Canberra, 18 August 1965
Singapore and the United Nations
In his message to the Prime Minister dated 12th August2 Tunku Abdul Rahman said:
‘I propose to sponsor Singapore’s admission to the United Nations and also as a member of the Commonwealth and I hope you would be willing to give your support.’
2. The Tunku has been informed that the Australian Government welcomes Singapore as a member of the Commonwealth and that the British Government is being informed accordingly. No reply has, however, been made in respect of the entry of Singapore into the United Nations.
3. The usual convention in regard to new members of the Commonwealth is for all existing members of the Commonwealth to co-sponsor in the General Assembly the admission to the United Nations of the new member. It may be that in his message to the Prime Minister of the 12th August the Tunku overlooked this convention and it might be desirable to draw it to the Malaysian Government’s attention. It seems probable that the Singapore Government would prefer co-sponsorship by all Commonwealth members because this would give Singapore a broad measure of support on its first entry into the United Nations organisation.
4. We could, of course, in any case assure both the Malaysian Government and the Singapore Government that the Australian Government would be happy to co-sponsor the admission of Singapore to the United Nations.
5. It is therefore recommended that you approve that we inform the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra and relevant posts as follows:
(a) that if Singapore applies for admission to the United Nations Australia would be glad to co-sponsor its admission; and
(b) we assume that in accordance with established convention Singapore’s entry would be co-sponsored in the General Assembly by all existing members of the Commonwealth.3
[NAA: A1838, 899/3/18 part 1]
1 Booker was now First Assistant Secretary, Division II (Geographic Regions), DBA.
2 Document 308.
3 Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, London, New York and Wellington informed on 19 August.