Fri, 16 Jun 1995

Military, diplomacy mutually supportive, says Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday that the military and diplomacy are mutually supportive, as attested by the Indonesian campaign in 1962 to win Irian Jaya from Dutch hands.

Soeharto, who as a young Army general commanded the military campaign, code-named Mandala, in 1962, recalled that it was the military that gave the final push in forcing the Netherlands to give up its control of Irian Jaya, then known as Irian Barat (West Irian or Dutch New Guinea).

"Some people are still claiming that Irian Barat was won through diplomacy. Sure they can make the claim...But the fact is that 11 years of diplomatic struggle did not bear fruit.

"It was after Trikora and the military operation that diplomacy finally brought Irian Jaya into the fold of the Indonesian republic." he said at a nostalgic gathering with survivors, widows and offspring of the Mandala operation at Taman Mini.

The Netherlands transferred sovereignty over Irian Barat to the United Nations in 1963 after a long diplomatic battle with Jakarta dating back to 1950.

There were brief skirmishes between Indonesian and Dutch forces in Irian Jaya and in the waters around the territory in 1962. But a full scale battle was prevented because the Netherlands agreed at the last minute to surrender the territory into the care of the United Nations, Soeharto recounted.

He said he believed that Washington by then had realized the strength of the Indonesian military and had put pressure on The Hague to relent rather than risk a full-scale war.

Postponement

Soeharto said he and his troops were all geared up for a full- scale attack when the order came from Sukarno to postpone the plan. "The men were all ready in their ships and were being tossed about. And we were told to wait in the middle of the sea."

On December, 19, 1961, Sukarno pronounced the Three People's Command (Trikora): Foil the Netherland's plan to establish a West Papuan State; launch national mobilization to seize Irian; and hoist the Indonesian flag in Irian Barat.

Soeharto recalled that he was given the task of heading the command on January 1962, and was given an Aug. 17 deadline to complete the job. "I had only six and a half months to prepare the force."

He said he accepted the job on condition that he was given full access to other services in the military to put together a force involving the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.

Soeharto, now 74 years old, said he recruited some of the finest men in all the services to help him in the Mandala operation. He cited as examples Admiral Subono, Marshal Leo Wattimena, Gen. Ahmad Winatakusumah, General Tahir and Admiral Sudomo. There was also a young captain by the name of Benny Moerdani, he recalled.

Soeharto said he himself departed for the battleground on July 15, on the same day that his youngest son was born. "So I named him Tommy Mandala Putra."

He described the operation as successful with the minimum number of casualties. "Around 200 soldiers died."

Soeharto, upon the completion of the operation, set up a foundation called Yayasan Trikora which has since taken care of the 121 widows and the 325 orphaned children.

The foundation funded the education of the orphaned children all the way to college. "Now only seven of those children are still at college and they will all graduate this year," Soeharto said. (emb)