§ 3.34 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)My Lords, I think it might be for the convenience of the House if I were now to make a statement which is being made by my right honourable friend in another place. I will make it in this own words:
"Early on Saturday morning an attempt was made to overthrow the Government of the autonomous State of Brunei. This was organised by an underground body which calls itself the North Kalimantan National Army, and which derives a major part of its support from Brunei Malays.
"Attacks were made on the police station in Brunei Town and on various Government buildings, and the rebels seized control of the oilfield at Seria. Some incidents also occurred [...] areas of North Borneo and Sarawak immediately adjoining Brunei, where the population includes a substantial number of Brunei Malays. Apart from this, North Borneo and Sarawak has not been affected.
"The Sultan asked us for urgent assistance in restoring law and order, which he was entitled to do under his treaty with Britain. On receipt of this request, troops were despatched immediately by air and sea from Singapore.
"The House will not expect me to give details of military dispositions. But I can say that the following Army units, with appropriate naval and air support, are engaged in the area: The Queen's Own Highlanders, the First Battalion of the Second Ghurka Rifles, the 42nd Commando Royal Marines, and a squadron of armoured cars of the Queen's Irish Hussars. Additional forces are either on their way or being held ready for despatch at short notice.
"Police reinforcements have been provided from Sarawak and North Borneo. The Malayan Government has also offered to send some of its forces should this be needed.
"Order has been re-established in Brunei Town. But control of the oil-field at Seria has not yet been regained. Operations there have been greatly 416 hampered by the fact that the rebels hold a number of the European staff of the oil company and at one moment used them as a screen to advance upon the police station.
"The rebels have operated as an organised force equipped with rifles and automatic weapons. Their plans seem to have included a plot to kidnap the Sultan and to assassinate political personalities in North Borneo and Sarawak. Azahari, who is the leader of the Raayat Party in Brunei, and who left the country several weeks ago, claims to have been appointed by the Sultan of Brunei as Prime Minister of all three territories.
"The Sultan has completely denied this, while political leaders in North Borneo and Sarawak have condemned the rising and have disassociated themselves from it.
"It is, I am afraid, inevitable that in certain respects the situation still remains unclear. But honourable Members will understand that in a country like Brunei where roads are few and where many telephone lines have been cut, it is not easy to obtain quick reports.
"Our Commissioner-General in South-East Asia, Lord Selkirk, who has just returned to Singapore from Brunei, is in continuous touch with us."
My right honourable friend goes on to say:
"I will keep the House informed of further developments."
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, we are much obliged to the noble Marquess for giving us the information which has been conveyed to the other House. I feel that so far as the action has been taken at the request of the Sultan, that action has been quite rapid and is something that we fully accept. What sometimes disturbs me over these matters is that they seem to come like a bolt out of the blue. I wonder whether the noble Marquess, who I think has made himself reasonably familiar with that area of the world, is able to tell us whether our intelligence in these matters is sufficiently up to date, so that we may bring influence to bear before this sort of thing occurs. I am not complaining in any way. I am simply saying that I have noticed that, in one 417 or two of these cases, we appear to have been caught on the hop. In this case one could not very well act without the request from the Sultan, and I think the action which has been taken has been quite rapid, so I do not complain about that. But I should like to know that we are really keeping in touch and that we shall not, as one paper said, see a notable official flying off from hospital here to see what it is all about.
LORD REAMy Lords, it is a little difficult to comment without having seen the statement, but I wonder if the noble Marquess could say whether we are in constant touch with the Sultan and in communication with him?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, may I ask the noble Marquess whether it would be possible for the Government to issue a report, perhaps daily, so that not only we in this country and in this House, but equally and perhaps more important the people in the immediate locality, would know what is going on? As the noble Marquess will .know, there are out there many cross-winds and cross-currents, both political and racial, and on many occasions incidents occur which are magnified by the Press. I think it would be very helpful to all concerned if we had an authorised statement of what is happening day by day in this area.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, with respect, we have had four questions now. I think we had better have a few answers before we have any more questions.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, with all respect to the noble Viscount the Leader of the House, I was merely going to elaborate upon the question put by my noble friend the Leader of the Opposition and ask the noble Marquess whether he could find out the reasons for the lack of information in the Protectorate, which seems to have resulted in everyone being taken .by surprise, in the absence of the High Commissioner, when the rising actually took place.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I should like to apologise to your Lordships for having been obliged to circulate this statement at the very last moment. I know that the noble Lard, Lord Rea, has not had a copy, and I apologise to him. It was because of the need to get the latest 418 information. In fact, it was prepared only just in time for half-past-three.
I am much obliged to the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition, and I should like to answer his question and that put to me by the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, together—I think that the questions are basically the same. Your Lordships will appreciate that it is extremely difficult to be in possession of first-class intelligence when you are working in a sovereign autonomous State in which there are vast tracts of jungle. At different times, as I think perhaps some of your Lordships know, we have had warnings of subversive operations of this type, and on previous occasions these did not in fact materialise into anything. Of course, that does not mean that we have been idle or off our guard: but there have been warnings before, and we did have warning on this occasion. We were not completely in the dark, although, as the noble Viscount says, the strike was very sudden and very rapid and appears to have been disturbingly well organised.
So far as communication with the Sultan is concerned—the noble Lord, Lord Rea, asked me about that—our High Commissioner is back in Brunei, as I think your Lordships will have read, and so, of course, we have easy and constant access, through him, to the Sultan. I think I understand the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Shepherd, but I thought that in the statement which I made on behalf of my right honourable friend it was made clear that intention is to keep the House fully informed, and I am afraid I cannot go further than that.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, would the noble Marquess permit me to pursue this paint? It is not so much the House being informed: I am thinking of the people in South-East Asia who, by race, will have some connection with what is happening. I think they should know. It is more important that the Malays of Malaya, of Singapore and of Borneo should know what is going on and what action is being taken than, perhaps, your Lordships' House.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEI am much obliged to the noble Lord for explaining ohis point further. Obviously, we will do our utmost to see 419 that no false reports go out, which I think is the danger.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, there has been some mention in the Press that British subjects have been taken as hostages. Could the noble Marquess expand on that to any extent? Secondly, in view of the fact that the First Battalion of the Queen's Own Highlanders were rushed to the spot and that the First Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers are flying out to-night, is this not an indication of the value of the regiments which come from the tribal areas"?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I think I made it clear in the statement what the position is. We have not yet obtained control over the Seria oilfield, and it is there where there are a number of Europeans who have been taken and used as hostages.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, may I ask the noble Marquess whether he could answer my question? Will he inquire into the reasons for the failure of our intelligence arrangements in the Protectorate? Would he ask the Administration to inquire into the reasons for this defect in our intelligence service?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEWith great respect, I cannot accept that our intelligence did in fact fail. It may have been imperfect, but it is very difficult, as I tried to explain, to have perfect intelligence in such circumstances.