There is, above all, the argument based on a certain amount of doubt about the difficulty of ascertaining public opinion about the Federation. This is a matter of real importance, as the Under-Secretary said, for the Federation should not be launched without a reasonable measure of majority support; though I must say that our interests can extend only to the areas for which we have responsibility. It is not our affair to ask whether an already independent country has support within itself. Nevertheless, this is an interesting point to consider. This is not like Central Africa. It is not a United Kingdom imposed Federation. In the main, it is one launched by two independent large entities and our obligation must be restricted to considering the degree of public support in this area for which we have responsibility. Thus we are limited to our proper constitutional interests.
We must consider this matter extremely carefully. I have tried to do so. I have, as well as I am able, studied the elections and the results. They are difficult to interpret in some cases. I have talked closely with several of my hon. and right hon. Friends, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Middles rough, East (Mr. Bottomley) and my hon. Friend the Member for Eton and Slough (Mr. Brockway), about their visits. I have considered many other things and there seems no doubt that there exists a consensus of support for the Federation.
Some people say that the Singapore referendum was a "phoney" operation because it gave the voters only the choice between alternative versions of federation. This is an ill-founded charge because, after all, it resulted from a large majority vote in the Assembly in favour of the Federation and, therefore, it was proper that the referendum should have been within the terms of the decision of the Assembly. That, in fact, was carried out.
The Sarawak elections are complex and difficult to understand, but they show that the majority parties are, broadly speaking, supporting the Federation and have a considerable majority. We cannot be certain about Brunei, but it is important to note that it is not joining the Federation at this moment. This is a difficult fact for those who say that this is an operation of neo-colonialism. If it were, Brunei would have joined and that it has not is a powerful factor against the neo-colonialism argument.
As to the the other questions about the desirability of having a referendum beforehand, that this was agreed at the Manila Conference, and so on; I believe that there was a good deal of ambiguity about the conclusions reached there. Moreover, after all, this is an internal matter. I do not know on what grounds Indonesia or the Philippines or the United Kingdom could interfere in what is an internal development. Neo-colonialism can be practised by the very nations that denounce it and one must 933 guard against this, too. The same arguments would seem to apply to those who feel that there should now be a delay. This, too, is a difficult argument to sustain. It would be a form of intervention and it would result in the continuation of colonial rule. One of our major interests is to get rid of our immediate colonial responsibilities in this area and if we delayed we would be continuing it longer than we should, or could.
There is, as well as the democratic and, so to speak, reasonable opposition—to whose arguments one must give careful attention—a prejudiced element in the opposition which is to a considerable extent under Communist influence. I have carefully read a great deal of the literature put out against the Federation, both locally there and in this country, and I have found it suspiciously similar, rather echoing the same words and arguments. A great deal is made about this being an imperialist venture, neo-colonialism and so on. It is surprising and significant to note that this kind of opposition makes no mention whatever of China, Indonesia or their aggressiveness.
That is all the more surprising, because it is very relevant. Malaya has had a long experience of Communist attempts to impose its rule. This is a relevant factor, especially when one considers that no attention is paid in this literature to the views of the Socialist People's Action Party in Singapore. For all these reasons, this kind of argument can simply be ignored.
There is, of course, a continuing and direct United Kingdom interest in the area. As the Under-Secretary said, one must recognise this and that we are dealing with an area which is vital to world peace and the maintenance of the balance of
