Shell Game

Trying to find the results of Attorney General Robert Kennedy's whirlwind peacemaking trip through Southeast Asia last week Was like playing the old shell game: now you saw it, now you didn't.

No sooner had Kennedy flown back to Washington after arranging a ceasefire in the Malaysia feud, than fierce fighting erupted once again. More than 60 Indonesian "volunteer" guerrillas launched three forays through the jungle into the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah before they were driven back. Since Indonesian air force planes, along with Malaysian-based helicopters, had dropped thousands of leaflets announcing the truce, it was unclear whether the terrorists had deliberately violated the cease-fire or simply had not learned about it.

In Bangkok this week, the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (which claims part of Sabah) hope to lay the groundwork for a possible tripartite "summit" session later this month that would bring together Indonesia's President Sukarno, Malaysia's Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and Philippines President Diosdado Macapagal. But in view of Indonesian President Sukarno's un relenting "Crush Malaysia" campaign, there was widespread doubt over the chances of ending the bitter four-month feud. In London, where the U.S. Attorney General stopped off en route to Washington, Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home warmly thanked Kennedy for his efforts but was plainly skeptical of their success. Kennedy himself was not overoptimistic. "If the conference is not successful," he said bluntly, "everybody can go back to the jungle and shoot one another again. So nothing has been lost but two weeks of shooting and killing."

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