ENGLISH IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Sin,—In a letter in your issue of June 20, Mr. George Edinger. made some strange assertions about the alleged loss of influence in Asia of the English lan- guage and mass-produced English-language news- papers. The Straits Times, whose political commen- tator I am proud to be, is presumably one of the objects of his attack, since it has by far the largest circulation of any newspaper in South-East Asia (as he well knows, since he was formerly on its staff). May I therefore differ from him in public?
The fact that its circulation has risen in proportion to the increasing degree of self-government in Malaya and Singapore may not have much political signifi- cance, but how does he explain that it is far more widely quoted in our local legislatures than ever before? Nor is this astonishing. Ministers and others have new problems and new responsibilities, and it is natural enough that they should be interested in read- ing how other political leaders in other democratic countries have dealt with rather similar problems. They may not always accept advice—who does? But it is quite obvious from their attitude that they appre- ciate this advice is inspired by genuine sympathy with their attempt to develop genuinely democratic govern- ment in conditions of exceptional difficulty. Mr. Edinger's assertions will come true, I believe, only if those who hate democratic government come into power.
Speaking from my own experience, may I say that I have a far stronger conviction now than at any other time during almost forty years of journalism that I am in the lucky position of being able to do a constructive job? That is only because the influence of this paper—and doubtless of other English-language papers with an understanding of the revolution that is occurring in Asia—is increasing. For that reason, I would not exchange my present job for any other journalistic job in Britain. No, sir, not even for yours !—Yours faithfully,
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