Like a cluster of overripe bananas, the Republic of Indonesia was slowly disintegrating. For more than two months the satraps of oil-and rubber-rich Central and South Sumatra to the west had been defying the authority of the central government in Djakarta. Last week four provinces of East Indonesia followed the Sumatrans into revolt.
East Indonesia's 12 million inhabitants have long been hostile to the "Java-centric" government in Djakarta. A sprawling collection of islands which includes Celebes, the Moluccas and fabled Bali, East Indonesia has spawned half a dozen revolutionary movements—among them the fanatically Moslem Darul Islam and the so-called "Republic...
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