London, 3 August 1962
3759. Secret
Malaysia
Our telegram 3724.1 Golds, C.R.O., last night gave Canadians, New Zealanders and ourselves further information about outcome of negotiations.
2. Golds first discussed the Singapore citizenship issue. As a consequence of the disagreement between Lee Kwan Yew and the Tunku on the interpretation of Article 14 of the Heads of Agreement2 Lee had demanded that the projected Malaysian nationality be dropped and that there should only be equal citizenship for all citizens in the new Federation. He told the British that if he could not obtain this he would be unable to refute charge that he had negotiated second class citizenship for Singapore. He asked them to help him with the Tunku on this issue. Golds said they had first replied to Lee that he had concluded the Heads of Agreement without consulting them. If misunderstandings had arisen he would have to sort them out himself. However Lee had insisted that he could not survive unless he was able to obtain a more favourable interpretation of the citizenship agreement. It was essential that he obtain this if the whole plan was not to fall through. British had, therefore, sought with Lee to obtain a formula from the Tunku which could be sold in Singapore.
3. The arrangement upon which they have settled is that all citizens in the Federation will be Malaysian citizens. There will, however, be an additional Singapore citizenship. All citizens of Singapore will be Malaysian citizens but other Malaysian citizens will not of course have Singapore citizenship. Golds said that this satisfied Lee Kwan Yew since it would enable him to claim with some plausibility that far from getting a worse deal for Singaporeans than the Borneans had obtained he had got a better deal, namely Malaysian citizenship as well as greater autonomy. The Tunku had agreed to this arrangement because he had realised that it did not, in fact, expose him to the danger that Singapore citizens would flood into the remainder of the Federation and affect the political situation. It was not thought likely that the Chinese would want to emigrate from Singapore provided that conditions there remained satisfactory. Also the security ordinance gave the Federation Government very wide powers to prevent Singaporeans residing elsewhere in the Federation. The main safeguard, however, was that Singapore citizens would not be able to go on the electoral roll elsewhere in the Federation. This would be made explicit in the relevant legislation. Golds agreed that this would take much of the force out of any claim by Lee that he had got a better deal for the Singaporeans. Golds said, however, that Lee was of the opinion that he could counter this by pointing out the comparative ease with which Singapore citizenship could be acquired.
4. Lee Kwan Yew has yet to agree with the Tunku when the above agreement is to be announced.
5. Golds went on to discuss the negotiations arising out of the Cobbold Report.
6. He said that British Governors would stay on until 31st August 1963 (or any earlier date that might be determined for transfer of sovereignty) and would then be replaced by Constitutional Heads of State who would be appointed by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. The present Chief Secretaries would remain as Heads of the Executive after the transfer of sovereignty. The Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Legal Officer (all of whom will it is hoped agree to carry over from the British administration) in each of the Territories will be ex officio members of the Legislative Assembly and of the Executive Council until such time as the Assembly becomes fully elected. Members of the Executive Council associated with individual departments of Government will acquire responsibilities only gradually. Although pressed on the executive arrangements and provisions for development of responsible government Golds did not fill in the details. He, subsequently, quoted a brief extract from the secret Heads of Agreement with the Tunku which indicated that the members of the Executive Council would not be called ministers and that decisions of the Executive Council would be channelled through the Chief Secretary (who would himself be a member of the Executive Council). The timing of the development of more responsible government will be a matter for the inter-governmental committee.3
7. With regard to the transfer of powers Golds said it had been agreed that immediately after the transfer of sovereignty all subjects except external affairs, internal subversion and defence would be delegated back to the new States. It was agreed that when sovereignty was transferred there should be the minimum alteration of present arrangements.However, details of the transfer will have to be worked out by the inter-governmental committee. Golds said that there were a number of problems in the financial field that would require some fairly careful consideration. In particular there was the question of development aid funds. Aid would probably have to be channelled through the Federation Government (who would want to take the credit for it) without disrupting existing arrangements.
8. On safeguards Golds said nearly all the work remained to be done by the intergovernmental committee. The Malayans were optimistic that they could secure agreement that Islam should be the state religion by bringing leaders of other sects in the Territories over to Malaya for a visit where they could be convinced of the reality of religious freedom there. The existing differences on official languages were not too great. The Malayans wanted to keep a ten year limit on English as an official language and the Borneans wanted this erased. Golds said that as long as passions were not aroused this would be negotiated. The problem of languages of instruction promised to be more difficult.
9. Golds said that the United Kingdom wanted to avoid becoming involved in bargaining between Brunei and the Federation. He thought the Sultan would insist on terms at least as favourable as those for North Borneo and Sarawak. He would, therefore, presumably want to know what the Lansdowne Committee came up with. His prestige was involved as senior ruler with ambitions to be the next Yang. Brunei will probably sign the formal agreement in January along with U.K., Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak.
10. Present planning is that Lansdowne should go out to the Territories in about a week’s time. He and Razak would not be present for the whole period of the Committee’s work. In Lansdowne’s absence a British official would always be in the chair. They would be in the Territories when the assemblies were debating the issue. Thus there would, inevitably, be an interaction between the Committee and the Assemblies. The deliberations of each would affect those of the other.
11. Golds concluded by saying that he hoped our Governments would be as generous as possible to the new Federation. The Tunku had made it clear that it would not be easy for him with current low prices for tin and rubber to take on the new responsibilities. Furthermore it would help to allay the doubts of the ‘hard core’ 20% in the territories4 if the Tunku could announce that he had secured substantial new development monies for them.
[matter omitted]
[NAA: A1209, 1961/794 part 2]
1 1 August. It reported a statement in the House of Commons that day by Duncan Sandys, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations. In addition to announcing, in principle, that the Federation of Malaysia would be brought into being on 31 August 1963, it set out a number of the provisions of the formal agreement to be concluded between the British and Malayan Governments. These included the transfer of sovereignty in North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore; the provisions agreed between Malaya and Singapore governing their future relationship; defence arrangements; and detailed constitutional arrangements to be determined by an inter-governmental committee, including safeguards for the special interests of North Borneo and Sarawak.
2 See footnote 23, Document 1.
3 The committee was to consist of representatives of the UK, Malayan, North Borneo and Sarawak Governments. (Two representatives from Brunei were to attend the plenary meetings of the committee as observers.) The committee’s task was to work out the future constitutional arrangements and the form of the necessary safeguards. It was to be chaired by Lord Lansdowne, the Minister of State for the Colonies, and discussions were to be conducted in Sarawak and North Borneo. The safeguards were to cover such matters as religious freedom, education, representation in the federal parliament, the position of the indigenous races, control of immigration, citizenship and the state constitutions.
4 Opposition to the merger in the Borneo territories centred on the claim that the territories would suffer major disadvantages in a Federation of Malaysia because they would be the most backward of the member states and would be subject to exploitation by their more advanced partners.