United States of Indonesia  The United States of Indonesia (Dutch:"Verenigde Staten van Indonesië", , RIS), abbreviated as RUSI, was a federal state to which the Netherlands formally transferred sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies (minus Netherlands New Guinea) on 27 December 1949 following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference. This transfer ended the four-year conflict between Indonesian nationalists and the Netherlands that was fought over for control of Indonesia. It lasted less than a year, before being replaced by the unitary Republic of Indonesia. In January 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, displacing the Dutch colonial government. On 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender, Indonesian nationalist leader Sukarno declared Indonesian independence. The Dutch, viewing Sukarno and the Indonesian leadership as having collaborated with the Japanese, decided to restore their authority. However, British South East Asia Command, under Lord Louis Mountbatten, who had responsibility for the Dutch East Indies, refused to allow Dutch troops to land in Java and Sumatra and recognized "de facto" Republican authority there. However, the Dutch were able to reassert control over most of the area previously occupied by the Japanese Navy, including Borneo and the Great East. Discussions between the British and the Dutch resulted in Acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Hubertus van Mook proposing eventual self-determination for an Indonesian commonwealth. In July 1946, the Dutch organised the Malino Conference in Sulawesi at which representatives from Borneo and eastern Indonesia backed the proposal for a federal United States of Indonesia with links to the Netherlands. It would comprise three elements, the Republic of Indonesia, a state in Borneo and another for East Indonesia. This was followed on 15 November by the Linggadjati Agreement, in which the unilaterally declared Republic of Indonesia agreed to the principle of a federal Indonesia. The Dutch then organised the December 1946 Denpasar Conference, which led to the establishment of the State of East Indonesia, followed by a state in West Borneo in 1947. A military action by the Dutch launched on 20 July 1947 against those areas controlled by the Indonesian republicans, Operation Product, resulted in the Dutch regaining control of West and East Java, the areas around Medan, Palembang and Padang in Sumatra. The United Nations called for a ceasefire, and negotiations between the two sides led to the Renville Agreement of January 1948, with a cease-fire along the "Van Mook Line", which connected the most advanced Dutch positions.