BORNEO AFTER PEACE

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31080, 8 June 1966, Page 17

BORNEO AFTER PEACE

All Commonwealth Troops Must Go (N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyright? KUALA LUMPUR, June 7. British and Commonwealth troops would have to leave the northern Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak once normal relations were resumed between Malaysia and Indonesia, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, said today.

He told reporters after an emergency Cabinet meeting here: “They will have to be moved out as they are only to defend Malaysia from external aggression,” he said.

At today’s meeting, the Cabinet endorsed the agreement reached between Tun Razak and the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Adam Malik, at last week’s peace talks in Bangkok.

In Djakarta Indonesians are still waiting for President Sukarno to accept or reject the proposals. Mr Malik confirmed yesterday that the President has yet to give his formal approval. “He still

needs clarification,”- Mr Malik said. President Sukarno had a meeting in Djakarta today with the Chiefs-of-Staff of the Armed Forces. No statement was issued.

Tun Razak said today that once normal relations were resumed, British and Commonwealth troops would have to leave Sabah and Sarawak. Communist Worry “Our main worry then will be the Communists in both the States, particularly Sarawak, where there are several hundreds of them lurking in the jungles. “But this is a matter of internal security and our own forces will deal with the menace.” But he said that before launching a drive to eliminate the Communist menace in the Borneo States, the Government was at present actively considering offering the Communists “surrender on the lines we offered the Commu-

nists on the Thai-Malaya border.”

Tun Razak explained: “The idea is to bring real peace to Sabah and Sarawak and we must take counter-action to eliminate the Communists once and for all.

“If they give up then, they will probably save their lives and we achieve peace there sooner.” Asked whether the Indonesian Government would be asked to co-operate to flush out clandestine Communist organisation members from within its borders, Tun Razak replied: “We intend to discuss this matter with the Indonesians in due course and we hope they will help.”’ Other matters he hopes to have discussions on with Indonesia are Indonesian prisoners captured during the three-year confrontation, Indonesian refugees who have come over particularly in Sabah, and the withdrawal of troops of both sides from the common border.