During the Indonesia–Malaysia "Konfrontasi", Scherger acted as military liaison between the British and Australian governments. Openly sceptical about the cease-fire announced by President Sukarno on 25 January 1964, he supported British requests for Australian combat forces in Borneo but was in the short term "overruled by 'political cross-currents'". Towards the end of the year, he advocated bombing Indonesian air bases using RAAF Canberras in Malaya, but in this instance the British held back. Although Australia eventually deployed battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment from March 1965, Scherger's earlier optimistic estimation of the speed and level of his government's readiness to commit troops was said to have confused the British.