Page:British hansard (1963) Malaysia bill.djvu/1

 MALAYSIA BILL

HC Deb 19 July 1963 vol 681 cc922-1006


 * Order for Second Reading read.


 * 11.12 a.m.

The Secretary of State for Common-Wealth Relations and Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Duncan Sandys) I merely rise to inform the House that I have it in Command from the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Bill, has consented to place Her prerogative and interest, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Nigel Fisher) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

I am sorry that we are taking this important Bill on a Friday when, inevitably, relatively few hon. Members are able to be present, but at this period of the Session—and as hon. Members realise, the Bill could have been taken no earlier—we were not able to make other and more normal arrangements.

The Bill provides for the relinquishment of Her Majesty's sovereignty over North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore so that they can federate with the existing States of Malaya in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement which was signed last week. I do not think that I need trouble the House with a Clause by Clause description of the Bill because the Clauses are, I believe, the usual ones in a Bill of this kind and, in any case, are self-explanatory. But perhaps I might be allowed to give a short history of how all this came about because I think that it does show that a great deal of thought has been taken over quite a long period to prepare the ground and to secure popular consent in the various territories for these proposals. I do not believe that the whole story has ever been set out. We have had statements from time to time, but it might be useful to give the sequence of events.

It is now just over two years since the Government of Malaya proposed an understanding with Singapore, and with the Borneo States, to which the Government of Singapore immediately responded. I think that the whole House agrees that it was a very imaginative idea, and all the territories at once showed a great interest in it. In July, 1961, at a regional meeting in Singapore of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the four countries, a Consultative Committee was set up to exchange views on the form that Malaysia should take. This is yet another example of the very valuable contribution by the C.P.A. and it shows what a constructive rôle this splendid organisation can play.

In October, 1961, the Malayan Parliament endorsed the Malaysia proposal in principle and on 15th November that year the Heads of Agreement between Malaya and Singapore were published. Later that month discussions took place in London between Britain and Malaya, and my right hon. Friend informed the House at that time that agreement had been reached that the creation of a Federation was in the best interests of the people of Malaya and Singapore. He said, too, at the same time that a commission would be set up to ascertain the views of the people of North Borneo and Sarawak. I think it was clear to everybody that this was the best and quickest way to independence for those two Colonies, and certainly Her Majesty's Government were wholeheartedly in support of the project. But we have learned elsewhere in recent years that it is best nowadays to ascertain the wishes of the people before one embarks on the federation of territories.

The right hon. Member for Middles rough, East (Mr. Bottomley), the hon. Member for (Eton and Slough (Mr.