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Admiral Mountbatten's arguments, but I am not in a position to make any recommendation as to publication or policy so long as the proposed policy has merely received the provisional approval of the Cabinet, and that only for the confidential guidance of planners.
- 6.I am aware that we cannot fully gauge the temper of the people in Malaya until our return has been actually effected, and that a final decision on all the details of our future policy is therefore not yet possible. I am convinced, however, that the initial step of negotiating new Treaties with the Malay Rulers must be taken as soon as possible, and that any delay on this cardinal point, particularly if it were to involve a return to the state of affairs existing before the Japanese occupation of Malaya, might result in the loss of a unique opportunity for setting the territory on the road to political progress.
- 7.Accordingly I now seek the definite confirmation by my colleagues of the policy outlined above, and approval for Sir Harold MacMichael's appointment. I consider it essential that he should depart for the Far East in the very near future. If the policy is now confirmed, I shall make a separate recommendation as soon as possible regarding the question of publicity.
- 8.As regards Borneo, the Ministerial Committee, as in the case of Malaya, reached the conclusion that the restoration of the pre-war constitutional and administrative system in the four territories involved would be undesirable in the interests of security, and of our declared purpose of promoting social, economic and political progress in Colonial territories. The territories in question are the State of North Borneo, at present (as regards its internal affairs) under the independent administration of the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company, the small Island of Labuan, at present administered as one of the Straits Settlements, the State of Brunei, which is ruled by a Malay Sultan on the same lines as the nine States in the Malay Peninsula, and Sarawak, which (as regards its internal affairs) is under the control of an independent white Rajah of British nationality (Sir Vyner Brooke). The Committee recommended the direct assumption by His Majesty's Government of responsibility for administration in North Borneo, the integration of Labuan with North Borneo and the cession to His Majesty of full jurisdiction in Brunei and Sarawak. In the case of Sarawak, the Committee recommended that the new Treaty providing for this cession of jurisdiction should also secure the acceptance by the Rajah of a Resident British Adviser, whose advice must be sought and acted upon in all substantial matters of policy and administration. (The present Treaty with Brunei already provides for a Resident British Adviser).
- 9.In approving the above recommendations of the Committee, the War Cabinet authorised my predecessor to open confidential negotiations with the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company for the transfer of their sovereign and administrative rights over North Borneo to His Majesty's Government. No financial commitment, however, was to be entered into without further authorisation. The War Cabinet also authorised my predecessor to open confidential discussions with the Rajah of Sarawak.
- 10.Discussions with the North Borneo Company have in fact been proceeding since that date, but I am not at present asking for a Cabinet decision, since I am awaiting from the Company's Representatives an expression of their view on the terms upon which a settlement by arbitration might be based.
- 11.As regards Sarawak, the Rajah has shown considerable reluctance to enter into any discussions with His Majesty's Government with a view to concluding a fresh Agreement. After many delays, he represented that, owing to the impossibility of consulting his people, he was not in a position to enter into a new engagement. My predecessor agreed, therefore, that discussions should be for the purpose of coming to an understanding on the terms of a new Agreement which, when the time came, the Rajah would be prepared to recommend for acceptance and which would be implemented in accordance with the appropriate procedure of the Sarawak Government. The Rajah, however, was still hesitant and by October last progress had only reached the point of securing his consent to consider a note of His Majesty's Governments proposals.
- 12.In November, however, the Rajah decided to reinstate his nephew, Mr. Anthony Brooke, as Rajah Muda (a step which can be taken to mean that he must be regarded as heir-presumptive), and suggested that he should take part in the proposed discussions, which eventually began in March.
