§ 41. Sir T. Mooreasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the present position in regard to the terrorism in Malaya; and if he will make a statement on the subject.
§ 57. Mr. Awberyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that Tunku Abdul Rahman and Dato Sir Cheng Lock Tan, leaders of the Federation of Malaya Government, have indicated their willingness to meet the leader of the insurgents at his request at the Alliance Headquarters at Kuala Lumpur 196 in an attempt to end the Malayan war by political means; if the meeting has now taken place; and what was the outcome.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydOn 9th September the Government of the Federation of Malaya declared an amnesty applicable to all who had taken up arms against them. A similar declaration was issued by the Government of Singapore. This is a sincere and generous attempt on the part of the two Governments to bring the emergency to an end. There has however so far been no marked changes in the rate of surrenders and terrorist activities involving some loss of life have continued. These activities are of course on a greatly reduced scale.
The Chief Minister of the Federation, Tunku Abdul Rahman, announced that he would be willing to meet the Communist leader, to explain the terms of the amnesty. Early in September he received a letter suggesting that such a meeting be held which it was hoped the President of the Malayan Chinese Association, Sir Cheng Lock Tan, would also attend. The Chief Minister intimated that he was ready to meet the Communist lead to clarify the declaration of amnesty and that he would be accompanied by Sir Cheng Lock Tan. The Chief Minister of Singapore also received a letter asking him to be present and he has agreed to attend. A preliminary meeting has been held between liaison officers to arrange details. No date has yet been settled for the main meeting.
Hon. Members will be aware that Tunku Abdul Rahman has repeatedly declared his willingness to take part in such a meeting in order to explain the terms of the amnesty and to encourage their acceptance.
§ Sir T. MooreWhile welcoming the action of Her Majesty's Government and also of the local Governments concerned, may I ask my right hon. Friend whether he has any information that these bandits are still acting with Communist support, or have they any backing at all from their non-political fellow countrymen?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI would hesitate to answer questions of that kind on matters of this grave importance, but clearly there has been a lot of Communist inspiration behind the whole terrorist campaign.
§ Mr. AwberyCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether the terms of the armistice recently made are any different from the terms of the armistice made six months ago?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI am circulating the terms of the amnesty in the OFFICIAL REPORT and I think that the hon. Member had better read those first.