The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-24
Behind The New-
Dutch Rattle
Old Skeleton
CHARLES A. GRUMIcB
Az Foreign News AnaIrs.

ine Ne'herlanoers a rattIjny
the skeleton of the late .~Janana
Field Marshal Count 1nI,
Terauchi in the apparent HIM.
convincing world opinion that ~
Republic of Indonesia is on II.
climate offspring OF Japan,s ~
prosperity sphere"
The Dutch appear to be revir.-
this argument as an offset il ~
widespread popular inclination ~
side with the Indonesians 90
derdogs against the Furons.~.
who have ruled the Indies to'
three centuries. This i~ncljpaHo,
they obviously feel, is pJscir'
them at a disadvantage il. an ds
cussions of the IndoneSiau conf1a'
Hubertus j. Van Mock. Ho,'
lands acting governor general IL
the Indies, this week revived ~
theme that Terauchi indo~ctrin.tns
1ndonesian President Soeksrns
and Vice = President Mob2mmns
Hatta with the Independence hwy
This theme was first exDo,nSaS
- Dutch spokesman to few d
US foreign correspondents u.bo
rived at Batavia on Sept. IS, 1Qa5
in a British cruiser squadron ao'
companied by the Dutch fIotIa
leader Tromp carrying scars o,
war and a wistful Dutch bona u
an open welcome home 10 tbs
Indies.
We were called a "preocor.
patton party" There were M,
enough troops ready for a fnI.
blown a IL d occupation. That
came more than a fortnight latpr
when the trouble began.
Situation Soured
We found peace and cheer,
along the way to the sumDtuoyg
Hotel Des Indies in Batavia. Then,
gradually, the situation SQUIRE. al,
the I%ndonesians accurately figured
that behind the British naval en-.
try a force was building for III.
return of Dutch rule backed by
armed might if necessary.
A badly = advised Dutch govern.
ment spokesman told us then that
his government would offer am.
nesty to Indonesians Who would
give up ideas of overturning Dutch
sovereignty. He said Soekarno and
Hatta were japanese puppets but
he acknowledged that both had
been exiled from Java by the
Dutch for their political antics in
behalf of independence long before
Japanese influence had been i'm.
posed on their beautiful isle.
The william now drawn into The
piece-Count Terauchi - was no.
where about. at that time. He was
in his headquarters in Saigon, In.
dochina.
Terauchi was quite a charactr
and the British, in their WitmatCh,
ing with him, departed from tho
norm of understatement to con.
cede that he was a combination
of all the evil they could think
of-until they learned to pacly
him with Scotch whisky.
Terauchi, a picturesque figure
with a shiny bald head the color
of old ivory, was the war minis.
ter who made Japan abandon the
plan to hold the Olympic game,
in Tokyo in 1910 on the ground
that running and jumping was
foolishness not calculated
to build any empires. Moreover i
give japanese youths sons
awkward ideas of fr~iendliness TO-
ward other peoples.
Excused From Ceremony
"Operation Scotch" was a del,
cate business. Terauchi was oppo'
site u m b to Admiral Lord
Luis Mountbatten and he was
Also, he was a cripple
from a paralytic strokt some
months before and was therefore
excused from the Singapore sur
render ceremony of Sept. Il, 1915
However, Mountbatten had his
own Royal navy physician m
Saigon with instructions to rally
the aged and feeble japanese, K
possible, to a point where he
would be able to stand unasslsted
and hand over his heirloom
5amurai swords at some future
Terauchi was an ornery conVa'
lescent and this had great mill
AIRY importance in the immediate
postwar mop-up. He still COM
handed a great unbeaten sou'n'
Asia army which outnum'
oered the allied occupation forces
He was of course, under the COM
of Mountbatten after the
surrender but he demurred on
many orders and for a while COM
olicated the Allied occupation no
end.
Then the British discovered MS
addiction to good Scotch. They os'
used a military-medico formula
give the old rascal enough for puL' X
poses of amiability but not enough
kill him off before he couu
'urrender.
Finally, Terauchi was carried
n a common chair into the gaIae4
# a government palace at Salgo.
n mid-autumn, 1915, and tot'eIea
he last few steps to give up ~.
.enturies-old swords. He SaIo ~
vuld do all in his power to q
ect the orders Of Mounf0a..s'
md kept his promise therea--e.'