Minute CANBERRA, 28 October 1947
INDONESIA
The Listening Post [1] Report for 28th October reports Hilversum Radio as claiming that representatives of East Indonesia and autonomous territories and ‘other organisations’ will participate in the first contacts of the Committee of Three.
It is questionable whether the areas referred to by the Netherlands are parties to the dispute within the meaning of the Committee’s terms of reference. This view is given some strength by the earlier refusal of the Security Council to agree to the participation of representatives of East Indonesia and other autonomous areas in discussions. [2]
I suggest that the participation in the discussions of the Committee of Three of East Indonesia and the autonomous areas which are apparently Dutch-controlled, may succeed in distorting the picture of the situation presented to the Committee of Three.
It might be pointed out [directly] [3] to the Committee of Three, or to the Security Council, that East Indonesia and the autonomous areas are not parties to the dispute and should not be invited to appear before the Committee of Three. Negotiations with these areas should be the subject of future independent discussions between Dutch and Indonesians. [4]
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1 Part of the Shortwave Division of the Department of Information, responsible for monitoring overseas radio broadcasts.
2 See Documents 285 (paragraph 2) and 297 (paragraph 4).
3 Added by hand.
4 Shann forwarded Throssell’s minute to McIntyre on 28 October with the comment that the point raised seemed both ‘relevant and important’.
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[AA:A1838/274, 854/10/4/2, i]