Kuala Lumpur, 27 January 1965
221. Secret Immediate
Military Aid
Following is text of letter from Tun Razak to High Commissioner under date 26th January:—
‘When your Minister of Defence, Senator Paltridge was here I spoke to him informally that, in view of the continued Indonesian military build-up along the borders of Sarawak and Sabah and also in Sumatra, both the British and ourselves would not have enough troops to send further reinforcements to the Borneo Territories. Your Minister had noted this request and suggested that he would prefer this request to be made informally first so that he could sound your Government and let us know their reaction.
I am now writing to put on record the informal request that I made to your Minister of Defence for assistance of troops to meet the increasing threat by the Indonesians in the Borneo Territories. I should also be grateful if your Government could assist us with S.A.S and helicopters. Both the British Government and ourselves are short of helicopters which, in view of the nature of the area in Borneo, are absolutely necessary for carrying out operations there.
I should therefore be grateful if your Government could meet our request for assistance above. I have made a similar request to the New Zealand Government.’
2. New Zealand High Commissioner has received a similar letter.
[NAA: A1945, 245/3/26]