I have always believed that the English language was the key to the success of not only the Federation of Malaya but the greater Federation of Malaysia. It provides a common link of races, and people fine it of tremendous value in business arid commerce. It is the one thing that will more than help to keep the Chinese closely associated with these territories and tend to keep them from looking, as they naturally desire to do, back to China. I hope that as the Malaysian Government look to the future they will not try, when the 10 years are up, to substitute Malay or some other language as the language of the territory. I hope that if this country leaves anything behind in that part of the world, as I am sure it will, one of the great things we leave will be the almost universal use of the English language.
In my many tours of the area I have never found the slightest difficulty in being able to converse in English wherever I have been, even in some quite remote parts. In fact, wherever one goes in the area, if one is prepared to wait long enough, someone is bound to turn up and be able to converse in English. This is particularly so if one is in a Chinese shop and the owner considers that he is going to sell something. In that case, he will always manage to find someone who can converse in English. This has frequently happened to me and it is a good thing: that it has because my knowledge of Malay leaves much to be desired.
Freedom of religion and a continuance of English as the basic language in that Territory are the two things of fundamental importance to the people of North Borneo. As my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Miss Vickers) pointed out, they are also anxious that the expatriate staff—officers in North Borneo—should be persuaded to remain in as large numbers as possible until more North Borneans have been trained to take their part in the Civil Service of the area.
I appreciate that in the long run Malaysia must interchange with the Civil Services of the three territories—and I am assuming that eventually Brunei will decide to join the Federation. After all, how can Brunei stay out? It is a key economic little State stuck between North Borneo and Sarawak and holding most of the means of communications between those areas. Despite the remarks of the hon. Member for Eton and Slough about the roads not being passable, one can now drive all the way from Brunei to Miri on moderately adequate roads. For this and other reasons, how can one possibly say that this small State of Brunei can remain outside the Federation? It is linked with the refinery at Miri and it is to be hoped that the Sultan will decide to take his part in the Federation. Let us hope that he will make that decision soon.
I do not wish to detain the House. I must comment on the question which has been asked as to whether or not the local civil servants in North Borneo and Sarawak did not influence the people too greatly in favour of Malaysia. I believe that the information services of these two territories have played a magnificent part in getting the people to understand the problems involved. It was not possible for the newspapers or any other form of communication, except those controlled by the Government, to reach the people in the interiors. A shortage of wireless sets and poor communications mean that the newspapers are generally restricted to the main towns and surrounding areas. It was only by the use of the civil servants, the district officers, and the information department machine that it was possible to get any form of understanding to the interior peoples of this idea of Malaysia. Far from criticising them for influencing people one way or the other, I should like to pay my tribute to those people for the magnificent job they did in getting over the idea of Malaysia and then letting the people decide what it was they wanted to support.
These people, particularly in North Borneo, have their feet firmly on the ground, and I see a great democratic future for this country of Sabah and great potential development. It has rich land waiting to be developed and the development that has taken place since 1946 is quite fantastic when we consider the devastated state that North Borneo was in after the Japanese war. There was not a solitary permanent building in existence in North Borneo. To look at it today, and to visit it as I have done about every other year since that time, is to see these developments taking place. The British Government, the commercial interests, and the people of North Borneo themselves have a lot to feel proud of in their co operation between all the three sections during these years. Having paid that tribute to the civil servants in the two Borneo territories—
