WaybackWire

SINGAPORE, Saturday.—Mr. Lee Kuan Yew does not propose to send an Ambassador to Djakarta, though Britain still has one there, he told four Australian and British correspondents on Television Singapura today.

“Everytime a phrase is put in the form of a threat, my position becomes more difficult,” he said of the Tunku’s warnings.

He added: “But I am not neutral where my survival is concerned: my people’s survival.”

Told that the Tunku had said on Friday that he wanted to get out and was pleased to, he said he did not want to believe the Tunku would say something untrue. He had asked whether Malaysia could be loosened into a confederation with a common market; the Tunku said no.

Half his Cabinet were born and bred in Malaya, the Deputy Premier, Dr. Toh Chin Chye, in Taiping, and they signed “with the utmost reluctance”, he said.

“And I would not have signed unless they all signed.”

Annex ‘J’, the common market provisions, has been cancelled, but the Tunku agreed to a clause for a joint council or committee for economic co-operation. Most of Malaysia’s rubber still goes out through Singapore harbour.

It would be impertinent, he said, to tell Sir Robert Menzies whether Australia should still send troops to defend Malaysia. “I am prepared to get help from anybody, any part of the world because, as I have said, my overriding, my paramount duty is the survival of my own people.”

SINGAPORE, Saturday.—It would be tragic for Singapore and Malaysia to drift into political warfare, the Foreign Minister, Mr. S. Rajaratnam, said today, replying to the Tunku’s refusal to let “bankrupt Indonesia” renew trade and diplomatic relations with Singapore.

“I think it would be tragic if at the time when both countries are facing difficulties as a result of confrontation and as a result of separation, we should find ourselves gradually drifting into political warfare which could end in our mutual destruction.”

Singapore does not mean to start “a confrontation within a confrontation” by acrimonious debate, he said, and he again sought early, friendly talks with the Tunku.

While part of Malaysia, Singapore was ready to sacrifice its trade with Indonesia because the sacrifice was worth making. “As a sovereign and independent country we must behave and act like one.”

Answering the Indonesian Herald on the bases: “It is a fact that 40,000 Singaporeans are dependent on the British bases for their jobs.”

SINGAPORE, Saturday.—Malaysia will look after Singapore’s interests in countries where it has representation, its Permanent Secretary for External Affairs, Dato Mohamed Ghazali bin Shafie, said at the airport today after meeting Mr. Lee and Mr. Rajaratnam.

Two Singaporeans will go on heading Malaysian missions: Tun Lim Yew Hock, High Commissioner in Australia, and Dato Abdul Hamid bin Haji Jumat, Ambassador to West Germany. “The Malaysian Government does not wish to discontinue their appointments as long as the receiving countries accept them.”

He and Mr. Rajaratnam agreed to dispense as far as possible with formalities and protocol between the two Governments. “We are now two separate nations with common and identical interests and our enemies should take note that we are determined to safeguard our territorial integrity and independence.”

“Malaysia and Singapore will not tolerate Indonesian aggression against either territory,” he said.

SINGAPORE, Saturday.—Toh Puan Noor Aishah, wife of the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, opened the Red Cross Food and Fun Fair at the Raffles Institution grounds. “It gives me great pleasure to be with you here this morning and to see hundreds of the young and old of all races participating in the Fun Fair.”

At Victoria Memorial Hall, Mr. Chan Chee Seng, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Culture and Social Affairs, opened the Junior Safety First Council’s exhibition, with about forty foreign and ten local organisations taking part.

With Singapore “no longer hamstrung by a slow-moving Central Government”, he said, prosperity will grow, putting more cars on roads already congested at rush hours.