End of the Confrontation

Indonesian coup ends Confrontation

On 1 October 1965 a group of army officers made an unsuccessful attempt to seize power in Jakarta, but the uprising was ruthlessly crushed by troops loyal to Major-General Suharto. This event heralded a major transformation in Indonesian politics. Increasingly, Sukarno became a paper President, with real power being exercised by Suharto and the army establishment. These generals, concerned with restoring economic stability and suppressing the Indonesian communist party, were determined quietly to abandon Sukarno's radical agenda, particularly the Confrontation. As a result, military activity in Borneo by Indonesian insurgents subsided drastically after the coup. During its second deployment, for example, lRNZIR did not engage the enemy at all. On 11 August 1966 representatives of Indonesia and Malaysia signed a peace treaty in Bangkok. Hostilities were officially at an end. lRNZIR completed its withdrawal from Borneo in October the same year.

R. Gurr, Voices of a Border War: A History of 1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment 1963 to 1965 (Privately published, Melbourne, 1995)

John Subritzky

This essay is adapted from the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Ian McGibbon (ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2000).