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2024 Handbook Historical Commission of Inquiry of 1948
Topics
The Historical Commission of Inquiry (COI) simulates two historical commissions established by the United Nations Security Council to provide in-depth reporting on the facts and developments of a particular dispute. The Commissions may also be empowered by their mandate to serve as mediators in negotiations between the parties to the dispute. At the United Nations, each Commission is unique in membership and purpose. At AMUN, however, for the purposes of our Conference simulation, two disputes which have been the subject of past Commissions will be scrutinized by the same body of experts. These experts will also include representatives from Czechoslovakia and Argentina, nominated by India and Pakistan respectively, and Belgium and Australia, nominated by the Netherlands and Indonesia respectively.
Members of the United Nations can formally raise disputes to the Security Council through Article 35 of the United Nations Charter. The Security Council investigates those disputes through Article 34 of the Charter, historically by forming Commissions of Inquiry. The objectives of the Commission of Inquiry are to investigate the facts and allegations of the disputes, keep the Security Council informed of their findings and developments, and to tender a final report on the facts of the dispute at the conclusion of each investigation. That final report may also include recommendations for future actions that the Commission believes the Security Council should take.
The Commission of Inquiry is a historical simulation. History as it happened is considered to have happened until the start date for the simulation. Events after that date become variable and subject to change through the actions of the experts and simulation staff. This brief is a contemporary perspective of the issues before the Commission as of the start date of the simulation. Events that are ongoing as of the start date are referred to in present tenses, while events that are anticipated to happen after the start date but have not yet happened as of the start date, are referred to in future tenses. The start date for this year’s Commission is 20 January 1948.
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan
In the mid-1700s, the British East India Company established control over much of the Indian subcontinent after a series of military victories over local Indian powers. However, in response to the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the British government nationalized the East India Company and began its rule of India, known as the British Raj. Over the next 90 years, India’s territories were governed by a combination of direct British administration and indirect rule through so-called “princely states,” each of which retained control over its internal affairs. By 1947, nearly half of its territory on the subcontinent was governed by 562 self-administered princely states, dispersed all over the subcontinent.
Following the upheaval of World War II and facing increasingly nationalist movements within India, the British resolved to emancipate its Indian colony. Overseen by Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, British India was divided into two independent states: the primarily Muslim Dominion of Pakistan established on 14 August 1947, and the primarily Hindu Dominion of India established on 15 August 1947. The vast majority of princely states were assigned to either Pakistan or India depending on their geographic location. Kashmir, however, located along the borders of Afghanistan and China, now straddles the territory of the newly formed states of Pakistan and India. While most provinces immediately joined either India or Pakistan, Kashmir remained open to joining either.
Kashmir (also known as Jammu and Kashmir) is one of the largest principalities of British India. It has been self-administered by Maharaja Hari Singh, whose ancestors conquered and purchased territory in and around the Kashmir Valley throughout the period of British East India Company rule. The principality was officially recognized by the British government in 1846.Kashmir’s population is 77 percent Muslim and 20 percent Hindu; it trades primarily with areas now within Pakistan. The name Pakistan itself is tied to Kashmir. Derived from the acronym conceived in 1933, The “k” of Pakistan stands for Kashmir. The new leader of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and his administration, immediately began courting Singh to join the Dominion of Pakistan.
While the geography of Kashmir has been historically tied to what is now Pakistan, the rulers have come from a century-old line of Hindu maharajas. The strongest political group of Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), though overwhelmingly Muslim, has close ties to the Indian National Congress, in particular to the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose family is from the Kashmir Valley. The NC, led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, has been highly critical of the hereditary and autocratic rule of Kashmir as well as the crushing poverty of its Muslim inhabitants.
Singh attempted to keep negotiations open with both states, seeking an arrangement that would preserve the autonomy Kashmir had enjoyed while continuing the powers of the hereditary maharajah. However, as negotiations stalled with India, tribal raiders began to make incursions along the Pakistan-Kashmir border.
In October 1947, after weeks of accusations from Kashmir that Pakistan was supporting raids and rebellion along their shared border, tribal forces moved en masse from Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province into Kashmir. Kashmir’s limited defenses were dispersed within days, and the tribal forces moved deep into Kashmiri territory, nearly to the capital city of Srinagar.
Seeing no other option, Singh wrote to Mountbatten requesting his support in approaching India for assistance. India requested the maharaja accede to the Dominion of India, so India would be acting in defense of its own territory. On 26 October 1947, Singh ceded all authority over Kashmir province to India. Sheikh Abdullah also wrote to the government of India strongly supporting the accession to the Dominion of India. Indian forces arrived in Srinagar within 24 hours and pushed Pakistani forces out of most of Kashmir by the end of November 1947.
On 1 January 1948, the Representative of India submitted a letter to the President of the Security Council, formally issuing a complaint against Pakistan under Article 35 of the United Nations Charter. The letter detailed past incursions into the Punjab and Kashmir regions by Pakistani raiders. It further alleged that Pakistan must be materially supporting these forces and that to effectively repel them, without Pakistani or international assistance, Indian forces would need to move into Pakistani territory. The letter requested the Security Council call upon the Pakistani government to cease its alleged support of the raiders and actively discourage its nationals from participating in invasions of India’s provinces.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan responded on 15 January 1948, rebutting India’s claims and issuing a complaint against India under Article 35. In its letter, Pakistan alleged genocide of Muslims in Kashmir under Indian rule and claimed that the resistance India is facing in Kashmir is the true voice of Kashmir’s people, who are rebelling due to the maharaja’s collusion to accede to an oppressive, non-representative government. Pakistan requested that the Security Council call upon the Indian government to stop the genocide of Muslims, arrange for the cessation of fighting within Kashmir, expel all forces not from Kashmir and facilitate a plebiscite to determine the ultimate fate of the Kashmir province.
The Security Council responded on 20 January 1948 by establishing the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan. The Commission has two functions: “to investigate the facts pursuant to Article 34 of the Charter” relating to allegations of the 1 January and 15 January letters submitted by the parties to the dispute and to exercise a mediatory influence while carrying out and reporting on any directions given to the Commission by the Security Council.
Questions to consider from your country’s perspective:
- To what extent are India and Pakistan contributing to current unrest within the Kashmir province? What are their goals?
- India and Pakistan have made incendiary, contradictory complaints against each other. How will the Commission conduct its investigation while still maintaining a mediatory influence?
- What steps can the Security Council take to facilitate the Commission’s fact finding? What steps need to be taken to reach a peaceful resolution?
Bibliography
- Battle in Kashmir (2 November 1947). The New York Times.
- Casualties in Kashmir (24 December 1947). The New York Times.
- Lewis, Charles (28 October 1947). The Charge in Pakistan (Lewis) to the Secretary of State.
- Nayak, Venkatesh (5 August 2019). The Backstory of Article 370: a True Copy of J&K’s Instrument of Accession. The Wire.
- Schofield, Victoria (2003). Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan, and the Unending War.
United Nations Documents
- United Nations, Security Council (20 January 1948). The India-Pakistan Question. S/RES/39.
- United Nations, Security Council (15 January 1948). Letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Addressed to the Secretary-General. S/646.
- United Nations, Security Council (2 January 1948). Letter from the Representative of India Addressed to the President of the Security Council. S/628.
The United Nations Committee of Good Offices on the Indonesian Question The United Nations Committee of Good Offices on the Indonesian Question
The Indonesian archipelago, commonly referred to as the Dutch East Indies, fell under the colonial control of the Netherlands at the beginning of the 19th century. Dutch colonial power was disrupted during World War II on 10 January 1942, when Japan invaded the colony to seize its strategically vital natural resources, particularly oil and rubber. The Dutch military in the colony was overwhelmed within a few months, and the Japanese occupied the islands for the remainder of the war. During their occupation, the Japanese ordered the internment and deportation of all Dutch citizens, effectively dismantling the Dutch colonial government, and built a new occupation government staffed largely with native Indonesians. The Japanese conscripted several million Indonesians into forced-labor units which were used across Japan’s Pacific holdings. As the war turned against them, Japan also created Indonesian military units to police and defend the territory. The Japanese promised eventual independence for the colony as a member of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, but such promises had only gotten as far as the creation of a Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence by the end of World War II and Japan’s surrender.
Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who had been leaders on the Preparatory Committee, proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on 17 August 1945, two days after Japan’s surrender. Troops from the British South East Asia Command eventually arrived on the islands to liberate Europeans and other internees from Japanese prisons and work camps. During the period between the Japanese surrender and the arrival of these Allied troops, the Japanese were expected to both disarm and maintain order, which resulted in the widespread transfer of weapons and policing responsibilities to native Indonesian forces. An unplanned delay in the arrival of the Allied troops allowed the new Republic to solidify its political control in the vacuum of the Japanese withdrawal. Scattered violence erupted between the newly-empowered Indonesian militias and the British troops, with the largest incident being the death of British Brigadier Aubertin Mallaby and the general destruction of his command in the city of Surabaya on 30 October 1945. The British counterattacked, and fighting consumed Surabaya from 10 to 24 November 1945.
By June 1946, British troops had been replaced by Dutch soldiers and administrators. On the outer islands of the archipelago they met little resistance and re-established Dutch control. On Java and Sumatra, the two key islands, the Dutch were able to hold the major cities but met resistance in the countryside. Both parties agreed to declare a ceasefire in October 1946 in order to begin negotiations. The result of those negotiations was the Linggadjati Agreement. The Dutch agreed to recognize Republican control over Java, Sumatra and the smaller island of Madura. Both sides agreed to a plan for a semi-autonomous, federal, United States of Indonesia, whose constituent parts would be the Republic and the governments of the Dutch-controlled portions of the archipelago. The ultimate goal of this plan was a Netherlands-Indonesian Union, ruled by the Dutch Queen and consisting of the Netherlands, the United States of Indonesia and all other Dutch colonial territories. The agreement was signed on 25 March 1947. Both sides soon accused the other of violating the ceasefire. At midnight on 20-21 July 1947 the Netherlands initiated an offensive named “Operation Product,” which they described as a “police action” in response to Indonesian violations of the Linggadjati Agreement. Through this operation, the Dutch expanded the areas of Java and Sumatra they controlled considerably. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 27 on 1 August 1947, calling for a ceasefire. The Dutch announced a ceasefire at midnight on 4-5 August 1947, and the Republican government followed suit.
On 25 August 1947, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 31, establishing the Committee of Good Offices on the Indonesian Question “to tender [the Security Council’s] good offices to the parties in order to assist in the pacific settlement of their dispute.” The Netherlands selected Belgium as its chosen representative on the Committee, and Indonesia chose Australia. On 8 December 1947, the Committee of Good Offices opened its first formal session with representatives from the Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands onboard the American warship USS Renville anchored in the harbor at Batavia. Negotiations stalled, prompting the Committee to issue its “Christmas Message,” laying out a proposal for a settlement of the dispute: the Dutch would withdraw within three months from the areas it had seized since 21 July and allow the Republic to re-establish civilian control; and the two sides would work toward the fulfillment of the Linggadjati Agreement. Another round of negotiations produced the Renville Agreement on 17 January 1948. Under the terms of this new agreement, the Netherlands maintain sovereignty over Indonesia until it has been transferred to a federal United States of Indonesia as laid out by the Linggadjati Agreement. The areas occupied by the Dutch since 21 July 1947 are to undergo plebiscites to allow those areas to choose from three options: rejoin the Republic, join one of the Dutch established states or form their own state within the federal United States of Indonesia.
There remain several unresolved issues hampering the peaceful resolution of the dispute. The current borders on Sumatra and Java, the so-called “Van Mook Line,” which was declared by the Dutch on 29 August 1947, greatly exceed the known positions of Dutch forces when the ceasefire went into effect on 5 August 1947. The line excludes the Republic of Indonesia from all major seaports and most of the economically valuable regions of both islands. The Netherlands also continues to maintain a blockade against the Republic of Indonesia. The Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands both accuse the other of committing violations of the ceasefire. The Dutch also claim that Indonesia has not suspended support for guerillas operating in Dutch-held territory. On 11 November, Dutch forces crossed the Van Mook Line and overran the other half of the island of Madura. Formations of the Indonesian army have skirmished with Dutch troops while attempting to move from Dutch-controlled areas to territory controlled by the Republic of Indonesia. Dutch troops killed a number of civilians in the village of Rawagede on 9 December, but the Netherlands and Indonesia have made different claims regarding the number of deaths and no disciplinary action has been initiated by the Dutch government.
Questions to consider from your country’s perspective:
- Does the framework of the Linggadjati Agreement still provide a viable political solution to the conflict?
- What steps can the Security Council take to encourage adherence to its previous Resolutions and ultimately a peaceful resolution to the conflict?
- What role can the Committee of Good Offices play moving forward to mediate a resolution?
Bibliography
- Anderson, David (17 January 1948). DUTCH PLEDGE BAN on FORCE in INDIES; Announcement Made at the Hague as Truce Accord Is Reached in Java. New York Times.
- Borch, Fred L. (2017). Military Trials of War Criminals in the Netherlands East Indies 1946-1949.
- Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (18 January 1948). Telegram from Étienne Raux on the Signing of the Renville Agreement on 17 January 1948.
- CIA (9 June 1947). Basic DUTCH-INDONESIAN Issues and the Linggadjati Agreement.
- JAVA SETTLEMENT REPORTED REACHED; Dutch-Indonesian Agreement Due to Be Signed Saturday under U.N. Auspices (16 January 1948). The New York Times.
- Kahin, George McT. (2003). Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia.
- Kahin, George McT. (April 2000). Sukarno’s Proclamation of Indonesian Independence.
- Ricklefs, M.C. (1981). World War II and the Japanese Occupation, 1942–5.
- Security Council Awaits Report (16 January 1948). The New York Times.
- van der Kroef, Justus M. (1953). Dutch Policy and the Linggadjati Agreement, 1946-1947.
- Zaalberg, Thijs, and Bart Luttikhuis (2022). Empire’s Violent End: Comparing Dutch, British, and French Wars of Decolonization, 1945–1962.
United Nations Documents
- United Nations, Security Council (1 November 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/36(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (3 October 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/35(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (26 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/32(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (25 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/31(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (25 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/30(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (1 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/27(1947).
Topics
The Historical Commission of Inquiry (COI) simulates two historical commissions established by the United Nations Security Council to provide in-depth reporting on the facts and developments of a particular dispute. The Commissions may also be empowered by their mandate to serve as mediators in negotiations between the parties to the dispute. At the United Nations, each Commission is unique in membership and purpose. At AMUN, however, for the purposes of our Conference simulation, two disputes which have been the subject of past Commissions will be scrutinized by the same body of experts. These experts will also include representatives from Czechoslovakia and Argentina, nominated by India and Pakistan respectively, and Belgium and Australia, nominated by the Netherlands and Indonesia respectively.
Members of the United Nations can formally raise disputes to the Security Council through Article 35 of the United Nations Charter. The Security Council investigates those disputes through Article 34 of the Charter, historically by forming Commissions of Inquiry. The objectives of the Commission of Inquiry are to investigate the facts and allegations of the disputes, keep the Security Council informed of their findings and developments, and to tender a final report on the facts of the dispute at the conclusion of each investigation. That final report may also include recommendations for future actions that the Commission believes the Security Council should take.
The Commission of Inquiry is a historical simulation. History as it happened is considered to have happened until the start date for the simulation. Events after that date become variable and subject to change through the actions of the experts and simulation staff. This brief is a contemporary perspective of the issues before the Commission as of the start date of the simulation. Events that are ongoing as of the start date are referred to in present tenses, while events that are anticipated to happen after the start date but have not yet happened as of the start date, are referred to in future tenses. The start date for this year’s Commission is 20 January 1948.
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan
In the mid-1700s, the British East India Company established control over much of the Indian subcontinent after a series of military victories over local Indian powers. However, in response to the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the British government nationalized the East India Company and began its rule of India, known as the British Raj. Over the next 90 years, India’s territories were governed by a combination of direct British administration and indirect rule through so-called “princely states,” each of which retained control over its internal affairs. By 1947, nearly half of its territory on the subcontinent was governed by 562 self-administered princely states, dispersed all over the subcontinent.
Following the upheaval of World War II and facing increasingly nationalist movements within India, the British resolved to emancipate its Indian colony. Overseen by Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, British India was divided into two independent states: the primarily Muslim Dominion of Pakistan established on 14 August 1947, and the primarily Hindu Dominion of India established on 15 August 1947. The vast majority of princely states were assigned to either Pakistan or India depending on their geographic location. Kashmir, however, located along the borders of Afghanistan and China, now straddles the territory of the newly formed states of Pakistan and India. While most provinces immediately joined either India or Pakistan, Kashmir remained open to joining either.
Kashmir (also known as Jammu and Kashmir) is one of the largest principalities of British India. It has been self-administered by Maharaja Hari Singh, whose ancestors conquered and purchased territory in and around the Kashmir Valley throughout the period of British East India Company rule. The principality was officially recognized by the British government in 1846.Kashmir’s population is 77 percent Muslim and 20 percent Hindu; it trades primarily with areas now within Pakistan. The name Pakistan itself is tied to Kashmir. Derived from the acronym conceived in 1933, The “k” of Pakistan stands for Kashmir. The new leader of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and his administration, immediately began courting Singh to join the Dominion of Pakistan.
While the geography of Kashmir has been historically tied to what is now Pakistan, the rulers have come from a century-old line of Hindu maharajas. The strongest political group of Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), though overwhelmingly Muslim, has close ties to the Indian National Congress, in particular to the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose family is from the Kashmir Valley. The NC, led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, has been highly critical of the hereditary and autocratic rule of Kashmir as well as the crushing poverty of its Muslim inhabitants.
Singh attempted to keep negotiations open with both states, seeking an arrangement that would preserve the autonomy Kashmir had enjoyed while continuing the powers of the hereditary maharajah. However, as negotiations stalled with India, tribal raiders began to make incursions along the Pakistan-Kashmir border.
In October 1947, after weeks of accusations from Kashmir that Pakistan was supporting raids and rebellion along their shared border, tribal forces moved en masse from Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province into Kashmir. Kashmir’s limited defenses were dispersed within days, and the tribal forces moved deep into Kashmiri territory, nearly to the capital city of Srinagar.
Seeing no other option, Singh wrote to Mountbatten requesting his support in approaching India for assistance. India requested the maharaja accede to the Dominion of India, so India would be acting in defense of its own territory. On 26 October 1947, Singh ceded all authority over Kashmir province to India. Sheikh Abdullah also wrote to the government of India strongly supporting the accession to the Dominion of India. Indian forces arrived in Srinagar within 24 hours and pushed Pakistani forces out of most of Kashmir by the end of November 1947.
On 1 January 1948, the Representative of India submitted a letter to the President of the Security Council, formally issuing a complaint against Pakistan under Article 35 of the United Nations Charter. The letter detailed past incursions into the Punjab and Kashmir regions by Pakistani raiders. It further alleged that Pakistan must be materially supporting these forces and that to effectively repel them, without Pakistani or international assistance, Indian forces would need to move into Pakistani territory. The letter requested the Security Council call upon the Pakistani government to cease its alleged support of the raiders and actively discourage its nationals from participating in invasions of India’s provinces.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan responded on 15 January 1948, rebutting India’s claims and issuing a complaint against India under Article 35. In its letter, Pakistan alleged genocide of Muslims in Kashmir under Indian rule and claimed that the resistance India is facing in Kashmir is the true voice of Kashmir’s people, who are rebelling due to the maharaja’s collusion to accede to an oppressive, non-representative government. Pakistan requested that the Security Council call upon the Indian government to stop the genocide of Muslims, arrange for the cessation of fighting within Kashmir, expel all forces not from Kashmir and facilitate a plebiscite to determine the ultimate fate of the Kashmir province.
The Security Council responded on 20 January 1948 by establishing the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan. The Commission has two functions: “to investigate the facts pursuant to Article 34 of the Charter” relating to allegations of the 1 January and 15 January letters submitted by the parties to the dispute and to exercise a mediatory influence while carrying out and reporting on any directions given to the Commission by the Security Council.
Questions to consider from your country’s perspective:
- To what extent are India and Pakistan contributing to current unrest within the Kashmir province? What are their goals?
- India and Pakistan have made incendiary, contradictory complaints against each other. How will the Commission conduct its investigation while still maintaining a mediatory influence?
- What steps can the Security Council take to facilitate the Commission’s fact finding? What steps need to be taken to reach a peaceful resolution?
Bibliography
- Battle in Kashmir (2 November 1947). The New York Times.
- Casualties in Kashmir (24 December 1947). The New York Times.
- Lewis, Charles (28 October 1947). The Charge in Pakistan (Lewis) to the Secretary of State.
- Nayak, Venkatesh (5 August 2019). The Backstory of Article 370: a True Copy of J&K’s Instrument of Accession. The Wire.
- Schofield, Victoria (2003). Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan, and the Unending War.
United Nations Documents
- United Nations, Security Council (20 January 1948). The India-Pakistan Question. S/RES/39.
- United Nations, Security Council (15 January 1948). Letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Addressed to the Secretary-General. S/646.
- United Nations, Security Council (2 January 1948). Letter from the Representative of India Addressed to the President of the Security Council. S/628.
The United Nations Committee of Good Offices on the Indonesian Question The United Nations Committee of Good Offices on the Indonesian Question
The Indonesian archipelago, commonly referred to as the Dutch East Indies, fell under the colonial control of the Netherlands at the beginning of the 19th century. Dutch colonial power was disrupted during World War II on 10 January 1942, when Japan invaded the colony to seize its strategically vital natural resources, particularly oil and rubber. The Dutch military in the colony was overwhelmed within a few months, and the Japanese occupied the islands for the remainder of the war. During their occupation, the Japanese ordered the internment and deportation of all Dutch citizens, effectively dismantling the Dutch colonial government, and built a new occupation government staffed largely with native Indonesians. The Japanese conscripted several million Indonesians into forced-labor units which were used across Japan’s Pacific holdings. As the war turned against them, Japan also created Indonesian military units to police and defend the territory. The Japanese promised eventual independence for the colony as a member of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, but such promises had only gotten as far as the creation of a Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence by the end of World War II and Japan’s surrender.
Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who had been leaders on the Preparatory Committee, proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on 17 August 1945, two days after Japan’s surrender. Troops from the British South East Asia Command eventually arrived on the islands to liberate Europeans and other internees from Japanese prisons and work camps. During the period between the Japanese surrender and the arrival of these Allied troops, the Japanese were expected to both disarm and maintain order, which resulted in the widespread transfer of weapons and policing responsibilities to native Indonesian forces. An unplanned delay in the arrival of the Allied troops allowed the new Republic to solidify its political control in the vacuum of the Japanese withdrawal. Scattered violence erupted between the newly-empowered Indonesian militias and the British troops, with the largest incident being the death of British Brigadier Aubertin Mallaby and the general destruction of his command in the city of Surabaya on 30 October 1945. The British counterattacked, and fighting consumed Surabaya from 10 to 24 November 1945.
By June 1946, British troops had been replaced by Dutch soldiers and administrators. On the outer islands of the archipelago they met little resistance and re-established Dutch control. On Java and Sumatra, the two key islands, the Dutch were able to hold the major cities but met resistance in the countryside. Both parties agreed to declare a ceasefire in October 1946 in order to begin negotiations. The result of those negotiations was the Linggadjati Agreement. The Dutch agreed to recognize Republican control over Java, Sumatra and the smaller island of Madura. Both sides agreed to a plan for a semi-autonomous, federal, United States of Indonesia, whose constituent parts would be the Republic and the governments of the Dutch-controlled portions of the archipelago. The ultimate goal of this plan was a Netherlands-Indonesian Union, ruled by the Dutch Queen and consisting of the Netherlands, the United States of Indonesia and all other Dutch colonial territories. The agreement was signed on 25 March 1947. Both sides soon accused the other of violating the ceasefire. At midnight on 20-21 July 1947 the Netherlands initiated an offensive named “Operation Product,” which they described as a “police action” in response to Indonesian violations of the Linggadjati Agreement. Through this operation, the Dutch expanded the areas of Java and Sumatra they controlled considerably. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 27 on 1 August 1947, calling for a ceasefire. The Dutch announced a ceasefire at midnight on 4-5 August 1947, and the Republican government followed suit.
On 25 August 1947, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 31, establishing the Committee of Good Offices on the Indonesian Question “to tender [the Security Council’s] good offices to the parties in order to assist in the pacific settlement of their dispute.” The Netherlands selected Belgium as its chosen representative on the Committee, and Indonesia chose Australia. On 8 December 1947, the Committee of Good Offices opened its first formal session with representatives from the Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands onboard the American warship USS Renville anchored in the harbor at Batavia. Negotiations stalled, prompting the Committee to issue its “Christmas Message,” laying out a proposal for a settlement of the dispute: the Dutch would withdraw within three months from the areas it had seized since 21 July and allow the Republic to re-establish civilian control; and the two sides would work toward the fulfillment of the Linggadjati Agreement. Another round of negotiations produced the Renville Agreement on 17 January 1948. Under the terms of this new agreement, the Netherlands maintain sovereignty over Indonesia until it has been transferred to a federal United States of Indonesia as laid out by the Linggadjati Agreement. The areas occupied by the Dutch since 21 July 1947 are to undergo plebiscites to allow those areas to choose from three options: rejoin the Republic, join one of the Dutch established states or form their own state within the federal United States of Indonesia.
There remain several unresolved issues hampering the peaceful resolution of the dispute. The current borders on Sumatra and Java, the so-called “Van Mook Line,” which was declared by the Dutch on 29 August 1947, greatly exceed the known positions of Dutch forces when the ceasefire went into effect on 5 August 1947. The line excludes the Republic of Indonesia from all major seaports and most of the economically valuable regions of both islands. The Netherlands also continues to maintain a blockade against the Republic of Indonesia. The Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands both accuse the other of committing violations of the ceasefire. The Dutch also claim that Indonesia has not suspended support for guerillas operating in Dutch-held territory. On 11 November, Dutch forces crossed the Van Mook Line and overran the other half of the island of Madura. Formations of the Indonesian army have skirmished with Dutch troops while attempting to move from Dutch-controlled areas to territory controlled by the Republic of Indonesia. Dutch troops killed a number of civilians in the village of Rawagede on 9 December, but the Netherlands and Indonesia have made different claims regarding the number of deaths and no disciplinary action has been initiated by the Dutch government.
Questions to consider from your country’s perspective:
- Does the framework of the Linggadjati Agreement still provide a viable political solution to the conflict?
- What steps can the Security Council take to encourage adherence to its previous Resolutions and ultimately a peaceful resolution to the conflict?
- What role can the Committee of Good Offices play moving forward to mediate a resolution?
Bibliography
- Anderson, David (17 January 1948). DUTCH PLEDGE BAN on FORCE in INDIES; Announcement Made at the Hague as Truce Accord Is Reached in Java. New York Times.
- Borch, Fred L. (2017). Military Trials of War Criminals in the Netherlands East Indies 1946-1949.
- Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (18 January 1948). Telegram from Étienne Raux on the Signing of the Renville Agreement on 17 January 1948.
- CIA (9 June 1947). Basic DUTCH-INDONESIAN Issues and the Linggadjati Agreement.
- JAVA SETTLEMENT REPORTED REACHED; Dutch-Indonesian Agreement Due to Be Signed Saturday under U.N. Auspices (16 January 1948). The New York Times.
- Kahin, George McT. (2003). Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia.
- Kahin, George McT. (April 2000). Sukarno’s Proclamation of Indonesian Independence.
- Ricklefs, M.C. (1981). World War II and the Japanese Occupation, 1942–5.
- Security Council Awaits Report (16 January 1948). The New York Times.
- van der Kroef, Justus M. (1953). Dutch Policy and the Linggadjati Agreement, 1946-1947.
- Zaalberg, Thijs, and Bart Luttikhuis (2022). Empire’s Violent End: Comparing Dutch, British, and French Wars of Decolonization, 1945–1962.
United Nations Documents
- United Nations, Security Council (1 November 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/36(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (3 October 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/35(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (26 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/32(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (25 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/31(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (25 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/30(1947).
- United Nations, Security Council (1 August 1947). The Indonesian Question. S/RES/27(1947).