Partial Returns

At a post-election diplomatic reception in Djakarta last week, a Western newsman remarked to Nationalist Party Leader Ali Sastroamidjojo: "I reckon you are pleased with the way things have turned out." Retorted the ex-Premier with a smile: "I reckon you're not."

That day's returns showed the Nationalists leading in Indonesia's first elections. The Communists, their supporters in power until a new regime took over last August and showed refreshing friendliness to the Western democracies, were running a strong third. As the first ballots were counted, it looked as though the Nationalists and Communists together were going to capture a majority of Congress' 260 seats and return Indonesia to an antiWestern, Red-tinged course.

But as time passed, returns from outlying islands changed the picture. With about 27 million of an estimated 30 million votes counted at week's end, the totals--all highly unofficial--still put the Nationalists on top with 8,001,750 votes. But the Communists were in fourth place, while the strictly anti-Communist Moslem parties, the Masjumi and the Moslem Teachers, had enough between them to suggest a slight majority for Indonesia's anti-Communist parties. Sastroamidjojo still seemed likely to win the premiership, but the anti-Communist bloc had a good chance of playing a role in his Cabinet and his policies.

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