BENYAMIN Mesakh, the leading figure of Rote Island, showed the stack of documents written in Dutch to Tempo last August. The size of a folio paper, the five pages were worn out and dull. Yet, still clearly visible on one of its pages is the signature of the Dutch Governor, P.P. De Clause, and a Rote civilian authority, Winters.

The document is already appended with its Indonesian translation made by A. Hermanus, a Naikoten I, Kupang citizen on Nov