The Dutch organised a conference in the Sulawesi

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...

 town of Malino in July 1946 as part of their attempt to arrange a federal solution for Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. From the end of World War II, Indonesian Republicans had been trying to secure Indonesian Independence

Indonesian National Revolution

The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...

 from the Dutch colonial control

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

.

The Dutch invited thirty-nine Indonesian representatives of the local rulers (rajas), Christians, and several other ethnic groups of Kalimantan

Kalimantan

In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....

 and East Indonesia who supported the idea of some form of continuing Dutch connection. However, the Dutch had not anticipated the level of support amongst the Indonesians for genuine autonomy. The conference resulted in plans for a state in Kalimantan and another for East Indonesia.