856d.00/1–648
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Chief of the Division of Northern European Affairs (Hulley)
The Netherlands Ambassador1 called on Mr. Lovett2 January 6, 1948 to present a picture of recent developments in the formation of a United States of Indonesia. He presented the following documents: (1) Press release from Batavia January 4, 1948, (2) Statements by Netherlands Cabinet Ministers December 17, 1947, and (3) Press release of August 11, 1947.
The most recent of these documents announced the adoption of two resolutions by a meeting of Netherlands Ministers and representatives of eleven Indonesian states or other political units. The first resolution is addressed to the Netherlands Government and urges immediate steps to form an interim government for preparation of a sovereign United States of Indonesia, arrangement for such interim government to have a voice in employment of military forces in Indonesia to maintain safety, and revision of the Netherlands Constitution. The second resolution is addressed to the Republican Government of Indonesia at Djogjakarta and invites that government to join the sovereign United States of Indonesia.
The Ambassador commented that the formation of these states which took part in the conference had not been engineered in any way by the Netherlands Government, whose only action in connection with their formation was to guarantee free expression of popular will. He said that the hand of friendship was extended in the second resolution [Page 65] to the Republican Government with the hope that it would join in the federation of all Indonesian states. When Mr. Lovett asked whether these actions could be regarded as circumventing or undercutting the Committee on Good Offices, the Ambassador replied by reading a phrase from the release in which the expectation is expressed by the Netherlands Prime Minister that this resolution would contribute “to a satisfactory result of the work of the Good Offices Committee”.
Mr. Lovett thanked the Ambassador for presenting this information which would be of considerable interest.
After leaving the Undersecretary’s Office the Ambassador met half a dozen press correspondents in the ante-room and gave them the same data, answering their questions.