Dutch Policy in Indonesia
On Monday Dr. van Mook presented Dr. Sjahrir with an official statement of Dutch policy in Indonesia which goes very far to meet the demands of the nationalists. The Netherlands Government proposes to create an Indonesian Commonwealth whose constituent territories shall have varying degrees of autonomy, under a Govern- ment composed of a democratic representative body and a Cabinet "in harmony" with it ; it is assumed that the representative body will have a substantial Indonesian majority. Further, Indonesia itself will form part of a larger commonwealth, including the Dutch West Indies and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, whose members will at a later date each possess complete independence and remain in association only on a basis of voluntary partnership. From the Dutch point of view this policy represents a very generous con- cession, and it reflects considerable credit on Dr. van Mook person- ally, who has had to face bitter opposition from reactionary interests in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, it is optimistic to hope that the statement will satisfy the Indonesians. They will certainly object to the provision that the Indonesian Cabinet shall contain "a repre- sentative of the Crown as the head of the Government's executive"; and further they will object to serving an undefined period of political apprenticeship before complete independence is achieved. At the least they will ask that the period shall be defined and that it shall be a very short one; for their fundamental demand is for independence now, and under present circumstances they may -well think it worth while to continue fighting for it.
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