Canberra, 18 October 1961
Secret
Thank you for your message of 4th October telling me what you have said to the Tunku on the Greater Malaysia plan.1 I completely agree with your handling of the matter and am heartened that the Tunku will soon meet you in London.
2. I note in particular your emphasis on the free association with Malaya of the peoples of the Borneo territories. Any suggestion that the United Kingdom or the Malayan Government is prepared to allow other considerations to over-ride the principle of selfdetermination could, I believe, have the most damaging effects, most immediately in Borneo. These could prejudice the prospects of achieving the wider association and would in any case undermine its stability if it were formed. Consultation with the Borneo territories must, as your draft announcement states,2 precede any commitments in respect of transfer of sovereignty. I feel that your comments to the Tunku on this point were both prudent and timely.
3. No doubt the effect of Greater Malaysia on the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve’s participation in SEATO exercises and operations will occupy a large place in your discussions with the Tunku. I look forward, therefore, to having an early indication, in as concrete terms as possible, of your proposed aims in negotiations on this subject and of the minimum conditions which you feel would be acceptable to the United Kingdom. For the reasons mentioned in my letter of 28th August to your High Commissioner,3 1 should like time to consider and comment on your views on these aspects before any firm position is taken in the negotiations.
[NAA: A4940, C3389]
1 Macmillan had written to the Tunku, also on 4 October, reassuring him that Britain welcomed and accepted the Greater Malaysia concept, and stressing the importance of planning discussions commencing as soon as possible. He had advised the Tunku that he and his colleagues were ‘holding themselves in readiness for a meeting in the week beginning 23rd October’.
2 Macmillan had enclosed a copy of the UK’s proposed public statement on the issue and the forthcoming meeting with hisletter to the Tunku.The terms of the announcement had been ‘most carefully chosen’to avoid any statement ‘which might lead the Borneo peoples to think that decisions about their future had been taken by others without any consultation with them’.(In his reply to Macmillan, Tunku Abdul Rahman amended the date of the proposed meeting to‘early in November’.)
3 Menzies was concerned to safeguard Australia’s defence interests and the position of the CSR in the proposed federation.