Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Southeast Asia, Volume XXII

117. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, October 3, 1955¹

Washington, October 3, 1955

SUBJECT

• Call by the Indonesian Foreign Minister

PARTICIPANTS

• Indonesian Foreign Minister—Anak Agung Gde Agung
• Indonesian Chargé d’Affaires—S. Surjotjondro
• The Secretary
• PSA—Kenneth T. Young
• PSA—Philip E. Haring

The Foreign Minister expressed appreciation for the position the United States had continued to maintain on the New Guinea question through committee consideration at the Tenth General Assembly².He was hopeful that developments in the course of the afternoon, when he would be at New York and when the question was up for General Assembly consideration as to inscription,³ he would be able to get the Dutch to accept inscription without acrimonious debate or bad feelings. He said that he hoped we would all understand that it was politically necessary within Indonesia for the Hara-hap Cabinet to insist on inscription in order that it could go ahead with negotiations to work the problem out in a more friendly manner.⁴ He felt certain that it could then take up its “commitment to the Dutch to handle the issue in a very friendly manner”. He said he had talked to the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Luns about the necessity for going ahead with inscription.

The Foreign Minister asserted that the Harahap Government was writing a political testament to its efforts to overcome Indonesia’s difficulties and that as election results would not be known until the end of November, the Government needed support and assistance very urgently. The Secretary drew attention to the preliminary reports which suggested a fairly even division among the election returns, but the Foreign Minister emphasized that some elections were still to be held and that the vote from the outlying areas would be more important than the preliminary reports from the cities. When the Secretary mentioned the press report that “Natsir, head of the Masjumi, said Indonesia is in danger of being engulfed by Communism”, the Foreign Minister responded that was why they need more economic and financial aid now. He said he was authorized by his Government to request such aid from the U.S. in order to demonstrate their efforts during these months in office. He believed the Harahap Cabinet would stay in until possibly March or April.

The Foreign Minister requested that the United States consider:

a) an increase in PL 480 agricultural surplus commodities above the $48 million “requested by the previous Government”, b) supplying rice (he estimated that 110 thousand tons would be needed urgently this year in addition to the 60 thousand tons being purchased from Burma) and c) increasing economic and financial assistance to Indonesia through the President’s Economic Aid Fund⁵ or otherwise. The Foreign Minister said he recognized both possibilities and need for improving Indonesia’s trade relations with Japan but the first obstacle was the reparations settlement, which his Government was now studying. He said Indonesia is preparing to negotiate reparations on a “fraction of our claim”.

The Secretary said we were studying the PL 480 request at the present time and that we would continue to explore sympathetically with the Indonesian Government additional requests under PL 480, as well as the possibility of further financial aid. However, the United States was confronted with genuine difficulty with regard to supplying rice and despite our desire to dispose of the U.S. rice surplus, we recognized the problem of Southeast Asian producers such as Burma and Thailand and we wished to respect their traditional markets.

(The Foreign Minister earlier called on Assistant Secretary Robertson and addressed himself to the same substantive interests. He did not describe the proposed level of PL 480 transactions in either meeting but later confirmed to PSA—Mr. Young the information he had given to Ambassador Cumming, that his Government had in mind seeking a program of $200 million for the next four or five years.)

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 756D.00/10–355. Secret. Drafted by Haring. The source text bears the initials of Robertson and Young, indicating their approval.
2. The General Committee voted on September 29 to include the item on the General Assembly’s agenda after turning down a New Zealand proposal to postpone consideration of inscription of the item. The United States abstained in each case.
3. The General Assembly voted on October 3, with the United States abstaining, to include the item on the agenda.
4. A joint communiqué issued on October 4 in The Hague and Djakarta stated that Foreign Ministers Anak Agung and Luns had held informal talks in New York concerning their governments’ mutual wish to improve relations and that they hoped a basis could be found within a reasonable amount of time for official negotiations at a ministerial level. The text of the communiqué is printed in Anak Agung, Twenty Years, p. 122.
5. The President’s Fund for Asian Economic Development, authorized by Section 418 of the Mutual Security Act of 1955; 69 Stat. 283.