Kuala Lumpur, 25 June 1965
1465. Secret Immediate
Review Of Recent Developments
Your 960.2
Internal
With the Tunku and others away, the internal political quarrel has continued at a more subdued level. Alliance ministers are now giving their main attention to emphasising development and the progress that the Central Government has achieved and is planning. Lee Kuan Yew responded accommodatingly to the Tunku’s offer to talk things over,3 but there are no grounds for thinking that either the Alliance or the PAP is prepared for concessions that could lead to narrowing of the rift. Lee continues to be main target of Malay press which has declared that talks will achieve nothing unless he changes his attitude.
2. Razak has had more to say lately, appealing for co-operation of all groups and explaining why Malay privileges must be retained. Senu has also taken a hand with a harsher communal line accusing PAP of deliberate anti-Malay policy.
3. Refusal of Straits Times to publish statements by political secretaries, on grounds that they cannot be held responsible, has contributed to present calmer atmosphere.
4. Lee is coming to Kuala Lumpur next Monday, presumably, although this has yet to be confirmed, to talk to Razak, but it is not clear whether he has anything new to propose. Suggest that he is still thinking of partition but it is not known whether this is a firm objective or merely a tactic with which he hopes to extract concessions.
5. Possibility of a trace remains and there has been some talk among Alliance ministers of using Stephens as a go-between. More likely prospect is the introduction shortly of legislation under Chapter 11 of Constitution to give Government greater powers to deal with communal and other threats to internal security. This would be a clear warning to Lee.
6. Lee is reported to be disenchanted with Australia, believing, apparently on the basis of press reports, that sympathy has drifted away from him in favour of Kuala Lumpur.
Indonesian Confrontation
7. Indonesian military activity has not increased as expected and there is a disposition to seek an explanation for this in the conflict between the Indonesian Army and the PKI.
8. Following the failure of infiltration attempts to-date, Indonesia could logically be expected to turn increasingly to sabotage and political agitation and there have been several attempts this week to infiltrate small sabotage parties into Singapore. Nevertheless,intelligence reports indicate that the forward operational bases are in a state of readiness and that a total of about 900 regulars and volunteers are available for operations against the Peninsula and Singapore.
9. Indonesian accusations of Imperialist plotting have been allowed to pass although Razak reiterated this week that Malaysia was willing to settle the ‘useless war’ through third-party mediation or direct negotiations.
10. Ministers, notably Tan Siew Sin while in Borneo this week, have continued to nourish the idea of accepting African or Afro-Asian troops to replace British and other Commonwealth Forces. This however is not taken seriously.
Other External Issues
11. In view of the high hopes here that Malaysia would succeed in gaining admission to Afro-Asian Conference, there has been disappointment at the recent turn of events.4
[ matter omitted ]
[NAA: A1838, 3027/2/1 part 23]
1 Sent to Canberra with request to pass as London 6 to Hasluck who was attending the Prime Ministers’ Conference with Menzies.
2 24 June, and addressed also to Singapore 679. It asked Critchley and Pritchett for a brief review of the latest developments to send to Hasluck before he left London on 27 June to attend the ANZUS meeting in Washington the following day.
3 On 11 June, before his departure for the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference, the Tunku had said he was prepared to talk with Lee about his ‘worries and anxieties’. Lee had responded that he would talk with the Tunku on his return and ‘attempt to solve some existing problems’.
4 The conference had been postponed until November following the overthrow of President Ben Bella by the Algerian Revolutionary Council on 19 June—as the delegates were assembling—and a bomb explosion in the conference venue just before the proceedings were due to commence.