Cablegram 405 BATAVIA, 11 November 1947, 1.30 p.m.
IMPORTANT SECRET
On November 7th at a meeting of the Committee of Three with the Consular Commission and the Military Observers, the Committee of Three requested that a report be made by the Military Observers regarding military assistance [1] to implement Security Council resolution dated November 1st.
The Consular Commission (myself, Chairman) yesterday met the Committee of Three and submitted the abovementioned joint report.
Paragraph four thereof as follows-
‘To implement the foregoing provision[s] [2] and to supervise the execution of instructions issued by the Security Council’s Good Offices Committee, through the Consular Commission, the Military Observers will organise as “representatives of the Consular Commission in the field”. The organisation will be provided with facilities and equipment necessary to perform its mission by the Dutch and Indonesian Governments.’
3. All members of the Consular Commission agree and informed the Committee of Three that- (a) They could not accept such responsibility without specific instructions from their respective Governments.
(b) If career Consuls were responsible for implementing recommendations of an appointed body their position would be somewhat delicate.
(c) In any case it was considered that the Military Observers could probably function better if directed from a higher body than the Consular Commission.
4. This telegram has been sighted by Kirby who states that the report of the Military Observers and the suggestions of the Consular Commission have been received by the Committee of Three as advice of both bodies, and the Committee of Three is still considering action to be taken. Further the Committee can only implement any plan with full agreement of both parties.
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1 A sign here indicates ‘probable meaning of group’.
2 Paragraphs 1-3 of the Military Observers’ report set out measures considered necessary to implement the Security Council’s resolution of 1 November. These measures included commitments by the governments of the NEI and the Republic of Indonesia to refrain from all propaganda and incitement to violence; to suspend any alteration of existing military positions unless approved by the Committee of Good Offices; to limit patrolling and to refrain from all mortar and artillery fire except in self-defence; to cease all hostile air and naval operations; and to prohibit all sabotage, subversive activities and reprisals against people and property. The Military Observers also advised that the establishment of a demarcation line was essential to secure an effective cease-fire and reaffirmed a judgment, first expressed on 2 October (see Document 366, paragraph 2), that the military defeat of Republican troops isolated by the Dutch ‘police action’ was inevitable and that it would consequently be possible to fix a demarcation line along the line of Dutch forward positions. If such a line were fixed, the Military Observers proposed that isolated Republican forces be repatriated with their arms and equipment to Republican-controlled territory.
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[AA:A1838/274, 854/10/4/2, ii]