"If God Wills It . . ."

INDONESIA"

President Sukarno's ambitious attempt to resolve his country's chronic crises by executive fiat got off to a crackling start last week beneath the lofty colonial ceilings of the summer palace at Bogor, 30 miles up in the Javanese hills from the sweltering capital of Djakarta.

There, while herds of spotted mouse deer grazed on the lush green lawns, Sukarno summoned the country's military leaders and the slightly confused members of the 24-man Emergency Cabinet he had selected to lead the country out of chaos. "Brethren," said Sukarno, "I as President and Supreme Commander order you all to sit in ministerial council." And sit they did. But before the week was out, there were mounting signs that Sukarno's crackling start might end in a damp sputter.

There were two good reasons why Sukarno's plan seemed doomed to fail: first, he insisted on including Communist sympathizers or fellow travelers in the Emergency Cabinet; second was a rising crescendo of protest from separatist leaders in Sumatra, the Celebes and elsewhere, who decried the Emergency Cabinet as unconstitutional.

As Premier of his Emergency Cabinet, Sukarno designated Dr. Djuanda, 45, a soft-spoken and widely respected banker, engineer and government planner who has served in 12 posts in the 16 preceding Cabinets that have tried, all unsuccessfully, to govern Indonesia since 1945. When Djuanda returned from a visit to Peking two years ago, he said: "Red China's claim of ability to extend economic or technical aid to Indonesia is nothing but a hoax."

Most Indonesians trusted Dr. Djuanda; they did not trust Sukarno's pro-Red ministers. Principal target of criticism was Stalin Peace Prizewinner Prijono, whom Sukarno named Minister of Education. Opposition politicians (including the powerful Moslem anti-Communist Masjumi Party, Indonesia's second largest, which ordered a boycott of the Cabinet), objected to at least three other Communist-line ministers.

After convening his new Cabinet, Sukarno poured on his considerable personal charm for his ministers and their wives, invited some 200 guests to special screenings of two movies, both made in Communist Czechoslovakia: one, The Emperor's Baker; the other, Sukarno's Visit to Czechoslovakia. A reporter asked Sukarno: "How long will the Emergency Cabinet last?" "If God wills it," replied the President inscrutably, ''this Cabinet may last just one day."

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