GENERAL TEMPLER
Peterson suggests in his letter in the Spectator of February 19th that Dr. Purcell's broadside' against General Templer's regime in the Twentieth Century is so irresponsible as to deprive him of all claim to be regarded tt,s a serious commentator on Malayan affairs. should like to remind Mr. Peterson that Sir r.,1 "-heng-lock Tan, the president of the Malayan Chinese Association, very recently expressed views quite as caustic hs those of Dr. Purcell. In a speech to the Malayan Chinese cAssociation on December 27th, 1953, Sir ,g-lock Tan outspokenly referred to „"Pal'a as " a police state ' ruled by an tleninistration " which has struck no root in ,P,e, life of the people." He emphasised that i.we power of government in this country obedience almost absolute and it demands absolute ","enience from the people, which makes us slaves politically," and he added that "the _Minor benefits an autocratic form of govern- "Bent, like the one in Malaya, confers on the Bb. u etry, can never compensate for the ioppitual degradation it involves." Sir Cheng- i_ek Tan concluded, by enumerating " recent s tances of unwarrantable and unmerited discriminatory legislative action against the
Clearly, the leader of the Chinese community in Malaya is as convinced as Dr. Purcell both of the dangers stemming from General Templer's personal autocracy and of the anti- Chinese policy of his administration. Mr. Peterson's desire to attribute Dr. Purcell's criticism of General Templer to vindictiveness dating from " the now famous interview " (at which 1 was present) will not hold water.
It is indeed difficult to follow Mr. Peterson in his attempt to discredit Dr. Purcell as a Malayan commentator simply because he held M.C.S. posts specifically concerned with the Chinese, and because he is not now serving in Malaya and therefore " not entirely up to date." Since the beginning of the emergency the Malayan problem has been represented as one of " winning the hearts and minds " of the resettled Chinese squatters. Yet it seems that the author of The Chinese in Southeast Asia and of The Chinese in Malaya, after many years' service in Malaya, a life-time's study of the overseas Chinese, a number of post-war visits to Malaya and very close contact with the41.C.A. through his position as honorary U.11Vadviser to that body, can now have no views of any value on Malaya since he is " not entirely up to date.". Yet in 1952 a British local government expert with no previous knowledge of the country or of the social and economic structure of its diverse peoples, after less time in the country than the combined total of Dr. Purcell's post-war visits, could write an accept- able blueprint for the whole local govern- ment structure. Is this what Mr. Peterson means by being up to date 7—Yours faithfully,
FRANCIS CARNELL
Summertown House, Oxford
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