Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Far East and Australasia, Volume VI

501.BC Indonesia/6–548

The United States Representative, Committee of Good Offices (duBois) to the Secretary of State

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Kaliurang, Java, June 5, 1948.
[Received June 22.]

Sir: I have the honor to submit a draft of a suggestion for the outline of a political agreement between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Indonesia which the United States Delegation yesterday presented to the Australian and Belgian Delegations in the hope that a working paper by the Committee of Good Offices can be agreed upon on the basis of this draft and presented to the parties.

Respectfully yours,

Coert duBois

[Enclosure]

Draft by the United States Representative (duBois) to the Australian Representative (Critchley) on June 4

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(Letter to be addressed to the Chairman of the Netherlands Delegation and the Chairman of the Delegation of the Republic of Indonesia)

Sir: We have the honor to submit a working paper by the Committee of Good Offices on an outline for a political agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Committee, having for some time had the impression that negotiations toward such an agreement have been approaching a standstill and that, nearly five months after the signing of the Renville Agreement, the basic issues that divide the parties are still unresolved, has discussed within itself the difficulties that appear to stand in the way of a successful conclusion of the negotiations and the manner in which the Committee might be of assistance in this situation.

The enclosed working paper, which has arisen from these discussions, is to be regarded as a tentative suggestion subject to revision on the basis of questions or objections which may be raised by the parties. The Committee believes that only by coming forward with such suggestions when the resources of direct negotiations between the parties appear to be nearing exhaustion can it acquit itself of its obligations. It regards the present working paper as entirely informal in character. If the proposals are not found acceptable by the parties, the paper will receive no distribution, unless, of course, the parties are unable to conclude a political agreement on the basis of the Committee’s proposals or on any other basis, in which case the Committee would feel itself at liberty to include the working paper, with such revisions as the Committee considers called for in the light of the comments of the parties, in a final report to the Security Council setting forth the circumstances of the Committee’s failure.

We have [etc.]

(To be signed by the three representatives)

[Subenclosure]

Proposed Working Paper by the Committee of Good Offices on an Outline of a Political Settlement

This paper offers suggestions for the principles of a political agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia which would provide the basis for the formation of a sovereign United States of Indonesia in an equal partnership with the Kingdom of the Netherlands in a Netherlands-Indonesian Union. The Committee of Good Offices believes that the principles as set forth below will safeguard and reconcile the proper and essential interests of the two parties as these have been clarified in the current negotiations between their delegations.

The Committee has come to the conclusion that the main issues between the parties involve the following:

1. The extent of the Republic’s representation in the Provisional Federal Government, which will constitute the Government of Indonesia prior to the transfer of sovereignty by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

2. The powers to be transferred to the Provisional Federal Government (in the sense that this will be a government by Indonesian representatives) by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

3. The powers to be transferred to the Provisional Federal Government by the Republic of Indonesia.

4. The powers and functions to be reserved to the Netherlands-Indonesian Union in the Statute of the Union as against those to be exercised by the United States of Indonesia as a member nation.

The Committee believes that the parties’ differing positions on these issues may be resolved in accordance with the letter and spirit of the principles accepted by the parties on board the Renville.

With regard to the problems pertaining to the interim period (the period prior to the transfer of sovereignty by the Netherlands), the Committee is of the view that the key to a solution may be found in the second of the Six Additional Principles, which states that “in any provisional federal government created prior to the ratification of the constitution of the future United States of Indonesia, all states will be offered fair representation.” This principle may be taken as grounds for maintaining that a provisional federal government cannot be created until the states have been delineated and formed.

The Committee, however, believes that this principle need not be interpreted so as to delay the creation of a provisional federal government until the final delineation and formation of the component states of the United States of Indonesia. At the same time, it is clear that the representation of the Republic, as one of the states in the future United States of Indonesia, must be based upon the extent of the Republic if such representation is to be fair; that is, proportional to the representation accorded the other states on a logical basis. The present geographical extent of the Republic is defined solely by the location of the demilitarized zones, which were established purely as a means of making possible a military truce between the parties. The establishment of these zones, according to Article 3 of the Truce agreement, “in no way prejudices the rights, claims or positions of the parties under the resolutions of the Security Council of 1, 25 and 26 August and 1 November 1947.” In short, the area which the Republic properly represents is yet to be determined. The area at present under the control of the Republic contains, according to the Committee’s information, about two-fifths of the population of Indonesia. The islands of Java, Madura and Sumatra contain about four-fifths of the population of Indonesia, According to the fourth of the Six Additional Principles, the states in Java, Madura and Sumatra will be delineated in accordance with a plebiscite or with another method for ascertaining the will of the populations upon which the parties may agree. Should the populations of these islands so elect, all may be incorporated in the Republic. (In this connection, the Committee should point out that in its view nothing in the Renville principles precludes the Republic from subdividing into a number of states in the interests of a balanced Indonesian federation, and that this subdivision could be effected either on the basis of the territories it now controls or of the territories that it may come to control when the populations have had an opportunity to express their will in accordance with the fourth of the Six Additional Principles. Insofar as an agreement with the Netherlands is concerned, the Government of the Republic, as conceived by the Committee, represents all the territories of Java, Madura and Sumatra of which the populations may, when the time comes, demonstrate through democratic procedure their desire to be incorporated in the Republic, irrespective of whether these territories be ultimately included in a single Republican state or be divided with the consent of the Republic into a number of states.)

The fundamental question is whether it is possible to create a Provisional Federal Government in which all the states, including those which at the time of the formation of this Government have not yet come into existence, may be fairly represented. The Committee believes that there is a solution to this problem and proposes that the following principles, which it believes contain such a solution, be accepted by the parties:

1. Upon the agreement of the parties to the following principles, the Netherlands to undertake as soon as possible to obtain the agreement of the representatives of the areas outside Java, Madura and Sumatra to the procedure envisaged in the principles in order that it may apply to the entire territory of the future United States of Indonesia.

2. Immediately upon the signing of the political agreement, the parties to set up a Joint Commission of technical experts which would have the task of studying the problem of the future administration of Indonesia from an objective, non-political point of view and of recommending the delineation of the future states, taking account of all relevant considerations but particularly the necessity for an efficient system of administration.

3. The Constituent Assembly (see below) to be empowered to delineate the states of the United States of Indonesia but to be bound to accept the plan put forward by the technical experts in the Joint Commission, unless a proposal for a change in any of the boundaries delineated by the Commission should receive the support of the majority of the delegates to the Constituent Assembly and the majority of the delegates elected from the territories of the states directly affected by the proposed change.

4. Elections for the Constituent Assembly to be held as soon as practicable after the signing of the political agreement but the Assembly not to be convened before agreement is reached in the Joint Commission of technical experts.

5. The provisions for free and uncoerced discussion of vital issues accepted by the parties on board the Renville to apply in the period preceding the election, and persons charged with abusing the freedom of speech, assembly and publication as assured under the Renville principles to be tried without delay.

6. The Regencies in Java and the equivalent administrative areas in other parts of Indonesia to constitute electoral districts for the Constituent Assembly. Where a Regency or equivalent area is divided by the status quo line, the two portions to constitute separate electoral districts.

7. The number of delegates to the Constituent Assembly from each electoral district to be in proportion to the population of the district (perhaps one delegate for each 300,000 inhabitants).

8. An elector (or electors) to be elected by each dessa and by the lowest administrative subdivision of each municipality within the Regency or equivalent administrative area. The electors so elected to convene at the seat of the Regency (or other area) government and there elect delegates to the Constituent Assembly.

9. Secrecy of the ballot to be assured at both stages, at the primary level by a method of voting suitable to a partially illiterate electorate.

10. The Committee of Good Offices to place itself at the disposal of the parties for observation of the election in accordance with the fourth of the Six Additional Principles.

11. The Constituent Assembly to convene and to have the status both of a Constituent Assembly and of a Provisional Parliament.

12. The Provisional Parliament to form the Provisional Federal Government by electing a President, the President in turn to appoint a Prime Minister who will select a cabinet. (The Parliament, however, to be free to form the Provisional Federal Government in any other democratic manner should it desire.)

13. The Constituent Assembly to approve the delineations of states recommended by the Joint Commission of technical experts subject to any changes made in accordance with paragraph 3 above, the delegates in the Constituent Assembly from the electoral districts included within the boundaries of the states as delineated to be considered thereafter as the representatives of these states in the Constituent Assembly Provisional Parliament. (The question arises as to what would take place should a number of states be represented in the Assembly by delegations of which the majority of members are adherents of the Republic. Obviously the delegations would have the option of voting to combine their states in a single Republic of Indonesia which, subject to the approval of the majority of the Assembly as a whole, would as such become one of the component states of the United States of Indonesia. The Republic of Indonesia, in these circumstances, could be so enormous in population by comparison with the other states as to throw the federation completely out of balance and render it virtually unworkable and meaningless. Since the Government of the Republic has, however, subscribed to the principle of a federated Indonesia, the Committee assumes that it would not wish to vitiate completely, in this manner, the planning of the Joint Commission of technical experts and that, instead of combining, the states which have elected Republican adherents to represent them in the Constituent Assembly would choose to consider themselves “Republican” states. However, with the progress toward a sovereign Indonesia as far advanced as it will be at this stage, the Committee anticipates that the concept of the Republic will have become merged with the concept of the United States of Indonesia.)

14. The representatives of each state in the Provisional Parliament to elect a provisional state government, the provisional state governments to prepare for the election of duly constituted state governments.

The Committee has certain observations to make in connection with these principles, as follows:

[Here follow observations in connection with the above principles, viz., time of elections for the Constituent Assembly, feasibility of elections, pre-election period, and division of powers in the pre-federal period, and thereafter further comment on the above observations, viz., drafting of the Union Statute, ratification of the constitution, the Union Statute, general, economic and financial principles, military, and recapitulation.]