Page:MALAYSIA BILL (Hansard, 26 Juli 1963).djvu/8

 to bring new industry into that country, and I believe that they will find a stability which in the past they have perhaps thought was not there. I think the loan that was raised in London the other day, which was very heavily over-subscribed, augurs well.

There has also been criticism that the loans and aid that the Government are making tend to give too much prominence to military aid. I think it is right that we should withdraw our own military forces, at least to the extent that they are required for internal security. I myself have never thought it right when soldiers were called upon for duty that one should be forced to use British soldiers against the local inhabitants. Therefore, I fully support the Government in this granting of aid to raise new battalions both in Singapore and, of course, in the new states. These countries will not be able to develop economically, they will not be able to get the investment they need, unless there is a strong internal security position, and because of the nature of the world and of the strains that are in South-East Asia an internal security military force is needed apart from a strong police force.

This is an historic and, I believe, happy occasion. We turn the old chapter, a chapter for which I think, so far as we are concerned, we British who have been in South-East Asia for many years, we need to have no regrets and no shame. We may have done something more; we may have done something better. But I do not believe that among my friends in Malaya, of all races, one hears of any criticism of the attitude, in particular, of the ex-patriate civil servants. Having taken note of what the leaders have done, I feel that we should remember the many thousands of expatriate civil servants who, if I may say so, have given their lives to their country. I see the noble Lord, Lord Milverton, in his place. I think he will agree that those of us who lived in Malaya had two countries, our own in which we were born and the country in which we lived and served; we still regarded them as home. We wish this Bill to go through to-day; there is no question of opposition. And we look forward to seeing a happy and peaceful Malaysia, because the people of that country deserve it.

THE MARQUESS OF LANDSDOWNE My Lords, I beg to move that this debate be now adjourned during pleasure until two o'clock.

[The Sitting was suspended at one o'clock and resumed at two o'clock.]

2.0 p.m.

LORD COBBOLD My Lords, I have a word or two by way of explanation, and an apology. I have a long-standing public engagement in the country this afternoon, which means that I must be away from the House not later than 2.30 p.m. The noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, has been good enough to suggest that I should precede him, and I am most grateful to him. I must also ask the indulgence of the House for saying a few words, not, I hope, controversial, on a subject with which I was closely concerned before assuming my present duties. It is, I know, unusual for the Lord Chamberlain to intervene in debates in this House, but in the circumstances, after speaking to the noble Viscount the Leader of the House and the noble Earl the Leader of the Opposition, I felt that this was an occasion on which I could properly make an exception.

I have not, of course, been concerned with the later stages of the Malaysia negotiations, and I am speaking solely from my experience up to July of last year, when our Commission reported. I set out at considerable length last year the views which I have formed about Malaysia. They will be familiar to those of your Lordships who had the pertinacity to read through the Report of the Commission over which I had the honour to preside. I will not repeat all those views now, and I wish only to make two or three brief remarks.

Your Lordships will recollect that the main finding of our Commission was that the Malaysia proposals would be in the best interests of North Borneo and Sarawak, and acceptable to the majority of the population of those two territories, provided—and I lay stress on this proviso—that adequate safeguards to meet their special needs were included in the final agreements. Inevitably there are, after a year of negotiation, some minor divergencies from what seemed to us