Cablegram 284 BATAVIA, 19 August 1947, 6.15 p.m.
IMMEDIATE SECRET
Your telegram 233. [1]
1. Press reports here state that Van Kleffens announced at New York that the Netherlands Government was prepared to propose to the Republic:
(A) Machinery for the designation of an impartial third state which would send some of its nationals to report with the widest publicity on the present situation and whose good offices could be used to bring about an immediate resumption of discussions; and (B) That Batavia Career Consuls be instructed to report jointly on the present situation in Java, Sumatra and Madura.
2. I have not heard that this has yet been put to the Republic or that they have accepted. On past form, their acceptance is unlikely.
3. The above reports are accurate, the note you have received is merely a preliminary step taken in anticipation of Republic consent.
4. Emphasis on the widest publicity and present circumstances suggests that this new Dutch step is designed to divert the attention from issues actually or implicitly before the Security Council to the present situation, no doubt in the hope of a finding that the end has justified the means with the possible result that wo[r]ld opinion would there not be disturbed if they went ahead and finished the job.
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1 Document 289.
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[AA:A1838/274, 854/10/4, iii]