Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Mr. C. H. Campbell

Mr. Campbell, appointed by the de facto Government of the Republic
of Indonesia to act as its Trade Commissioner in Australia, seeks
permission to proceed from Australia to Java in the next ship
embarking Indonesians for repatriation. [1]
2. Mr. Campbell states that he has requested the Dutch authorities
here to provide him with a visa to enable him to visit the Indies.
This they are not likely to do, for one of Campbell's proposed
objects is to establish contact with members of the Government of
the Indonesian Republic.
3. Following negotiations between the Departments of Navy and
Immigration, it has been decided that H.M.A.S. Manoora will be
made available for the repatriation of Indonesians at present in
Australia and it is expected that this ship will leave Sydney
early in April next.
4. The Australian Consul-General, Batavia, has been asked to seek
the concurrence of Dutch authorities in the Indies in the proposed
disembarkation of Indonesian repatriates at Cheribon, a Republican
port.
5. Campbell is not known personally to Indonesian leaders in Java.
Ballard was in fact asked if he could tell them anything about
Campbell. The Indonesians informed Ballard that Campbell's
appointment was 'very temporary' and that his name had been put
forward by Indonesians in Australia.
6. Campbell has been closely associated with the Australian
Communist Party, is Vice-President of the Australian Indonesian
Association, Treasurer of the Indian Seamen's Union and Honorary
Secretary of the Australia-India Association. Campbell has also
taken a prominent part in the ban on Dutch shipping.
7. For the following reasons, it would appear to be undesirable
that Mr. Campbell should be permitted to proceed to Java in
H.M.A.S. Manoora:-Affording Campbell this concession
(a) might, by eliciting Dutch opposition, imperil the whole
repatriation movement;
(b) would amount to a measure of recognition of Campbell as
Indonesian Trade Commissioner;
(c) would suggest to the Indonesian Republican authorities that
Campbell was persona grata to the Australian Government;
(d) would probably lead to the confirmation by the Indonesian
Government of Campbell's temporary appointment, and thus preclude
us from insisting on the appointment in his stead, at the
appropriate time, of an Indonesian Nationalist;
(e) would afford Campbell an argument for convincing the
Indonesian Government that Campbell's organisations, rather than
the Australian Government, were responsible for this repatriation
movement;
(f) would tend to take the initiative in Australian-Indonesian
relations from this Department;
(g) would follow too closely our recent assurances to the Dutch
that no official recognition had been accorded to Campbell;
(h) would be inconsistent with the Government's previous decision
to allow only its own officers to accompany the Indonesians being
repatriated.
8. It is accordingly recommended that Campbell be not afforded an
opportunity of proceeding to Java on H.M.A.S. Manoora. [2]