Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), Thursday 20 April 1950, page 7


A SuSfan Confesses

DJAKARTA, Thurs ( AAP-Reuter): Sultan of . Pontianak, Hamid II, has confessed that he ordered rebel leader Captain Turco Westerling to launch an attack during an Indonesian Cabinet meeting on January 24 and shoot three ministers dead.

According to the confession, all ministers present were to have been arrested and afterwards it was planned to form a new Government with Hamid as Defence Minister. Hamid was arrested at Djakarta on April 5 on suspicion of having been the leader of the Westerling movement. According to Semarang's Dutch language newspaper De Locomotief, thorough investigation into the Westerling affair has produced proof that a number of high Dutch officers gave active or passive assistance to the movement. ? Westerling, a former Dutch commando, who sought recognition of his 'Army of the Heavenly Host' as the army of the autonomous West Java state of Pasundun, fled to Singapore in February, where he was arrested and gaoled for illegal entry.