to the Dutch view point that the existing co-operation in the Administration field should be widened to a full-fledged financial, economic and military co-operation. • Whether or not Australia, hav

cided, will then make perfectly internationally—to Indonesia i everybody else, including the I States—that it either will not militarily back the Dutch r position in NNG is attacked j third party, and liether the Australian Gov at, having made up its mind pt a course, will make quite within Australia what its 5 principles for the future are so that there can be no mis

tanding among political

;, trade unions and the public lly on where Australia stands. ;e are the only real questions answered on the Dutch New i issue at this stage, but they jstions which Mr. Menzies and al Affairs Minister Casey lever publicly admitted exist. ;, of course, good politics, or iplomacy if you like, to avoid ring hypothetical questions, ally if you hope, as Australia that you can go on fence and offend neither the ■lands nor Indonesia.

There Are Pressures might be all right if there pressures—if those on either I the fence didn’t each have if one of your arms, tugging ir own direction. And in circumstances, fence sitting j a hazardous occupation, nesia has publicly said she is ?d and hurt” at Australia’s ,e in supporting Indonesia.

Netherlands so far has not >ut in the open and admitted, truthfully could, that she is ing more and more irritable tralia’s refusal to stop talking des and to face up to the if the situation, jral relations and good-will n the two New Guinea terri are good—there should be no e about that—but on that liar point of what Australia’s policy is, things are a little ;d. And there should be no e about that. Nobody could the Dutch for feeling as they Netherlands does not believe mstralia really has the 30 or irs it thinks it has before -New Guinea will be politic vare and ready to control its jstiny. She is at the same time that Australia thinks the ’lands is trying to go too fast Side of the Territory.

A Start, Anyway

re is room for difference of n on that. But the Dutch nore cause to worry than Aus on what the future holds for and they have concluded, tly, that the future is bound th the future of Papua-New a, and they want to do some about it.

At last year’s Canberra confer ence they suggested a consultative union between the two territories, as a start to something better, but Australia rejected this on the grounds that it was premature.

The point is, however, that the Dutch think that something should be worked out between the two Territories that will influence their political future, even if the idea of a consultative union is premature, as it probably is as far as P-NG is concerned.

These are critical times that the New Guinea Territories are passing through just how critical will probably be noted in the history books. Now is the time for important decisions.

If Mr. Menzies goes home from Indonesia still publicly handing out platitudes about “good-will” and “co-operation” on the New Guinea issue, nobody can blame the Dutch if they finally lose their temper and decide that if co-operation is what Australia needs then she can go and co-operate on her own.

And what of the future of the island of New Guinea then?

The Norwegian liner Bergens fjord, on her second cruise to the Pacific, will call at Rarotonga next February 5. Preparations are already in hand for a big programme of entertainment.