Time for a Rest

Indonesia's usually cocky President Sukarno seemed tired, nervous and uncertain. While his government's reckless campaign to seize The Netherlands' vast commercial holdings continued apace, Sukarno made his rounds screened by a phalanx of bodyguards, armored cars and secret servicemen. In Surabaya, Sukarno exhorted a rally of 100,000 Indonesians to prepare for hard times. "We must dare!" he cried. "We must start from the bottom. In the next few years we may be short of food, short of clothing." But Sukarno's flamboyance was gone, his melodramatics unconvincing. His audience listened, unmoved.

Each day brought reports of new seizures of Dutch properties. Thirty Dutch-owned steamships were seized in Indonesian waters. Dutch property transfers were placed under stringent control. In Djakarta the Nederlandse Cultuurbank and the last of the "Big Five" Dutch export-import firms were taken over by Indonesian management. The central government ordered some 500 Dutch agricultural estates throughout the islands (sisal, palm oil, spices) placed under the supervision of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture.

Stern Warning. The first seizures had often been carried out by workers from SOB SI and other Communist-led unions encouraged by Sukarno's inflammatory denunciation of the Dutch for their refusal to hand over West Irian (the western portion of New Guinea). But in the crisis' second week, the Indonesian government made clear that when there was seizing to be done, the government would do it. Premier Djuanda sharply toned down Sukarno's "hate-the-Dutch" campaign, said that Dutch citizens and Dutch properties would receive full government protection. SOBSI agitators were told by army and government officials to keep hands off. One summary Djakarta pronouncement put all Dutch enterprises in east Java, central Sumatra and the southern Celebes under direct army control. "This was done," said a central Sumatra Command spokesman crisply, "because the Communists might have tried to create confusion."

However illegal the seizures,, were, by last week the government was clearly determined to give them some ex post facto cover of legality. Indonesian politicians of all parties emphasized that there would and could be no turning back, that the Dutch hold on Indonesia's economy would be broken, no matter what the cost. West Irian had only provided the occasion for a break they considered inevitable.

The cost will be high for Indonesia, as well as for the plundered Dutch. Government officials admitted that they expected an immediate 20% cut in foreign-exchange earnings from seized Dutch agricultural properties. They admitted just as candidly that they would proceed anyway.

Nerves & Rumors. In Amsterdam, London and New York, investment bankers waited nervously for each new report from Djakarta. Then at midweek Premier Djuanda announced that Sukarno was tired and exhausted from overwork, would leave shortly for rest and recuperation in a friendly country, presumably India or Egypt. In Sukarno's absence, Parliament Speaker Sartono would serve as Acting President, working in cooperation with Premier Djuanda and Major General Abdul Haris Nasution, chief of staff of the Indonesian army. There was talk that former Vice President Mohammed Hatta, who resigned last year in protest against Sukarno's attempt to set up a "guided democracy'' in partnership with the Communists, might return to office.

Instantly. Dutch newspapers blossomed with stories that Sukarno had been arrested by the army. Amsterdam stock-exchange prices shot up sirarply. They continued to rise even after Sukarno summoned newsmen to the white-columned presidential palace to prove that he was still free and in office. "Here I am," said Sukarno, "happy and gay." But he looked unhappy, and he refused to answer questions; the prices in Amsterdam edged still farther upward.

Indonesian leaders insisted that the trip would be a vacation, pure and simple. Sukarno's nerves had been "shattered" by the assassination attempt, they said. To back up their claim, they pointed to the fact that three physicians had certified that the President "should go abroad for distraction." They did not point out that none of the physicians had actually made a detailed examination of Sukarno, or that one other highly respected doctor, asked to make a similar certification, had refused to do so without properly examining the President. Sukarno refused to submit to the examination.

Man in the Saddle. The Communists would hate to see him leave at this critical moment. In recent months, Communist Boss D. N. Aidit has increasingly had Sukarno's ear; politically, Sukarno has become increasingly dependent on the Reds as his earlier supporters became disillusioned. But even before Sukarno left the country, General Nasution, who participated in an abortive anti-Sukarno coup in 1952, was moving like a man firmly in the saddle. Backed by Premier Djuanda and most other Indonesian moderates of all parties, he ordered all worker seizures of Dutch properties to stop immediately. All army leaves were canceled, troops ordered into battle readiness and put on a stand-by basis.

Through the week there was no violence and there were no anti-Dutch incidents. In Djakarta Dutchmen lolled in rattan chairs on their verandas, purposefully ignoring the sump-oil insults smeared on their house walls a fortnight ago. To counteract charges that the Dutch were being physically hustled out of Java, the government refused to allow foreign airlines to lay on special planes, made clear that the ejection of the Dutch would be gradual and proper.

Djuanda and Nasution were obviously intent on proving that the Indonesian government would keep order, proceed on its unpromising course with due and careful deliberation.

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