Page:MALAYSIA BILL (Hansard, 26 Juli 1963).djvu/21

 —perhaps I am prejudiced by the fact that I happened to visit both—were Sarawak and Greenland. And in Greenland the Danes would not allow any Europeans in at all. But perhaps I should keep to the more equatorial climates.

I remember standing—it was one of the most remarkable moments of my life—after the first assent of the highest mountain in Sarawak, looking across those cloud-capped mountains and having a feeling of wonder—indeed, almost a mystical experience; I wondered what would happen to those territories and those people. Although many of the people in Sarawak—and I am sure this is true of British North Borneo—would be described as primitive and pagan, this does not mean in any way that they are in the slightest degree inferior to their more civilised Malaysian compatriots. Although they are not Malay, they are a delightful and, I would say, civilised race.

There are many anecdotes for those who have been up river and visited long-houses, with which perhaps it would be inappropriate to waste your Lordships' time. But the excellence of the relationship—and this is not, I believe, a sentimental view—between the European officer and the people of those countries was most striking: the really close affection and understanding the ability to cross any race or hierarchical distinction. There is no doubt that it is a part of the world in which it will be easier to build a multi-racial society; and, indeed, it is to a large extent already a multi-racial society.

Before the war, in the days when Somerset Maugham was writing about Malaya, I remember how people used to grumble on one occasion that he told lies, and equally how they grumbled because he told the truth. It was difficult to establish which was the really objectionable side of him. Many of my friends and, indeed, relations, have come back from Malaya with an attitude which seemed to me to have changed out of all recognition. I was not hopeful, immediately after the war, about the future of Malaysia. I had not perhaps the hope and enthusiasm that the noble Lord, Lord Milverton, had in those years. One saw little chance of the creation of a real political modern State. One was confronted with Communist revolt in the jungles of Malaya, and yet we are now looking at one of the most encouraging developments in the modern world.

In the last two debates on foreign affairs, I have urged Her Majesty's Government to put their maximum effort into achieving success. Although I am sure it was not as a result of my urging that that they have done it, there is little doubt that this was one area where it was worth making every effort to achieve a solution. There is no need for me to repeat the congratulations, both to Her Majesty's Government and in particular to the noble Marquess, as well as to those statesmen in Malaya and Singapore. This has been adequately done by those of your Lordships who know Lee Kuan Yew and the Tunku, and who are much more familiar with them than I am.

I think there has been an act of courage also by some of the people in Borneo. Singapore and the Malay States are foreign territories to them. Many of them are not Malay people at all. Those splendid people—and I really mean "splendid"; it is not just a sentimental thing—those admirable people who live rather more in the interior, would prefer, undoubtedly, to have gone on being ruled by the British. I have said before in this House that it is a great pity that the whole world does not consent to be ruled by the British. We have to accept that it does not, and to believe otherwise is a mistake that we made in certain parts of Africa. It is rather annoying that we should have to leave the one territory where the people would like us to go on. I wrote to a friend of mine with whom I was in Brunei many years ago, and he wrote a rather guarded reply. I wrote back and said, "I take it from this that you are in favour of Malaysia". I had a postcard back saying, "I hate the idea, but what else is there to do?". I think we take a more optimistic view of it.

I believe there is absolutely no question that this is the right policy for these territories. I am only regretful that Brunei has not joined in. I can see possible trouble lying at that direction, and I am wondering whether the noble Marquess could answer some of the points of the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester. If there has been suspicion or misunderstanding, that, of course, happens in all negotiations, and one had rather got the impression that the breach took place in respect of certain arrangements over oil revenues. The situation has not been too happy there. We have recently had the Kadyan rebellion, which affected a relatively small group of the population but clearly people who