Kuala Lumpur, 10 May 1962
197.Secret
The Tunku did not state categorically in House3 that ‘deadline’ for Malaysia was August 1962 but nevertheless this is his hope. He said Singapore would have to decide on merger by August or he would consider closing causeway.4 He had said earlier (our telegram 173)5 that he would go to London before August for ‘final talks’ on Malaysia and Minister for Transport (Sardon)6 did say in House on 2nd May ‘we hope to have Malaysia by 31st August’.
2. Malayans take an optimistic view of Borneo developments. They have always tended to assume that the Cobbold report will be favourable and although constitutional changes may take some time that they will be in a position to proclaim Malaysia on Merdeka Day.7
3. Tunku’s statement reflects continuing Malayan anxiety about Singapore. There is an increasing tendency to consider that the threat of Communist subversion must be dealt with firmly as a precondition for merger. At the weekend Razak8 told me that with the Cobbold Commission’s report on the way, the proposal for incorporating the Borneo territories had gained a momentum that would be difficult to stop. He thought that this progress need not be influenced by delay over Singapore.
[NAA: A1838, 3027/10/11/4]
1 Tom Critchley, High Commissioner to Malaya.
2 Critchley was responding to a request from Canberra for ‘urgent confirmation and tentative assessment of significance’ of a statement the Tunku was reported to have made in the Malayan Parliament on 28 April that August 1962 was the deadline for the formation of Malaysia.
3 Malayan House of Representatives (Dewan Ra’ayai).
4 The causeway carrying a road and railway between the island of Singapore and the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula.
5 18 April 1962. It informed Canberra of the Tunku’s comments to a Malay Mail correspondent that day.
6 Enche Sardon bin Haji Jubir.
7 Independence Day – 31 August.
8 Tun Abdul Razak Bin Dato’ Hussein, Malayan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence.