Sandakan. No figures of membership were available but we were informed that the party was multi-racial.
140. The party is against Malaysia and feared that a closer association between North Borneo and Singapore and Malaya would increase the risk of Communist infiltration. The party preferred to see a merger of the three Borneo territories, the United Nations develop the natural resources of the countries, and Britain and the United States of America protect them from the Communists or any outside threat. The party spokesman feared that there would be no independence through Malaysia but rather than that: Borneo territories would become dependency of Malaya
CHAPTER 3
ASSESSMENT OF EVIDENCE
141. The arguments for participation by North Borneo and Sarawak in a Federation of Malaysia are well set out in the official Papers published by the Governments of the two territories (see Appendix E). The case for and against participation has been widely debated in the respective territories at meetings, in newspapers and in such forums as the Conference or the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee. indeed on a less formal level, Malaysia has been a major topic of conversation in the bazaars, clubs and coffe houses, homes and longhouses throughout the two territories. All this has contributed in no small measure towards an understanding of the Malaysia proposals.
142. The tasks set out in our Terms of Reference were to ascertain the views of the peoples of these territories and to submit our recommendations. We have therefore attempted to the best of our ability to seek the opinions of the peoples of these two territories regarding the proposals for a Federation of Malaysia. This has been no easy task. We have given indications earlier that for a number of reasons opinions tend to run all racial and communal lines. Even on the basis of communal interests there are often various shades of opinion concerning a single subject on which there is general agreement in principle. Furthermore, it was not unusual for groups appearing before us to make exaggerated claims, sometimes bordering on the fantastic, of the number of their supporters.
143. In assessing the opinion of the peoples of North Borneo and Sarawak we have only been able to arrive at an approximation, We do not wish to make any guarantee that it may not change in one direction or the other in the future. Making allowance for all the difficulties and for our inability to reach every part of these large territories, we have arrived at a general consensus or opinion with reasonable confidence, based on individual and representative evidence presented before us.
144. Although, in such circumstances, individual judgment is bound to vary in emphasis, the Commission as a whole endorse, as a general approximation not far wide of the mark, the following assessment which is made by the Chairman. About one-third of the population in each territory strongly favours early realisation of Malaysia without too much concern about terms and conditions. Another third, many of them favourable to the Malaysia project,
