CHANCERIESTHE DIPLOMATIC ATLAS

Asaf Ali Asks Washington to Mediate the Indonesian Dispute

9 July 1947

After Japan's defeat, the Dutch attempt to restore authority in Indonesia met a republican movement demanding independence. India was itself approaching the transfer of power from Britain. [3] [1]

India's ambassador in Washington, Asaf Ali, asked the U.S. government on 9 July 1947 to help avert renewed fighting in Indonesia. He told the under secretary of state that his government believed the Dutch were moving another division into Java to force an agreement on the Indonesian republic. India feared the effect of renewed colonial warfare across Asia and received important rice shipments from Indonesia. [1]

Asaf Ali proposed a specific route to negotiation. He cited Article 17 of the Linggadjati Agreement as a provision for arbitration and wanted Washington to remind the Dutch of it and offer its good offices. American officials replied that their information suggested the two sides were close to agreement. They promised to pass his concerns to Secretary of State George Marshall. [1]

The American consul general in Batavia, Walter Foote, reported that same day that Dutch leader Hubertus van Mook considered the parties almost entirely agreed. Foote also reported that Indonesian ministers had thanked him for American assistance. The State Department relayed the substance of this optimistic assessment to Asaf Ali on 11 July. [2] [1]

Related Diplomats

  1. Asaf Ali [1]

Sources

  1. Memorandum of Conversation by Kenneth Landon, 9 July 1947

    FRUS 1947, Volume VI, document 776; File 856E.00/7-947, both paragraphs and footnote 39

  2. The Consul General at Batavia (Foote) to the Secretary of State, 9 July 1947

    FRUS 1947, Volume VI, document 777; File 856E.01/7-947, telegram 265, paragraphs 1-3

  3. Decolonization of Asia and Africa, 1945–1960

    Japanese defeat, nationalist movements, competing American commitments to self-determination and European allies

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Asaf Ali Asks Washington to Mediate the Indonesian Dispute. Chanceries Diplopedia. Record ce68922c4a06d3d607f0. https://chanceries.org/research/history/india-indonesia-mediation-1947/

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