USE OF N.Z. BATTALION

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30469, 17 June 1964, Page 13

USE OF N.Z. BATTALION

The New Zealand battalion in Malaysia would be made available for operations in Sarawak and Sabah if there should be a further serious deterioration in the situation there as a result of Indonesian military activity, the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) said in an address at the official opening of the Returned Services’ Association’s Dominion council meeting.

“There is no misunderstanding on this position; either in Kuala Lumpur or Djakarta,” Mr Holyoake said.. Mr Holyoake said the immediate future of South-east Asia was not rosy. “It is as true today as it has

been throughout the post-war period, that the main threat to the peace and stability of the area Comes from the Communist States and from militant internal Communist movements operating with external support.” This was most evident in the Indo-China area of Laos, and South. Vietnam. “There has been no overt aggression,” Mr Holyoake said. “There has been no forward movement by the Chinese Communist North Vietnam armies but because the Communists have developed and refined a wide range of tactics short of the old style of aggression it does not mean the abandonment of military force. Because of this. New Zealand had recently given greater help to Vietnam with the setting up. of a 25-man engineer detachment which would not be engaged in combat duties. On the Malaysian situation,

Mr Holyoake said that when the Commonwealth strategic reserve wa established there was no expectation that the base in Malaya itself would come to be “threatened by neighbouring countries.”

“The Indonesians have given vocal and material support to the so-called volunteer forces in Sarawak and Sabah. Indonesia’s objectives have been political and the military measures it has used up to date have been limited.”