A Shooting
p. 18 · Read in the full issue
War
A naval clash between Indo nesians and Dutch off the south west coast of NNG, east of Etna Bay on January 15, brought the NNG situation back into world headlines.
When three Indonesian motor torpedo boats opened fire on a Dutch reconnaissance aircraft, one of the two Dutch naval vessels opened fire on the MTB’s, sinking one. The other two raced off. The Dutch ships picked up 35 armed survivors from the MTB, and the Dutch announced that captured documents revealed that the three MTB’s had con tained more than 100 Indonesian army men who were to be put ashore in rubber boats near Kaimana to wipe out the Ad ministration post there.
The captured men were later returned by the Dutch.
The clash led to great activity at the United Nations, but there were no later developments of any importance until February 5 when following a violent Indo nesian demonstration outside the US Embassy in Djakarta, the US withdrew permission for Dutch troop planes to land on American airfields (notably in Hawaii). The] US decision caused criticism in-side and outside America. (For the latest Australian atti-. tude on the NNG situation see] “Canberra Report”, page 93.) i