189. Memorandum From Robert W. Komer of the National Security Council Staff to President Kennedy0
SUBJECT
- Blow-Up Over West Irian
In talking with Sukarno we must bear in mind that we are heading almost inexorably toward a major crisis over West Irian, unless it can be forestalled. The Indos aren’t getting those $800,000,000 worth of Soviet arms for any other reason than to overawe the Dutch.
While the best guess still seems to be that Djakarta hopes to scare the Dutch so as to get West Irian short of force majeure, a fracas could certainly occur. In my opinion, most of the world will see this as a pure anti-colonial issue, and we’ll be in a real dilemma. At any rate if we take steps then toward a solution giving West Irian to Indonesia, we’ll buy no credit for it; instead we’ll look as though we succumbed to a Soviet-backed power play.
Painful as it is to accommodate a demagogue like Sukarno, Indonesia is a mighty important place. Sukarno won’t be around forever, but logical heirs apparent are the strongest CP in any country outside the Bloc. What price holding on to mainland Southeast Asia if we have a hostile Indonesia at its back?
All this is merely to urge that statesmanship may call here for forehanded action. The problems involved are numerous and painful, but the cost of not moving faster may be greater yet. True, we may have trouble with the Dutch (who’d like to disengage but don’t know how), but this hardly outweighs the alternative risks. Like Angola, this is a case where European interest must be subordinated; unlike Portugal, however, Holland would be unlikely to cut off its nose to spite its face.
- Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Indonesia, Sukarno-Keita Visit, 9/12/61. Secret.↩