856E.00/12–2545

Mr. Soetan Sjahrir to President Truman

May it please Your Excellency: The last message of good will and encouragement issued by your State Department has given us great comfort in the struggle we are waging to establish freedom, justice and democracy in Indonesia. For this and for all the other tokens of understanding we have received from the Government and the people of the United States we are indeed thankful.

Encouraged by the knowledge that neither you nor your Government will forsake us in this the greatest struggle for national existence waged by the Indonesians, I take the liberty to write you this letter in the full hope and confidence that you will give us the assistance we sorely need.

The Republic of Indonesia came into existence in response to the will of my people about the time of the Japanese surrender. Taking advantage of the confusion into which the Japanese here were thrown, we seized power and proclaimed our freedom. Shortly afterwards the Anglo-Dutch Army of Occupation came here to carry out the mandate entrusted to them by the United Nations.

As we understood it from the start—and as your State Department pointed out in its last communiqué on the subject—that mandate did not give the British the right to reimpose the Dutch on the Indonesians. Unfortunately, that is what has been and is being done. The British have made it clear that they have no option in the matter because of their obligations to the Dutch.

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In pursuance of this policy the British have not only landed Dutch troops here, but they have also permitted the arming of Dutch ex-soldiers, Dutch civilians and Eurasians. The majority of them have little or no idea of discipline or fire control; many of them are men who have only recently been freed from captivity, and they are neither normal nor healthy men. In these circumstances—and because the question of prestige is involved in it—the Dutch have acted without understanding of the great change that has come over Indonesia.

Any provocation from the Dutch side immediately draws retaliation from some sections of my people. The British too have failed to gauge the temper of the country and have thus been led into committing such blunders as Surabaya and Central Java. As a result, there now exists strong hostility between the British and the Dutch on one hand and the Indonesians on the other. Sporadic fighting is taking place all over the country but, ill-armed as my people are, they die in thousands rather than submit to having the Dutch foisted on them.

Air bombing, naval bombardments and the use of modern weapons by the British has been instrumental in inflicting heavy casualties on the Indonesians. The British and the Japanese acting under British orders have put many of our villages to the torch as punitive measures. Surabaya and Semarang are almost in ruins in consequence of the fighting that has taken place there.

Tension is mounting. Meanwhile the Indonesian Government finds it increasingly difficult to put into operation various measures vital to rehabilitation of the country, nor is it in a position to take its share of world security and other international matters as it should. While the world is crying for our products, we have to sit by and see them rotting in the godowns. Both the world and we are losers thereby.

Bearing all this in mind, I have taken the bold step of addressing this letter to you direct. We look to you, as the head of a country that has always been in the forefront of the fight for liberty, justice and self-determination, to use the benefit of your influence to stop the present bloodshed in Indonesia. The hostility now manifested in Java is definitely delaying the return of peace to the Far East.

We ask your help in order that we may be given the chance to present ourselves and argue our case before the United Nations Organisation during its session next month. With your assistance, we will be able to put in an appearance as one party to the dispute.

We earnestly hope that, in your capacity as a neutral and impartial nation, the United States will afford us the helping hand we need. We harbour no territorial ambitions, we seek to injure no-one—not even Dutchmen—and we neither desire nor have the inclination to [Page 1188] make a racial issue out of our struggle for independence. Our hopes and longings revolve round the founding of a regime such as yours in which the common people will enjoy the blessings of justice, freedom and social security.

We thank you in advance for the help we feel sure you will not deny us, and it is with confidence in your fairmindedness and courage in the justice of our cause that I close this letter with the compliments of the season.

I remain, Your Excellency,

Yours faithfully,

Soetan Sjahrir

Prime Minister of the Republic of Indonesia