In five years of self-government, the Republic of Indonesia, a country rich in oil, rubber and tin, has achieved a degree of economic muddle unmatched in the democratic world. The question before the Indonesian Parliament last week, on a vote of confidence in Premier Ali Sastroamidjojo's administration, was whether continuing muddle would drive Indonesia out of the democratic world into the arms of the Communists.
In 1950 the U.S., wishing to help the young country whose independence it had largely fathered, offered the Indonesian government guaranteed long-term prices for commodities. The deal, which would have helped stabilize the economy, fell...