عنوان

Britain and the transfer of power in Indonesia 1945-46.

TLets473590

Britain and the transfer of power in Indonesia 1945-46.

[Thesis]

Squire, C. W.

School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)

1979

Ph.D.

School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)

1979

British and Indian troops from South East Asia Command under Admiral Mountbatten were in the Netherlands East Indies from September 1945 to November 1946. As a result the British Covernment became involved in relations between the Netherlands Government and Indonesia during the period when the infant republic proclaimcd by Sukarno in August 1945 was struggling to establish itself. At the same time the Netherlands Government was trying to reassert its imperial rights there. British forces were caught in the middle or this struggle. The new labour Government In Britain was torn between loyalty to its Dutch ally and sympathy for the aspirations of a nationalist movement like those the British were coming to terms with in Burma and India. After considering the historical background and the requirements of United States policy, which led to the Anglo-U.S. decision at Pots dam to transfer responsibility for Java from MacArthur to Mountbatten the paper describes how Mountbatten implemented the agreed Allied policy of recognizing the pre-war sovereignty of the Dutch in Indonesia in a way deeply displeasing to the Dutch. The British labour Government , which supported Mountbatten's political judgements, consistently sought to change Dutch policy cowardsthe nationalists and to hasten the evolution of Dutch political thickening towards the acceptance of independence for Indonesia. This is examined against the background of the domestic political situation in the Netherlands and in Britain, in all effort to explain why British political initiatives the mission of Sir Archibald Clarke Kerr in January/Apri1 1946 and later Lord Killearn helped to promote theabortive Linggadjati Agreement between the Indonesian Repuhlic and the Dutch in November 1946, but yet failed despite British strength and Dutch weakness , to bring about that radical change in Dutch politics which the British judged necessary.

Squire, C. W.

School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y