856E.00/10–2146: Telegram
The Consul General at Batavia (Foote) to the Secretary of State
No. 141
[Received November 27.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit attached22 an exact copy of the “Resolution of the Plenary Conference” which was adopted by the Dutch and Indonesians on October 14, 1946. Attached thereto is the “Report of the Truce Committee to the Plenary Conference”. These documents formed the basis for my telegram number 412 dated October 14, 1946, and sent in three sections.23
It will be noted that the truce agreement did not entirely fulfill the demands of the Indonesians, as was reported in my despatch number 139, dated October 21, 1946, File No. 820.23 In partial explanation thereof, I respectfully submit the following: On Sunday, October 13, Mr. Michael Wright, a member of Lord Killearn’s staff, came to my residence and said that the situation was not at all promising and that there appeared to be little hope for a truce agreement. He asked me if there was anything that I could say to Sjahrir that would possibly aid the truce negotiations. I told Mr. Wright that I knew of nothing that could add to the arguments advanced by Lord Killearn. That night, however, I met Mr. Sjahrir at an Indonesian home. Near the close of the evening he asked me if I would visit him at 7:30 the following morning (October 14, the date of the signing of the truce). I then met Mr. Sjahrir the following morning and found him in a most serious mood. For the sake of clarity, I am submitting below a report of our conversation in dialogue form and in exact language as far as I can recall.
Sjahrir: “What is your personal opinion of the situation? What is the general attitude of your Government?”
Foote: “The attitude of my Government is very simple and easy to understand. My Government wants peace and production all over the world—especially in Indonesia. It desires to see men and women happy and enjoying a good standard of living; it desires to purchase the products of Indonesia and to sell our products to the Indonesians; [Page 850] it desires to see not only exchanges of commodities but also exchanges of culture, art, science, literature, etc.; in short, we desire to be a good neighbor—and that means a helpful neighbor.”
Sjahrir: “I believe you. Now, tell me your personal opinion of the situation. What can we do? What should we do?”
Foote: “My good friend, I fear that my personal opinion would not be worth very much.”
Sjahrir: “Nevertheless, I want to hear it.”
Foote: “Then, in giving you my opinion, please regard it as exactly that. I have no instructions to offer an opinion or to seek to influence you in any way.
“I love the Indonesian people and many hundreds of them are old and valued friends; and I, as you well know, have the highest regards for your good self. You now have the complete backing of your peoples and their leaders. For this reason, I believe that an opportunity has arisen for you to do something great for your people. As you know, more than 5,000,000 Indonesians have died from unnatural causes since the Japanese invasion; your factories are becoming piles of rust and deterioration; your rice fields are too often neglected; men, women and children are hungry, improperly clothed, are suffering from skin and other diseases, due to the lack of proper foodstuffs; the water buffalo has nearly disappeared from the rice fields; hate is growing; the gamelan (native orchestras) no longer plays in the kampongs; the future is dark and apparently hopeless. My opinion is that this beautiful country—one of the most beautiful and most productive on God’s green earth can become happy and its people can smile again. Stop killing, stop the spectre of hunger and disease which is coming closer and closer with appalling speed, stop hatred; rebuild homes, factories, rice fields, forests, roads, bridges, and the world will rally to assist you. As you know, my Government is neutral and I am personally neutral in this struggle, but I say all this for the sake of other millions of your people who will die if this struggle continues indefinitely. That is my personal opinion, my friend Sjahrir.”
Sjahrir then placed his hand on my arm and said, “Thank you!”
As I left his house, the Indonesian truce delegation, composed of generals, the air commodore and the vice-admiral, and others, were waiting to see Sjahrir. I am reliably informed that he repeated to them in substance what I had said to him. He and the delegation then went to meet Lord Killearn at 9:00 a.m. and signed the truce agreement without further argument. Lord Killearn probably heard about my conversation with Sjahrir, because he sent Michael Wright to my house to thank me and to inform me that the agreement had been signed.
I sincerely hope that the Department will not think that I went too far in this matter and that it will approve of my remarks to Sjahrir. The fact is that an atmosphere of good will now exists and both Indonesians and Dutch are apparently making every possible effort to carry out the spirit of the truce agreement. Even Soekarno [Page 851] has called Soetomo, the fire eater of East Java, to Djocjakarta and has impressed upon him the necessity for carrying out the agreement. Soetomo had announced over his radio that “truce or no truce, the people will obey me and will continue the fight for freedom”.
Respectfully yours,