ABSTRACT
In January 1950, President Sukarno was finally able to pay his first official state visit – to India. 1 For the Netherlands, the ‘Indonesian question’ – as the struggle for independence was referred to in the Low Countries – had finally came to an end on 27 December 1949, to the relief of many. But in Indonesia, the struggle was far from over and new problems immediately emerged. Many new nation-states tend to be a sorry sight shortly after independence, and Indonesia was no exception. The country’s infrastructure had been severely damaged by the war, and the people suffered from a lack of just about everything: housing, work, clothing, means of transportation and medicine. There was a euphoria that came from having won the war and the freedom they had obtained, but chaos also reigned and a resurgence of violence loomed. The big question was: would the federation survive? And could the violence that had flared up in previous years be reined in?
