This study by Mr. Idrus Nasir Djajadiningrat covers an important but hitherto virtually unchronicled aspect of modern Indonesia’s history — the first period of negotiations between the revolutionary Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands. While a substantial monograph by Dr. Alastair Taylor on the final stages of these negotiations is soon to be published, as yet no serious scholarly study has been written covering the two major previous phases, the initial period of contacts (late 1945 until mid-1946) and the intermediate Linggadjati period (mid-1946 - mid-1947). It is the earliest of these periods, that culminating in the heretofore obscure Hoge Veluwe Conference, which Mr. Djajadiningrat has covered in this study. His research makes clear how important this phase was in setting the stage for the negotiations which were to follow. Indeed, Mr. Djajadiningrat has laid bare facts which demonstrate that by early 1946 attitudes had already emerged which were to influence critically the course of negotiations during the next three years — attitudes which with little change were to endure until early 1949, when successful Indonesian resistance and outside pressures combined to develop the substantially different conditions which made the negotiations at the Round Table Conference of November 1949 successful.
Formerly a medical student at the University of Indonesia, Mr. Djajadiningrat joined the government service of the Republic of Indonesia immediately following its proclamation of independence on August 17, 1945. After periods as press liaison officer and as editor in charge of newscasts in English and Dutch for the Republic’s Ministry of Information, he served as interpreter-translator of the Military Committee of the Republic’s secretariat assigned to the United Nations’ Good Offices Committee in Indonesia. Thereafter, he was posted to the diplomatic staff of the Indonesian delegation to the United Nations. He served in this capacity until August, 1952, when he was put in charge of the North American desk of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Djakarta. In February, 1955, he was awarded a fellowship by the Cornell Southeast Asia Program and subsequently has been undertaking graduate studies in the Department of Government of Cornell University. - George McT. Kahin, January 1958
advertisement