The Dutch were finally brought on their knees. They now were forced to devise a plan as requested by the UN. It was named after its originator, Louis Beel, that sought to transfer sovereignty – without first restoring the Republic – to an Indonesian Federal Government which they would create and which they would control indirectly.
Australia worked actively against the Beel Plan. It sought to press the Dutch to first restore the Indonesian Republic – without which there could be no genuine negotiations for Indonesian independence – and even threatened to take the matter to the UN General Assembly. In response to international pressure, the chief Dutch negotiator in Batavia, J.H. van Roijen reached an agreement on 7 May 1949 with a Republican delegation headed by Mohammed Roem and assisted by Australia’s diplomat Tom Critchley.
Under this agreement, the Republic agreed to cease hostilities against the Dutch army and the Netherlands agreed to restore the Republican Government to Yogyakarta.
On 5 July 1949, Sukarno and Hatta returned in triumph to Yogyakarta. It was a very important symbolic occasion when the Dutch for the first time were obliged to give up territory they had held.