told Lord Home that the Labour Party would comple— 1745 tely back the Government in measures it thought proper to tale..ssee." thus spoke Gordon Walker, Labour's "Shadow" Foreign Secretary, after discussing the anti-British demonstrations in Indonesia, According to press reports ho also told Lord Home that “Labour backed Malaysia completely and regarded the new federation as a means of bringing stability into that part of the world..." (Guardian, September 19th), This is a bi-partisan foraign policy with a vengoonecsel One is forcibly reminded of Gaitskell's assurances (later withdrawn) of support for the Tory Government at the be;ining of the Suez crisis,
What is this federation of Malaysia? Acoording to this week's Econom ist: ",...ethe federation project was admittedly a device, by calculated Tisk, to control by merger the Chihese stronghold of Singapore and the large Chinese population of Malaya...” The Premicr of lialaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman, has boen more specific; on a mumber of occasion he has described the federation as "a bastion against Communism in South-Gast Asia." Opponents of the federation have put it another way, they say that the federation is intended +o produce a regime which will keep safe the £400 millions of British investmont in the Malayan and Borneo territories, and at the same time allow British imperialism to keep its huge military base in Singapore,
There is no need for us to go into a detailed analysis of the federation - this has been done in an excellent leaflet put out by the 1i.C.F., which we advise all readers to obtain and distribute (the address of 1i.C.F. is 374 Grays Inn Rd,, London w.C.L.) It is enough to consider the repressive meas= ures which have been taken to force the project through: tho arrest of over 100 Barisan Socialis and trade union leaders in Singapore last February, who aro still incarcerated; similar arrests in the Malayan Federation; the arrest and deportation of leaders of the United People's Party in Sarawak (the U.N. mission reported that nearly 100 political prisoners were in prison when it vigited the country); the crushing of the armed revolt in Brunei which was 1 the Party Ra'ayat which won overy olected seat last years cote. In face of guerilla warfare which has broken out in Sarawk, Brunei and North Borneo, Thorneycroft has assured the new federation's government that Britain will help to crush internal 'subversion.' This is the federation which Gordon “Walker has committed the Labour Party to completely back!
We mist ask two questions, Piretly, why is it that Labour which has declared itself against other neo-colonialist schemes, for exatple, the Central African Federation, should now support what the whole world knows to be a Tory plot? Secondly, by what process has Labour been committed to support Malaysia? Has the N.E.C,. considered the question? Has the Parlian— ontary Labour Party discussed the matter? If not,why not? Anmmial Conference will be with us in a few days = there is a call on the agenda (resolution ._ 303) for conference to declare itself against Malaysia, Yet in advance,with no real discussion, our party has been pledged to support tHo federation ana to action against Indonesia, This is no small matter -— quite apart from the merits of the case, it seems likely that tha next Labour Government will be faced by the prospect of another colonial war unless it reverses its policy on this matter. What a start to Labour's term of office}
The left must ensure that Labour is committed to complete opposition to Malaysia, Labour must not use British troops to bolster up a regime which exists only to ensure the continued exploitation of the area by British big business interests, Tho 1945 Labour Government put down the Malayan peoples! liberation movement - is this folly and crime to be repeated? Has nothing been learned from nearly 20 years of uninterrupted colonial revolution? Tho most British imperialian can gain from the Malaysia venture is the postponement of the day the Malayan and Borneo workers and peasants take over the resources of their countries -— it is up te British socialists to hasten that days i _—
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