[CO officials drafted for the secretary of state a long rejection of the Tunku's allegations which was eventually submitted to the prime minister in an abbreviated form. They argued that the Tunku's conduct was dangerously unacceptable and, in his brief for ministerial discussions of this, MaudJing's private secretary pointed out: 'we cannot bounce Borneo on the basis of the Tunku's present thinking; these are not just a bunch of head-hunters who have no ideas at all, or whose views can be ignored; we are all in favour of Greater Malaysia but it will have to be handled with more finesse than the Tunku is showing' (CO 10301987, no 1146) While CO officials pressed for a strong ministerial riposte, however, the CRO was inclined to let the matter drop, and following discussion in the Cabinet Greater Malaysia Committee on 21 Mar, it was decided to take the matter no further with the Tunku (see 98).]
I promised you my comments on the Tunku's attack on Borneo civil servants and also to send you Cobbold's note of his preliminary impressions of the prospects for Malaysia. I enclose a copy of his note.
2. The Tunku's accusation that British officials in North Borneo are sabotaging our plans for Malaysia and are at most apathetic is quite unjustified. We have this from the Governor/ there has been the statement by the President of the North Borneo Civil Servants' Association of which I attach a copy,3 and I have personal confirmation of what they say from Sir John Martin, who spent most of January in Borneo and made it his particular business to talk to as many British officials as he could meet· All this is now confirmed in unequivocal terms by Cobbold in his two telegrams C.67 and G.68,5 the background to which is in his note.
3. The administrations in Borneo are not being paternalistic but realistic. They are entirely with us in wanting to see Malaysia brought about But, as Cobbold says, the people do not feel themselves blood brothers to the Malays and, if there is to be a marriage, and it is to survive, it will have to be one of mutual convenience. That means that the terms will have to be acceptable to the peoples in Borneo.
4. There is in fact no hope of an early and successful Greater Malaysia without British Officials. That is a particular reason why the Tunku's outburst is so unfortunate. The officers will stay on when the territories cease to be British colonies only if they want to stay. Some will go anyway-this always happens-but the urge to go will be greatly increased if it is made clear by this sort of public attack that they are not trusted by their future Prime Minister.
5. We have got to get the points in the two preceding paragraphs across to the Tunku if there is to be hope of Malaysia. My first thought is that this could best be done in a message from you to the Tunku. A draft is being prepared which will be available for our discussion on Wednesday.
6. I am not commenting here in any detail on Cobbold's note-as he says he may change his views completely. In general it contains no real surprises. A transitional stage, as he suggests, with sovereignty handed over, but much responsibility remaining with us, is a possibility we have thought of, but it would of course be very
difficult to work in practice. I see Cobbold does not feel the need for legal advice yet-he will certainly need it on this sort of thing when the Commission come to write their report.
7. The only other point I would comment on here is his suggestion that there should be a Governmental conference not more than two months after his report, which he hopes to get out before the end of May (that would mean the end of July or August for the conference). I very much doubt if two months would be long enough for printing, translation and dissemination in the territories and debates in their legislatures and for our own and the Malayan Government's consideration. I would think September a more likely time.
8. I am sending copies of this minute and its enclosure to the Lord Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary, the Commonwealth Secretary and Minister of Defence.
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