Office of the Historian

219. Memorandum of a Conversation, U.S. Delegation Office, Parliament House, Canberra, March 13, 1957, 9:30 a.m.1

Canberra, March 13, 1957, 9:30 a.m.

PARTICIPANTS

  • The United States
    • The Secretary
    • Mr. Robertson
    • Mr. Reinhardt
    • Mr. Peterson2
  • Australia
    • Mr. Casey
    • Mr. Tange
[Page 367]

SUBJECT

  • Indonesia

Mr. Casey thought current news from Indonesia was bad from the point of view of stability. South Borneo seemingly had gone the same way as the Celebes and Sumatra. He thought this strengthened the Australian case for maintenance of Dutch control in West New Guinea. The situation in Indonesia made it necessary that the Dutch hang on.

The Secretary thought the Dutch should hang on. He said the U.S. had taken a neutral position on the West New Guinea issue for tactical reasons but he thought the Dutch should stay. The Secretary said that from the standpoint of stability, the situation in Indonesia posed some problems. The Secretary questioned whether the Indonesians had the political skill to hold the archipelago together. He was doubtful. He would hold an open mind but be prepared for some form of loose-jointed federation.

Mr. Robertson pointed out that the leaders of the revolt were anti-Communist and among other things protested the proposal of Sukarno to include Communists in his cabinet. Sukarno was much impressed with Mao Tse-tung’s “Controlled Democracy”, but his “trial balloon” of such a system for Indonesia was vigorously opposed by the entire non-Communist press.

The Secretary said the revolt also was against the economic “milking” by the central government of island areas which desired some independence. He thought that if the Indonesian governmental structure failed, the West should be in a position of shaping the sort of government structure which would follow. In this sort of operation, the Communists were past masters and would be competitors.

  1. Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199. Secret. Prepared by the Delegation to the Third Meeting of the SEATO Council. The source text is headed “Extract of Memorandum of Conversation”; the document from which it was extracted was USDel/MC/9, dated March 19, which recorded the entire conversation. (Ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 851)↩
  2. Avery F. Peterson, Chargé of the Embassy in Canberra.↩