In a report sent to Governor-general Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer in 1938, the Council recommended rejection of the Soetardjo Petition, which had been signed by a number of members of the Volksraad and that asked for a conference to be organised to discuss the autonomy for the Dutch East Indies as part of a Dutch commonwealth. The Council took the view that the demands of the petition were at odds with the Dutch constitution and that Indonesian was not ready to become a dominion.[4]