Cablegram Hag 168 THE HAGUE, 23 September 1947, 5.45 p.m.
IMMEDIATE SECRET
Received 24 September 1947, 9.30 a.m.
INDONESIA
Prime Minister Beel today made a policy statement on Indonesia to the second Chamber of the States-General.
2. After reviewing events both in Indonesia and in the Security Council since the beginning of ‘police action’, the Prime Minister announced the following steps to be taken by the Netherlands Government in the near future:
(a) The formation of a central organisation which can develop into a preliminary Federal Government in Indonesia;
(b) The promotion of a limited revision of the Netherlands constitution in order to prepare legal provisions of a new political structure of the whole kingdom in the shortest possible time;
(c) The setting up of an organisation in place of the Commission- General to lighten the burden of the Lieutenant Governor-General and to share the responsibility with him.
3. The Prime Minister stated that the Netherlands Government would afford every co-operation for the success of the work of the Consuls-General and of the Commission of Three in Indonesia, but closed by declaring that the present situation could not be allowed to continue and that the cease fire order must be observed by the Republic in word and deed. Ultimate responsibility for the maintenance of law and order in Indonesia-including Republic territory-still rested, he said, with the Netherlands Government.
4. Full text follows by first air bag.
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[AA:A1838/278, 403/2/2/2, iii]