Subversion As Foreign Policy

by Kahin, Audrey R.; Kahin, George McT

• ISBN13: 9780295976181
• ISBN10: 0295976187
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

Based on access to secret documents and interviews with many of the participants, Subversion as Foreign Policy is an extraordinary account of civil war in Indonesia provoked by President Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and resulting in the killing of thousands of Indonesians and the destruction of much of the country's air force and navy. "This startling new book reveals a covert intervention by the United States in Indonesia in the late 1950s involving, among other things, the supply of thousands of weapons, the creation and deployment of a secret CIA air force and logistical support from the Seventh Fleet. The intervention occurred on such a massive scale that it is difficult to believe it has been kept almost totally secret from the American public for nearly 40 years. And this CIA operation proved to be even more disastrous than the Bay of Pigs". -- San Francisco Chronicle "An exemplary study of an ignominious chapter of the Cold War in Southeast Asia". -- Journal of Asian Studies "Subversion as Foreign Policy is a remarkable book.... The Kahins have provided a rare insight into the workings of U.S. policy towards Indonesia, both clandestine and official". -- London Times Literary Supplement

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(17)
1. Colonial Rule, Revolution, and the Beginnings of American Involvement	20	(16)
Colonial Rule	20	(2)
The Japanese Occupation	22	(3)
The Coming of Independence	25	(4)
American Policy during the First Years of the Revolution	29	(2)
Change in American Policy: 1948-1949	31	(2)
Indonesia's Nonalignment	33	(3)
2. Postrevolutionary Realities	36	(18)
The Fruits of Independence	36	(2)
Sukarno and Hatta	38	(5)
Islam in the Republic	43	(2)
Persistence of the West Irian Issue	45	(1)
The Postrevolutionary Army	46	(2)
Army-Civilian Clashes	48	(2)
Outcome of the Elections	50	(1)
Rivalries and Dissension in the Army	51	(3)
3. Dissent in the Regions	54	(21)
Toward Regional Autonomy	54	(3)
The Colonels Take Action	57	(9)
Colonel Husein's Takeover in West Sumatra	57	(2)
Colonel Simbolon's Coup Fails in Medan	59	(2)
Stalemate in South Sumatra	61	(2)
Permesta in Sulawesi	63	(2)
Colonel Barlian Acts in South Sumatra	65	(1)
Response from the Center	66	(2)
The United States Shows Interest	68	(1)
Divisions Among the Dissidents	69	(2)
Attempts at a Settlement: The Munas Conference	71	(4)
4. Genesis of Eisenhower's Indonesian Policy	75	(24)
The Indonesia China Analogue	75	(4)
Communists' Potential and the West Irian Issue	79	(1)
Courting Sukarno	80	(3)
Ambassadorial and Policy Shifts	83	(4)
Beginnings of a Covert Track	84	(3)
The Breakup of Indonesia?	87	(4)
Eisenhower Administration Bypasses Its Own Embassy	91	(8)
5. Polarization	99	(21)
After Munas: From Dissidents to Rebels	99	(3)
Beginning of Direct American Contacts	102	(4)
Jakarta's Growing Alienation from the West	106	(3)
Ambassador Allison's West Irian Plan	109	(2)
Rebuff in the United Nations and Seizure of Dutch Properties	111	(1)
Cikini: The Attempt to Assassinate Sukarno	112	(3)
Compromise Efforts Break Down	115	(5)
6. The Rebels Challenge Jakarta	120	(23)
Escalation of Covert United States Support	120	(5)
Jakarta Asserts a Twelve-Mile Limit	125	(2)
The Rebels' Sungai Dareh Conference	127	(5)
Colonel Barlian's Misgivings	130	(2)
American Pressure	132	(2)
Rebels Press Ahead	134	(2)
The Rebel Ultimatum on Jakarta	136	(4)
The Rebels Proclaim a Separate Government	140	(3)
7. Civil War	143	(24)
Jakarta's Response	143	(3)
Rebel Preparations in Padang	146	(2)
Seventh Fleet to Singapore	148	(4)
The Government Attacks	152	(3)
Western Reactions	155	(8)
SEATO	155	(3)
View from Washington	158	(5)
Jakarta's Military Successes	163	(4)
The Fall of Padang	163	(2)
Defections in South Sumatra	165	(2)
8. Climax and Turning Point	167	(29)
Negotiations Rejected	167	(2)
Air Power: Pivotal	169	(5)
Pressures for Change in American Policy	174	(5)
Capture of an American Pilot	179	(3)
Washington Reverses Course	182	(2)
Jakarta's Victory in Northern Sulawesi	184	(1)
The Unites States and Its Allies: Keeping Options Open	185	(5)
The Roles of Taiwan and Korea	185	(3)
Input of the Philippines	188	(2)
End of the Dulles Policy	190	(6)
9. End of the Rebellion	196	(21)
Protracted Guerrilla Warfare	197	(2)
New Attempts at Negotiation	199	(2)
The Rebels Shift to a Federal Order (RPI)	201	(1)
Cleavages in Rebel Ranks	202	(3)
The Catalyst of Soviet Arms	205	(4)
Washington's Final Reassessment	209	(4)
Disintegration and Surrender of the Rebel Forces	213	(4)
Conclusion and Epilogue	217	(14)
Biographies of Key Figures	231	(7)
A Note on Sources	238	(3)
Glossary & Abbreviations	241	(4)
Notes	245