True enough, after having belabored other countries of rendering assistance to the revolutionaries, the Jakarta government suddenly issued an official statement to the effect that it had received an offer of "volunteers" from the Chinese Communists. Meanwhile, news from the Chinese mainland has it that the Chinese Communists are secretly organizing, for service in Indonesia, three, divisions of such "volunteers," who are mostly recruited from the veterans of the Korean War.
Despite the popular sympathy for the revolutionaries, the Free Chinese government has been acting correctly all along. It has more than once officially denied having rendered any assistance to the rebels. It especially denied having given clearance for any arms, ammunition, or airplanes to any country, including Indonesia. But when it learned that the Chinese Communists were contemplating dispatching "volunteers" to Indonesia, the Ministry of National Defense promptly issued a statement in which it said that the Chinese government regards "the presence of any Chinese Communist troops or the so-called 'volunteers' in South China Sea as a threat to the security of Taiwan and would reserve its freedom to take whatever actions necessary to interdict the movement of such troops or 'volunteers.''' Free China is not the only country that has sensed the Communist threat. For some time President Syngman Rhee of Korea has been making appeals to the free nations to send troops and aid to the revolutionary government. The Filipinos are also concerned over developments in Indonesia. Defense Secretary Vargas is especially aware of the danger posed by the Communist activities in Indonesia and has more than once warned his countrymen of it. In fact, if the trend of Sukarno's policy is to continue unchecked and should result in the fall of Indonesia into the Communists' hands, all the countries in Southeast Asia and in the southwest Pacific region, including Malaya, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, India, Ceylon and the British and Dutch colonies and also Australia and New Zealand will be seriously endangered.
While the free countries in this part of the world are considering what to do, the Jakarta government has not been idle. Instead of charging the United States with interference in the Indonesian civil war, it now is working hard to secure American approval and assistance. And it has succeeded to such an extent that recent news dispatches have it that Jakarta has secured a license from the State Department to ship $500,000 worth of small arms and ammunition, including aircraft and radio parts, and a loan of $5.5 million for the purchase of rice from the United States. It may be noted that while the small arms are ostensibly for the use of the police and constabulary forces, they are just the kind of things to fight the war in Indonesia.
The question that poses itself to countries in this part of the world is whether the Jakarta government under Sukarno has had a change of heart or whether it is just playing for a deeper game. By action and by word of mouth, Sukarno has shown himself to be extremely sympathetic to Communism. This has prevented him from cooperating with Hatta to form a coalition government that is more acceptable to the Indonesian people, ninety per cent of whom are Muslims and do not take to the Communist participation in the government kindly. This also accounts for the many recent revolutions against Jakarta.
Generally speaking, it is the most difficult thing to shake off the Communist hold. Once the Communists have fastened their grasp on their victim, it will take a major operation to cut it off, and the Sukarno government does not look as if it had undergone a major operation of any kind. With their talk of buying jet aircraft and arms from Czechoslovakia and their receipt of the offer of "volunteers" from the Chinese Communists, one gathers the impression that Sukarno and his crowd in Jakarta do not lack arms, or ammunition, or fighting men. What they need is time to ship the material and men the Communists promised them and time to set up the necessary equipment and give training to the Indonesians to use the arms. All this may explain why they had all of a sudden called off their anti-American line; and that, at some backtracking from their announced position, such as that they would not try to take West Irian by force, they have made up to the American government.
So it looks as if Sukarno and his Communist advisers are buying time. They need a few months to a year to work out their program of bringing in the necessary arms and men for the conquest of this important group of islands for the Communists. The latter are not above resorting to deception and chicanery to achieve their ends. The Chinese Communists resorted to them frequently in their fight with the Chinese government on the mainland. The Russians resorted to them in the suppression of the Hungarian uprising two years ago. Therefore, the Communists in this part of the world and the people in the Sukarno government will bear watching in the next few months, if the free world is not to wake up one day to find that Indonesia has gone over to the Communists for keeps.