501.BC Indonesia/8–1847
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
| Participants: | The Acting Secretary |
| The Netherlands Ambassador | |
| Mr. Rusk | |
| Mr. Morgan |
The Netherlands Ambassador called on me this afternoon at his own request and read a long note which he then handed to me.99 The gist of this note was that the invitation of the Security Council to cease fire had had an effect widely at variance with its intentions—that so far from preventing further bloodshed it had created a situation in which the forces of disorder were able to terrorize the peaceful inhabitants at will. It was therefore clearly asking the impossible to expect the Netherlands authorities to simply look on while the population suffered from the acts of lawless elements not only not restrained but even encouraged by the Indonesian Government. The Netherlands Government which considers this situation untenable, is willing to consider any constructive and practical suggestions the [Page 1036] Government of the United States may care to make at this critical juncture.
I told the Ambassador that since we had not yet received from our Consul General at Batavia the definite reply of the Indonesian Government1 to our repeated offer of good offices we could not give him any answer or comment which went beyond that fact. When the Indonesian reply had been received we would have to consider what further steps might be desirable. I expressed strongly to Dr. Van Kleffens the hope that the Netherlands Government would not resort again to military action since such a step might, in view of the feeling in the Security Council, entail serious consequences, perhaps even sanctions.