Hatta Cabinet, and was stationed at Kutaraja. He was given extensive powers in this position, since the Republican government had poor communications with Sumatra and only held tenuous control. During the PDRI period in 1949, Sjafruddin had been approached by Acehnese leaders, who requested that the region be split off into its own province. By May 1949, he had officially appointed Daud Beureu'eh as military governor of Aceh. In a visit to Aceh on August 1949, he faced significant pressure in order to form a province, to a point where a government statement later described that "the autonomous province of Aceh was created through force majeure". In December 1949, he released a decree which separated Aceh from North Sumatra to form its own province, but this decree was revoked by the central government under Mohammad Natsir's premiership. This caused significant anger amongst Acehnese leaders such as Daud Beureu'eh, and only successive visits by Sjafruddin, Assaat, Hatta, and finally Natsir himself calmed the situation. Additionally, Sjafruddin assured officials who had worked for the Dutch that the Republican government would not permit reprisals. Minister of Finance Within the Republic of the United States of Indonesia Cabinet led by Hatta, Sjafruddin returned to his previous office as Minister of Finance, a post which he would later retain in the succeeding Natsir Cabinet. While drafting a provisional constitution for the federal state, Sjafruddin argued unsuccessfully for the inclusion of a clause whereby Hatta would become Prime Minister in the event of a political deadlock. The proposal was accepted by Masyumi and several others, but could not pass and was eventually dropped in exchange for an implicit promise by Sukarno to do so instead of a formal clause. In the Masyumi-heavy cabinets between December 1949 and the end of the Wilopo Cabinet in June 1953, Sjafruddin's economic views and outlook enjoyed significant influence in the government, with Sjafruddin being Masyumi's primary economic policymaker. One of Sjarifuddin's programs was a foreign exchange certificate system, which required certificates obtainable from exporting goods in order to engage in imports. Additionally, as a result of the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference, the Indonesian government was saddled with heavy debts and obligations, and the economy was plagued with heavy inflation due to a shortage of goods and an oversupply of currency. By 1950, there were three currencies circulating one issued by the Republican government, one issued by the Netherlands Indies Civil