Malayan Agenda
The Colonial Secretary leaves for Malaya on Monday to study at first hand a situation which, through rapidly mounting Communist terrorist activity, is rapidly becoming more dangerous than it has been at any time since the war. He is already apprised of the main questions he has to face and it is possible that he has a fairly clear notion of some of the answers. The administrative machine in Malaya has been persistently criticised as over-complex, imperfectly informed of the situation outside Kuala Lumpur, slow to act on such information as it gets, and continually bogged down in the task of pursuing social betterment and military security at one and the same time. It has this week taken some steps to over- come these defects. A Minister as energetic as Mr. Lyttelfon need not lose much time in removing any barriers which are due to bureaucratic inertia, but he may still have to take the risk of giving the new military Director of Operations, General Lockhart, greater powers than those enjoyed by the retiring director, General Briggs, or those extended to the new Director by the Malayan administration this week. It undoubtedly is a risk, because no soldier has yet devised an effective method of keeping the jungle clear of terrorists, because the forces available are neither as large nor as well trained as they should be, and because military action may still further reduce production in the estates and mines. But the case for more ruthless action grows stronger every day. So successful have the Communist guerrillas been in stopping production in some areas and levying toll in others that it is becoming doubtful whether a new military drive could make the damage much worse. Production, routine administration and welfare services alike all depend in the first place on security. The present situation is rapidly being transformed from one of " emergency " to one of open insurrection. It is for Mr. Lyttelton to decide whether the present struggle may be won by a stronger military force with wider powers. If he thinks it can be, the growing toll of murder and destruction gives him every reason to act quickly.
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