Second Thoughts in Malaya
The change for the better m the atmosphere in Malaya must be set mainly to the credit of Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, the Governor- General. It was badly needed. The impetuosity of the Colonial Office in pressing the Sultans of the Federated and Unfederated Malay States to accept a new constitution, and the manner in which this was urged on them by Sir Harold MacMichael, in the course of his brief mission last autumn, had roused a feeling of dissatisfaction which was becoming profoundly dangerous when Mr MacDonald, inspired in part by the two Members of Parliament, Captain Ganunans and Col. Rees-Williams, who went to Malaya to make an independent investigation, took the matter in hand, grasped the Very reasonable objections of the Sultans, and sent home recommenda- tions accordingly. Instead of the proposed Malayan Union there will, it is understood, be a Malayan Federation, including Penang and Malacca as well as the nine Sultanates, but not including Singa- pore, whose importance and interests are entirely different. The citizenship question—the Malays are alarmed at being swamped by the Chinese population—is being settled satisfactorily by confining citizenship in the Union to persons who give evidence of intending to settle definitely and permanently in the country. At the same time, more authority will be reserved to the individual Sultans, and instead of a Governor there will be a High Commissioner for the Federation. Some of these modifications are changes more of form than of substance, but they look like dispelling grave discontent and restoring these traditionally loyal and industrious dependencies to their old loyalty as members of a well-conceived and readily accepted Federation marking an important stage on the road to self-govern- ment. The Cabinet here cannot hestitate to approve them.
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