Evening star., 1961-12-20
Sukorno and the II. NJ.

moment that President Sukarno of
"neutraliSt" Indonesia will 60 forward
with his threatened invasion of Dutch
administered West New Guinea. After
all, he has received much encourage
ment to do so. The Kremlin, for ex-
ample, has already bestowed It's en-
thuSiastic blessing on the venture And
India's "peace-loving" Prime Minister
Nehru has shown how swiftly aggres-
sion can succeed when one launches
it with overwhelming military superb
ority against relatively unarmed places
like the ancient Portuguese enclaves of
Diu, Damao and Goa.
There is still some hope, however,
that Mr.. Sukarno will accept the offer
of the Netherlands government to try
again to negotiate peaceful settlement
of the issue under the auspices of the
United Nations In any event, in laying
claim to West New Guinea, he is on even
weaker ground than Mr.. Nehru has been
as regards the enclaveS India's armed
forces have just taken over in an alto
gether ignoble violation of the U. N.
Charter and of the Prime Minister'S
own frequently and piously proclaimed
advocacy of morality in international
life. Thus, although the Indians at
least can argue that the enclaveS have
been remnants of colonialiSm" within
the physical boundaries of their vast
Subcontinent, the target Of the Su-
karno regimes projected aggression is
far removed from the heart of IndoneSia,
geographically, socially culturally and
otherwise. The following Dutch view Of
the matter is well worth quoting:
New Guinea .. is an island-the second
largest in the world. It lies across the top
of Australia and has an area Of 344 $3.50 square
miles The Eastern half i. is under Aus
tralian administration. The Western half
of the island, roughly the size of Norway,
is Netherlands New Guinea, hot and humid
land harsh and unfriendy to man.
1t is estimated that the whole population
number somewhat over 700,0 900 partly
pygmies. q. :. Neither from racial nor from
a cultural point of view is there any con-
nection between these primitive people-who
are among the most primitive left on this
earth and the highly cultured clinical
groups Iofl 1ndoneSia.
There is no movement for independ-
ence in Netherlands New Guinea; there is
no movement for affiliation with Indonesia
among the indigenous population. What the
Netherlands proposes to do is to continue
to develop, through process of education
free political consciousness which is a
prerequisite for ultimate determination
What 1ndonesia proposes is simply that a
territory and a people. which have no ties
with Indonesia whatsoever. should be an
nexed by Indonesia, and once and for all
be deprived of self-determination.
All this strikes us as reasonable
summation of the realities. Mr.. Su-
karno, whose government is in constant
difficulty trying to run the affairs of
the more than 80 million people liv-
ing within the vast and far-flung
complex of islands that make up the
Indonesian Republic, is wrong when he
declares that the armed forces under
his command must 'tliberate" West
New Guinea from the "colonialism"
of the Dutch. If the majority of ma
tionS, meaning particularly the Soviet
bloc and the Afro-Asian "neutralistS,"
are determined to support this kind
of demagogic nonsense, then the U. N.
will hardly be able to survive.