COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright Rebellion in the ‘Near North’ The response of the Australian Government to the Indonesian Outer-Island Rebellion, 1956-1959. By James Farquharson Master of Arts (Research) The University of Sydney, 2013 SID 410011560 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction and Historiography - 6 Chapter One 1. The United States and Indonesia in Context -13 2. The Truman Administration and the Indonesian Revolution -14 3. Indonesian Independence in a dangerous world - 18 4. Australia, Indonesia, and the Region: From World War to Cold War -23 Chapter Two 1. Indonesia at a crossroads -28 2. American concerns over Indonesia’s future -35 3. Taking the Covert Road -40 Chapter Three 1. Australia’s Response to the Rebellion in a Cold War context -49 2. Australia and West New Guinea -52 2 3. “Going off half-cocked” Australian co-operation in “Operation Haik” -57 Chapter Four 1. From Covert Operations to Rapprochement -72 2. Arms for Indonesia -78 3. Australia walks the tightrope -82 Conclusion - 94 Bibliography- 99 3 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the help and guidance of many people. I would like to thank the Department of History at the University of Sydney for its advice and support during the past two years of my Master’s degree. My deepest gratitude also extends to the staff at the Fisher Library at the University of Sydney, the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, and the online archives of the Canberra Times, Straits Times and The Singapore Free Press. The archives in Canberra and Washington deserve special recognition. Without the resources of these two institutions, this thesis would not have been possible. I am particularly indebted to the staff at College Park who went beyond the call of duty to help this Antipodean come to grips with the decimal coding and pull times. My heartfelt appreciation goes to my supervisor Associate Professor James Curran and Associate Professor Mark McKenna-who became by supervisor when James went to Ireland. Their advice, encouragement, and welcoming presence was a source of inspiration and support. I would also like to thank all those who read the various drafts, provided advice and helped in the editing process. My gratitude is endless. Finally, I would like to thank my family. My Mum, Dad and sister Kate. Thank you for your time, patience, good-humour and always being proud of me. This thesis is for all of you. 4 Abstract This thesis focuses on the response of the Australian government to the outbreak of the Indonesian Outer-Island rebellion and the American intervention-through the CIA- to support the rebels against the Central Government in Jakarta. The Australia-Indonesia bilateral relationship is considered one of Australia’s most crucial diplomatic relationships. This thesis will situate the Australian response to the rebellion within the historical context of Australia’s post-1945 engagement with Asia, the Cold War, and the process of decolonisation in Southeast Asia. Drawing on a variety of Australia and American primary sources, including diplomatic cables, government memoranda, private letters, press releases, reports, oral histories, and newspapers, the thesis will analysis how Australian politicians, diplomats and military officials dealt with a major foreign policy crisis in what Prime Minister Menzies called the “near north”. 5 Introduction and Historiography of the Outer Islands Rebellion 1956-58 In 1958, the Australian Government confronted the possibility that its largest neighbour- Indonesia- would fragment politically. This thesis aims to understand the response of the Australian government to a crisis that had serious ramifications for Australian national security. When referring to the Australian government, this thesis will look at the response of senior Australian politicians; mainly within the governing Liberal-Country party coalition of Prime Minister Robert Menzies, military figures and civil servants; particularly from the Department of External Affairs and Defence. Using a range of understudied primary sources from the United States and Australia, as well as secondary material, I hope to place the “Outer- Islands Rebellion” within the broader context of Australian regional engagement post World War II (WW2). One cannot explore how Australia dealt with this emergency without looking at how the United States- the preeminent power in the Pacific and Australia’s most vital ally- responded to the crisis in Indonesia. The thesis will synthesise the attitudes and policies of Australian and American politicians, diplomats, and military figures to the events in Indonesia leading to the rebellion. The bulk of the thesis will focus on how a regional uprising evolved into a civil war. As the regional rebels in Sumatra and Suluwesi and the Central Government in Java fought for supremacy; the following four chapters will explore how Australian and American leaders dealt with these alarming developments in the context of the Cold War in Asia. Finally, it will deal with the aftermath of the short-lived civil war, in relation to both Australian and American policies towards Indonesia For many new nation-states that had been former European colonies, and gained their independence following WWII, the 1950s was a period of uncertainty. Questions arose over how these new nations should be organised as political entities, how to cope with the new economic conditions created by the end of colonial rule, how ethnic minorities were to be treated within the new state, and how these new nations would go about crafting a foreign policy which protected their newly gained sovereignty.1 In 1949, Indonesia gained 1 George McTurnan Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1952). 6 independence through a negotiated settlement with the Dutch after four years of warfare. The decade following the euphoria of liberation was marked by questions over the nature of the newly created state. Was Indonesia to be a federal entity or a centralised republic, how were economic resources to be distributed throughout the new nation and what role were non- Javanese political actors to have in government? Additionally, foreign policy was essential in defining Indonesia as an international actor. In the increasingly tense climate of the Cold War, was Indonesia going to maintain strict neutrality, or lean towards either the Soviet Union or United States?2 These questions would eventually lead to the outbreak of a bloody civil war in 1958. The military conflict between the central government in Jakarta and the military rebels and their supports on the outer-islands of Sumatra and Suluwesi would kill and/or injure thousands. The violence unleashed would alter the political, social, and economic landscape of this sprawling archipelago. This conflict little known outside of Indonesia has become known as either ‘the Outer-Islands Rebellion’, ‘Colonel’s Revolt or the Revolutionary Government of Indonesia Revolts (Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia, or PRRI). For Australian politicians, diplomats and military figures the events of the Outer-Island Rebellion were understood within the context of the Cold War and the end of formal European imperialism in the region. The political and military unrest that engulfed Indonesia during the mid to late 1950s was a product of both of the above elements. As the Cold War intensified in Asia; particularly following the emergence of Communist China, the Korean War, the French defeat in Indochina and the advent of various Communist inspired insurgencies, Australian political leaders feared that the “red tide” would engulf its nearest and most important neighbour: Indonesia. The growing political strength of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the growing role of the Soviet Union and Communist China in Indonesian affairs fuelled these fears. The problem of decolonisation in terms of the Australian response to the Outer-Island Rebellion is exemplified by the fraught issue of Dutch control of the Western half of New Guinea. For Australia, the issue of West New 2 Richard Mason, “Containment and the Challenge of Non-Alignment: The Cold War and U.S. Policy towards Indonesia, 1950-52,” in Connecting Histories: Decolonization and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1945-1962, edited by Christopher E. Goscha and Christian F. Ostermann (Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2009) See also Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung, Twenty Years of Indonesian Foreign Policy, 1945-65 (The Hague:Mouton and Co.,1973) See Also Richard Mason, “The United States, the Cold War and the Nationalist Revolution, 1945-1950,” Journal of Oriental Studies 30(1992). 7 Guinea (West Irian to the Indonesians) was not just a matter of its strategic value in terms of Australian national defence.