Cablegram 1980 LONDON, 17 May 1949, 7.20 p.m.
RESTRICTED
INDONESIA
Your telegram 1944. [1]
The Foreign Secretary [2] has asked that an expression of his appreciation of thepart played by the Australian authorities in securing the agreement [3] between the representatives of the Netherlands and the Indonesian Republic of 7/5 should be conveyed to the Australian Government.
2. He regards this as a big step in the right direction and hopes that the next stage, the transfer of sovereignty, can be achieved by an ‘equally heartening display of goodwill and mutual trust on both sides’. His feeling is that ‘We must do everything possible to rally the Nationalist and Democratic forces in that area to resist the encroachments of Communism and that a settlement in Indonesia will be an important single contribution to this end’.
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1 Dispatched on 9 May, it conveyed the substance of Document 386.
2 Ernest Bevin.
3 See Documents 376 and 385.
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[AA : A1838, 854/10/4/3, v]