INDONESIAN CRISIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91T01172R000300070030-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: December 16, 1955
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2007/05/14 SECVfE' ?1 TO 1172 8000300070030-0
OCI
No. 8586/55
Copy
DIA Review Completed
No. i
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16
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State Dept review Completed hacause it contains information received
TO: from another government efency. The
Deputy Director (Intelligence)n,.v ent m,.y be l . ;
SUBJECT: Indonesian Crisis to approval by the oihr uga;.y(s) 25X1
eencernod.
reviewer: ~=: Date: .......
A serious governmental crisis has developed in
Indonesia following the incident of 14 December when the
ceremony to install a new deputy air chief of staff was
broken up by mutinous air force personnel. That incident
was apparently planned by air chief of staff Suryadarma, an
associate of former defense minister Iwa, and seems to have
had the backing of President Sukarno.
2. The American embassy reports that the cabinet which
had met at 1700 on 15 December was still in session at 2300.
Its task was to decide whether to enforce an order for Surya-
darma's arrest or whether to resign. The embassy states that
the lines are very clearly drawn between, on the one hand,
Sukarno, Suryadarma, Iwa, leftist element of the National
Party and Communist elements behind the scenes, and on the
other hand, Prime Minister Harahap backed by other Masjumi
political leaders, and the army. Vice President Hatta is
giving moral support and encouragement to Harahap.
3. The embassy reports[
_j miii
police were engaged in arres ng v111 cers and men nvolvedain
the air force incident. This information suggests that the
cabinet had decided to act rather than resign.
4. Nationwide voting fora constituent assembly took
place on 15 December and it appears that Sukarno and leftist
elements have sought to bring down the government before the
returns were in and create a situation in which they would
have a decisive influence over the considerable government
reorganization that must take place during the next few months.
Sukarno has been campaigning throughout the country and in a
speech on 14 December he said it would be unreasonable for
the Communists not to be represented in the next government
since they had polled over 6 million votes in the September
parliamentary elections.
The
F- -A.ppro edDF.pr Release 2007/05/1 C1R'-4?P
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
Docu
no Change
 Approved For Release 2007/05/14: SEME T01172R000300070030-0
ter
5. With the support of the army (the air force is
small and of little political significance) the Harahap
government would appear to be able to ride out this crisis.
However, the cleavage between the leftists and the moderates
has widened and the prospects for putting together a stable
government on the basis of the September elections has been
made much more difficult.
HUNTINGTON D. SHELDON
Assistant Director
Current Intelligence
Orig. FAR EAST fTV
Dist:
White House (Colonel Goodpaster)
NSC (Mr. Dillon Anderson)
DCI
DDI
ONE
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DDP
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Approved For Release 2007/05/14'SPQ P91T01172R000300070030-0