Cablegram K199 BATAVIA, [2 December] 1948, 6.45 p.m.
IMPORTANT CONFIDENTIAL
Paragraph 6 of my immediately preceding telegram.
A statement of the Masjumi political council dated November 26th makes the following points:
(a) The Netherlands desire for direct negotiations is a continuation of the old policy of by-passing the Committee. The Committee’s presence puts the Indonesian question on an international plane whereas the Dutch consider it an internal affair.
(b) Formal negotiations on the basis of the Cochran plan [1] should be resumed as soon as possible under Committee auspices, because direct talks, though informal, have created the impression that the parties are by-passing the Committee.
(c) If such formal negotiations are not shortly initiated the present direct talks may be regarded as a Dutch attempt to delay the matter.
(d) The Political Council urged the Government- (1) to base informal talks on reasonable demands acceptable to the Republican population, (2) to re-affirm that informal talks are of a tentative character and that the Committee must participate in any settlement of the Indonesian question.
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1 See Documents 237 and 238.
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[AA:A1838, 854/10/4/2, vii]