COLONIAL OFFICE AND SARAWAK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 68, 3 January 1947, Page 6

COLONIAL OFFICE AND SARAWAK

HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE

EXCLUSION OF MR BROOKE Conservatives in the debate on the adjournment continued to press the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Mr A. Creech Jones, for a new definition of the position of Mr Anthony Brooke and his hope to re-enter Sarawak although excluded from it by the Colonial Government in North Boi'neo. Mr W. Teeling (Conservative — : Brighton) accused Mr Creech Jones of attempting to protect the Colonial Office from being shown up as responsible for the series of “appalling muddles.” He added: “It is a gross injustice, to prevent a British subject going anywhere he likes in the British Empire.” Colonel O. Stanley, Conservative —Bristol) said that Mr Creech Jones had made the grave charge that Mr Brooke’s presence in Sarawak. would bea threat to security. At the same time they were told that opposition to the ■ cession came only from a small, unrepresentative minority. How then, he asked, could Mr Brooke threaten security? Mr Creech Jones, replying, reiterated that the Government had responded to a request to take over Sarawak and had acted only after due consultation with opinion in Sarawak. The country should now be allowed to go forward in a period of stability. “There are small Malayan and small Dyak organisations in Sarawak, which, in spite of hard work, have not been able to create any broad feeling against our policy,” he said. Mr Brooke had been, “to a certain extent,” behind agitations and actions which had been troublesome. When it was learned that Mr Brooke intended to go to Sarawak, the Government decided to find out what would be the likely effect. The Governor had made it clear that Mr Brooke’s presence •would have a disturbing effect because the majority of Sarawak’s people were easily led by false reports, and fear was easily engendered among them. There was the risk of violence and lawlessness. Mr Brooke would not be allowed to enter Sarawak.