The analysts within the King’s Intelligence Service were kept busy. They had not known a time like this for several years. It was hard to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together but certainly many of the staff lamented Prime Minister Land’s botched attempts at colonial reform.
The Suriname Desk had complied a list of trouble makers and political agitators, of which many were under constant observation. For now the situation seemed stable.
The East Indies office in Batavia was kept busy, political radicals like Sukarno were still under house arrest but there seemed to be growing feelings among the local politicians that he should be set free and everywhere seemed a nameless sense of unease, especially within the indigenous populations. That the government their had dared to openly reject Land’s proposals and suggest independence from The Hague seemed to have ignited a rebellious spirit. The man in the street felt that if the government could openly say such things then why shouldn’t they? Indeed the political slogans daubed in the night were a visible sign.
The Yemen was only part of an informal Empire, the small KIS team there were still worried about civil war and their own safety. Things had calmed down but sporadic raids and fighting broke out here and there. Inflammatory newspaper stories and propaganda had been slipping into the country. What leads there were led to the EAS, which itself was currently a hotbed of violence which had focused most of the world’s attention. That unrest should spread from here was not unreasonable, certainly early suggestions of incitement from the political dissidents of the East Indies was ruled out through lack of evidence despite some materials being intercepted very early on, but it was clear someone was hoping the flames would fan in Yemen.
The Kongo seemed quiet, here too pockets of disaffected military men were rumoured but as yet there had been no political backlash. An informer very recently mentioned a shadowy group who called themselves ‘The Tigers’ but it was unclear as yet who they were or what aims they had. In Ubangi Shari the Limbani government seemed to be highly progressive and inclusive and there seemed to be stability at last.
So the reports to the King tended to cover a range of tensions but on the whole the analysts hoped that things would blow over with time and that careful management of the situation in the East Indies would bring stable times into the 1950s.
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