Evening star., 1945-10-15
IndiesGoyernor
Resigns; Truce
Offered Rebels
Fifty Dutch Children
And Women Trapped
In Butuviu Area
Bg the Associated Press.

The governor-general of the
Netherlands Indies, A. w. L.
Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stach-
ouwer, resigned today in a re-
ported difference with his gov
ernment over the Indonesian re-
bellion.
The Dutch government, mean
while, offered through DR.. Hubertus
van Nook, lieutenant governor, to
negotiate truce with the insur-
gents, while taking new steps to
quell the uprising.
Bands or armed insurrectionists
were reported encircling Batavia,
capital of the Netherlands Indies.
A Reuters dispatch quoting Ba-
tavia reports said $4,000 Dutch
women and children had been sur
rounded by wildly excited Indo-
Inesians in the area of Batavia and
were completely cut off from Allied
forces" The dispatch added that
the women and children ARE being
held virtually as hostages" and that
the natives ARE said to be inspired
by the Japanese"
Willing to Meet Leaders.
Aneta said DR.. Van Nook expressed
willingness to meet with leaders of
all groups in Indonesia, including
DR.. I. r. Soekarno, self-styled pres
ident of the "Indonesian Republic. +"
Previously, the government had
refused to negotiate with Soekarno,
who was accused of being an "oppor-
tunistic Japanese puppet."
An authoritative source in Lon
don said the British government
had agreed to make ships avail
able" to rush Dutch troops from
Europe to Java.
unable to Bear Policy"
Van Starkenborgh Stachouwer in
his resignation declared he was
unable to be the bearer of govern
ment policy in the Indies, Aneta,
official Dutch news agency, said in
dispatch from The Hague. His
decision followed a series of dis
cussions with government officials.
1t was not clear Immediately
whether Van Starkenborgh Stach-
ouwer was in disagreement with
the old government policy or a new
government policy of negotiation
with the insurrectionists. Premier
Willem Schermerhorn was expected
to make statement tomorrow.
Van Starkenborgh Stachouwer.
who arrived in The Hague early last
month, was a prisoner of the JAP
anese after the fall of the Indies
on March 8, 1912. He was liberated
from a Japanese camp in Manchuria
early in September.
Will Keep 1912 Pledge.
DR.. Van Nook was quoted by
Aneta as telling a press conference
the Netherlands would keep a 1912
pledge to give the Indies freedom
in internal affairs within the Dutch
commonwealth.
There are to be no more first
class or second class citizens. !"
Aneta quoted him as saying. "As
soon as order is restored and the
existence of war victims, who went
through so much, is no longer
threatened, l am prepared to dis
cuss details of our plans for the
future in the most liberal way"
Colonial System Has to Disappear.
The Netherlands home radio
quoted him as saying I'VE Dutch
men have learned that all which has
been left of the old Dutch colonial
system has to disappear"
DR.. van Nook said discussions
could begin as soon as excitement
had died down in Indonesia and a
certain amount of safety" had been
restored.
The all-India radio said Soc
karno had left Batavia for the in
terror in an effort to check" ex-
tremist activities. Hilversum ra-
dio in the Netherlands reported from
Batavia that Soekarno seems to
have lost control over his movement
altogether"
The Indonesian declaration of
war" had called on Javanese to
shoot, murder and set fire to every
thing within your reach"
Two distinct factions exist among
the Indonesians, the Hilversum
radio reported. The broadcast said
Dutch dispatches from Batavia in
dicate last Saturdays declaration
of war" against the Netherlands
was issued by the Indonesian Peo-
pies Army headquarters and not
by the Soekarno Nationalist move
ment, which previously was believed
to be behind the outbreak.
New Outbreaks Reported.
Meanwhile, new outbreaks were
reported from the interior of Java,
as armed rebel bands closed on
Batavia Acting to maintain order
British Maj. Gen. D, C. Hawthorn,
Allied commander, invoked a death
penalty in. Batavia for looting
(See INDIES, Page A-2.)