Japan's Blueprint for Indonesia

Extract

Our coverage of wartime broadcasts emitted by Radio Tokyo and its satellite stations, while unavoidably incomplete, nevertheless offers clear clues to the Japanese blueprint for Indonesia. The essence of propaganda is to hammer away at a few points, and we may infer from these what the Japanese intended to do, regardless of what they actually accomplished. Despite certain conflicts in regard to timing, priorities and, above all, overall direction, this program seems to have represented the combined goals of Japan's military and big business elements. Although most of the desiderata were the same as those set for the rest of what Japan termed the Southern Regions, Japanese propaganda to and about Indonesia exhibited certain variations from the norm. As the richest, most populous, most distant from Japan, and most thoroughly Muslim area in Southeastern Asia, Indonesia necessarily called for special handling. Its political division by the Japanese into three administrative areas under separate army and navy commanders was a further complicating factor.