The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia Strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles by Greg Poulgrain (review)

The relations between the United State of America and the Republic of Indonesia have a long history. A number of works give attention to the New Order regime in which the United States played a significant role in Indonesian politics and economy. This book by Greg Poulgrain examines US strategies toward Indonesian affairs during the period 1950–60s. It was a very intensive period in the history of Indonesia. It also witnessed tense international rivalry between the socialist bloc under the Soviet Union and the capitalist bloc of the United States. While most studies on this period of Indonesian history have focused on internal factors within Indonesia, Poulgrain has introduced a new perspective based on the fact that Indonesia was the second country after Vietnam to which the US paid most attention. Indonesia had the largest communist party in the world outside the communist countries. However, Indonesia tried to present a neutral position in the Cold War by hosting the 1955 Conference of Asian and African nations in Bandung, followed by the setting-up of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which Indonesia initiated.

Poulgrain highlights the conflict in US policy toward Indonesia between President John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Cold War. Allen Dulles was ‘the legendary leader who had come to personify the agency’, according to Jim Douglass in his 2009 speech. Indeed, this book not only provides insight into historical events in Indonesia which is not provided by the mainstream historical accounts, but also the history of the US, Europe, including their relationships. The authors argue that the different opinions and foreign policy of JFK and Dulles led to changes in Indonesian history and also in the US. The book also deals with the economic factors, for example, the economic interests of the Netherlands, the US and Japan in the rich natural resources in West New Guinea that played a vital role in many events in Indonesian affairs.

Dulles, the most powerful director of CIA ever, began his career in the CIA before JFK was born. He played a very significant role in both world wars and in the Cold War. He was even rumoured to be behind the assassinations of some political leaders, for example, Dag Hammarskjold, United Nations Secretary General. and Patrice Lumumba of the Congo. Hammarskjold’s support of the Non-Aligned Movement was harmful to Dulles’s aim to control the areas rich in natural resources. Poulgrain seems to suggest that Dulles was involved in the death of Hammarskjold in the 1961 plane crash in Congo.

Apart from being a US government agent, Dulles was also a lawyer and partner at Sullivan and Cromwell, an international law firm. He had wide connections with oil companies and knew that West Papua and the Papua East Indies of the Netherlands had enormous copper and gold resources. Poulgrain argues that this was the main reason behind Dulles’s intention to overthrow President Sukarno. Another aim was to prevent Indonesia from joining the communist bloc as President Sukarno’s strong sympathy with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was well known. Poulgrain also criticizes Dulles for the latter’s close connections with many legal and corporate companies which clearly affected his policy toward Indonesian affairs.

The conflict between Dulles and President Kennedy exploded because the latter had a friendly relationship with President Sukarno. Moreover, Kennedy had planned to resolve the armed Konfrontasi between Indonesia and Malaysia with his visit to Indonesia in early 1964. Nevertheless his plan never materialized as the President was assassinated in November 1963. Nonetheless, Kennedy’s plan threatened the aims and interests of Dulles, whose ambition was to change the Indonesian regime.

Undoubtedly, Dulles was one of the people who influenced the fate of Indonesia. Poulgrain narrates the involvement of the CIA under Dulles’s command...