Cablegram 400 CANBERRA, 29 July 1947, 11.15 a.m.
MOST IMMEDIATE TOP SECRET
1. We were previously advised from United Kingdom that India would not raise matter in Security Council [1], but have now been advised their policy was similar to ours and they were prepared to await outcome United States - United Kingdom negotiations provided these were not delayed. They set their time limit today Tuesday and we Wednesday.
2. We will keep to undertaking with United Kingdom that we will not take final decision until Wednesday and we are at the moment awaiting a reply to a message to this effect sent by the Prime Minister to the Prime Minister yesterday. [2]
3. It is our present intention, whether India has the matter raised or not, to draw the attention of the Security Council to the situation under Article 39. While the policy of investigation has been applicable to previous situations, in this present one there is conflict going on, and it is considered inappropriate to ask for investigation. The fact is warfare. The first requirement is an instruction from the Security Council that warfare must cease immediately and therefore Chapter 7 must be invoked.
4. What we have in mind is that the Security Council should immediately order cessation of hostilities without discussion of merits, but entirely on the fact of the existence of warfare, and that it should order both par-ties to carry out Article 17 of the Linggadjati Agreement, the text of which is as follows:-
Begins. (1) For the co-operation between the Netherlands Government and the Government of the Republic contemplated in this agreement, an organization shall be called into existence, consisting of delegations to be appointed by each of the two Governments, with a joint Secretariat.
(2) The Netherlands Government and the Government of the Republic shall settle by arbitration any dispute, which might arise from this agreement and which cannot be solved by joint consultation in a conference between those delegations. In that case a Chairman of another nationality with a deciding vote shall be appointed by agreement between the delegations, or if such an agreement cannot be reached, by the President of the International Court of Justice. Ends.
5. We are aware that a complication arises from the fact that the Republican Government is not a member of the United Nations and therefore not bound, as is the Dutch Government, to observe Article 25 [3], but no difficulty or delay should be involved in first obtaining declaration from the Indonesian authorities that they would carry out this instruction and they accepted the obligations which apply to members of the United Nations.
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1 See Documents 141 and 164.
2 Document 174.
3 Article 25 of the United Nations Charter requires that members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the Charter.
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[AA:A1838/274, 854/10/4, i]