For the last few days we have been preoccupied with the report
which the Commission will send to the Security Council tomorrow.

If the draft is not amended too radically it will prove a strong
report placing the issue of Netherlands non-compliance squarely
before the Council.

2. The only attachment this week is the text of a press statement
by Hatta referred to in my telegram K.267. [1] The statement has
been given wide publicity and I am sure has caused some
unhappiness in Netherlands circles.

3. I have been gathering material on the Federalists, particularly
on the situation in Pasundan, but it will be a few days before I
have an opportunity to put it together.

P.S. I am coming to regard the Military Observers as the
mouthpiece of the Dutch rather than the ears and eyes of the
Commission. They see and hear only what the Dutch want them to see
and hear and the American [2] and Australian [3] Senior Officers
at Batavia are failing badly to match the energy and ability of
the Belgian representative. [4] We are expecting a new batch of
Military Observers shortly, and I strongly recommend that the
Dept. take a keen interest in their selection.

ENCLOSURE

Statement of Prime Minister Mohammad Hatta to Harold R. Isaacs,
correspondent of Newsweek Magazine.

1. This is the first opportunity I have had to make any kind of
statement to the press about the situation created by the Dutch
attack on the Republic of Indonesia on December 19, 1948. From
this place of enforced exile, I want to say that our pain over
what has happened has been mitigated by the reaction of the whole
world, which has condemned the Dutch for their brutal resort to
arms. It has proved to us that it is not yet time to give up to
dark pessimism.

The UN Security Council has finally passed a resolution [5]
designed to rectify the injustice that has been done. We stand by
and accept that resolution. We for our part will do nothing to
help the Dutch evade their responsibility under that resolution.

We want to warn our own people and the members of the UN that the
Dutch are trying right now by every trick they can devise to evade
the UN resolution. They must not be allowed to do so.

2. In connection with any future talks that may be held between us
and anybody, I want to make it quite clear that there can be no
negotiations on the future of the Republic or of Indonesia as a
whole until our conditions have been fulfilled, i.e. restoration
of the Republican government at Jogjakarta and withdrawal of Dutch
troops from our territory, as stipulated in the U.N. resolution.

3. We understand that there is talk of some new 'plan' involving
an alleged transfer of sovereignty from the Dutch to a proposed
United States of Indonesia. It is not difficult to recognize this
kind of talk for what it is, an obvious trick designed to deceive
the people of Indonesia and the U.N. and to provide the Dutch with
an opportunity to befuddle world public opinion. We do not intend
to fall for that trick.

4. We are prepared and always have been prepared to discuss our
problems. We have now agreed informally to meet members of the
Contact Commission of the Federal Consultation Conference. That is
for the purpose of answering questions and clarifying our views
and position and the place of Indonesia in the world.

These talks will not constitute negotiations. These talks cannot
be used by the Dutch to evade the UN Security Council resolution.

There are among the Federalist leaders many men who share our own
powerful determination to win real freedom for Indonesia. We don't
think these leaders are any more ready than we are to be the
victims of any new Dutch tricks. That is why we are glad to talk
to them about our common problems.

Any transfer of sovereignty will have to be a true transfer of
sovereignty. The longer it takes to reach that point the worse it
will be for the Dutch and for the Indonesian people. We signed
solemn agreements in which the Dutch pledged full sovereignty to
the whole of Indonesia by Jan. 1, 1949. What the Dutch have done
instead is to launch two military attacks against us, try to
stifle us with a blockade, and to divide us by setting up
artificial divisions among us. They have by this long series of
misdeeds fed the fires of destruction, extremism and fostered
bloody violence that is a tragedy for our country. We will have to
bear the cost of this and it will make our freedom all the more
difficult to realize. But we are still determined to make our own
way, to help unify our people, and to work in partnership with all
other countries in the world to build a better future.