Liberation struggle in S.E. Asia

< ae British record of repres-
sive measures to destroy
“subversive plots’’ has become
so notorious that pathetic at-
tempts are being made to absolve
the British government from
direct responsibility for the wide-
spread arrest of trade union and
political leaders in Singapore.

The (London) Times editorial
starts its labored apologia on
February 4, 1963:
and Singapore governments have
acted jointly in arresting the
Singapore Communist leaders
who have been active in opposi-
tion to the planned Malaysian fed-
eration.”

SWOOP AT DAWN

No one would gather from this
that the British government is the
decisive partner in the Singapore
“Internal Security Council’’ which
recently organized a ‘dawn
swoop” in which 107 of Singa-
pore’s popular leaders were ar-
rested and put into prison with-
out trial and more are still being
arrested.

This was followed up with the
banning ef ten Singapore journals,
ranging from Fajar, the organ of
the Singapore Socialist Club, to
trade union publications, includ-
ing that of the journalists’ union.

This new swoop is by no means
the first stage of repression in
Singapore, but the culmination
(for the time being) of a whole
series of attacks on trade union
and progressive political organ-
izations.

“The Malayan *

IDRIS COX, feature writer for the British
Daily Worker, discusses the attempts of
British imperialism to foist the so-called
Malaysian Federation on the peoples of

South-East Asia.

ze

~~ SARAWAK

It was intensified during 1962
in a desperate attempt to destroy
the growing opposition to the
scheme for a ‘“‘Malaysia Federa-
tion’’ composed of Malaya, Singa-
pore, North Borneo, Sarawak and
Brunei.

NOT CRICKET

After the uprising in Brunei on
Dec. 8 against this scheme, the
Malayan and Singapore rulers
and their British overlords are
panic-stricken at the prospect of
““Malaysia’’ becoming a stillborn
child.

Last September the Singapore
government (which had already

lost its working majority) organ-
ized a phoney referendum on the
proposed federation. Electors
were not allowed to vote against
the merging of Singapore into the
federation, but simply to choose
three different forms of feder-
ation.

Voting was compulsory, and
spoilt papers were counted as
being in support of the federation.
The Times had to admit ‘“‘this is
not properly a referendum at
all.”’

“Despite this, even the official
figures disclosed 144,077 blank
ballots as against 417,482 for the

More Canada-Cuba
trade possible- Guevara

othing stands in the way
N of increasing our trade
with Cuba except lack of a
concerted and consistent
drive by firm rejection of
growing U.S. interference to
prevent such trade.

Events of the last few
days confirm this.

And as far as Cuba is con-
cerned it wants more trade
with Canada, for which Cu-
bans “feel great friendship
and sympathy,” according to
Che Guevara, Cuban minis-
ter of industries.

Guevara’s remarks were
made in an interview with
the CBC last week. He was
quoted in the Cuban news-
paper Revolution as saying
two things stand in the way

1 GLOBE TOURS NOW ACCEPTING
RESERVATIONS FOR TOUR OF

SOVIET UNION

) WITH. OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS TO

VIENNA - ITALY or VIENNA - ISRAEL

Departure Date From Canada—April 14th, 1963

i POLAND -

POLAND—=9 Days

U.S.S.R.—13 Days

Cost per

country.
Cost per person

ee ee

§ 613 Selkirk Ave.

Math : 1963—PACIFIC
YAGER Out

Visiting: Warsaw - Krakov - Lublin - Treblinka.
Participation in the ceremony of the 20th Annivers-
ary of uprising in Warsaw Ghetto.

Visiting: Moscow - Leningrad - Kiev - Odessa - Yalta.
Excursions to Universities - Theatres - Concerts
Schools, etc. :

Cost per person
POLAND:- AND. USSR... = $400.00

OPTIONAL EXCURSION TO:
Vienna - Italy — for 15 Days
Visiting: geen - Venice - Florence - Rome - Paris

OPTIONAL P EXCURSION TO:
Vienna - Israel — for 18 Days.
Visiting: Vienna - Tel Aviv - Haifa - - Tibering
Jerusalem and excursions to various points in the

For Detailed Information, write to:

GLOBE TOURS

Phone JU 6-1886

a a

CRSP ATT Teana

increased Canada-Cuba
—-

“Because we do not have
sufficient dollars to increase
these importations and be-
cause many articles are con-
trolled in Canada by Yankee
monopolies that hinder their
export to Cuba.”

Guevara was apparently re-
ferring to the U.S. policy of
prohibiting exports to Cuba
by Canadian branch plants
of American firms.

The failure to take full ad-
vantage of the Cuban market
was illustrated by figures re-
leased recently. These show-
ed Canadian exports to the
Caribbean country totalled
$10,800,000 in 1962, a drop
from the 1961 total of $31,-

$265.00.

$410.00

Winnipeg 4, Manitoba

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TRIBUNE—Page 8

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federation. Though officially de-
scribed as a ‘‘great victory’”’ the
ruling authorities could not con-
ceal the extent of the mass opposi-
tion.

When the Singapore Association
of Trade Unions fixed its confer-
ence for October 1962 the ‘‘In-
ternal Security Council’ banned
it. Though no official reason was
given, it was obvious this ‘‘coun-
cil’”’ feared the conference would
stimulate the rising opposition to
the federation.

BRUNEI NOT EASY

The Brunei uprising early last
December made it even more
alarmed. This was not an iso-
lated event, but an expression
of the rising revolt against ‘‘Ma-
laysia’’ everywhere in this re-
gion.

Still under British colonial rule
both Sarawak and North Borneo
were forced into acceptance of
“Malaysia.’’ In the British ‘‘pro-
tectorate’’ of Brunei it was not so
easy.

There, the Sultan (sustained by
£10 million royalties) dodged the
issue because the Parti Ra’ayat

(People’s Party) had the back-"

ing of the whole people. On Aug-
ust 30, 1962, this party won 54
out of the 55 seats in the muni-
cipal elections. In September it
won all the 16 elected seats for
the Legislative Council and all
six elected seats for the Execu-
tive Council.

This was certainly the voice of
the people, but the Sultan still
rules with 17 non-elected mem-
be i 16 elected in the

Road to Peace-will
not be found in Cold War:

*

100,000. There «was pessim-
istic talk that the 1963
figure might go down to
$4,000,000.

But that argument stood
the figures on their heads.
The $31 million worth of ex-
ports in 1961 showed the
potential market that does
exist, provided governmental
policies are enacted to exploit
and enlarge it.

Part of such policies should
be extension of credit to Cuba
because of its present dollar
shortage. Governmental ma- ;
chinery to provide such cre-
dit exists and would require
merely its application.

This could immediately
boost exports to Cuba on the
same basis Canada trades
with many other countries,
and in the process would pro-
vide much-needed jobs in
this country.

At the same time, any at-
tempt by the U.S. to hinder :
such trade should be firmly
rejected. That this will be-
come decisively necessary
was indicated by a statement
by Republican U.S. Sen.
Jacob Javits last week.

Javits put forward a series
of anti-Cuba proposals dur-
ing which he said:

“We must put more pres- :
sure on our NATO ally, Can-
ada, to curb the shipping of ;
dangerous materials to %
Cuba.” =

Prime Minister Diefenbak- ;
er said last month that his :
government in office at the :
time would continue to trade
with Cuba except in “defense
and strategic materials.”

An encouraging recent. ad-
dition to our exports to Cuba
was the shipment last week
of 103 cattle purchased from
breeders in Manitoba and
Alberta.

ake"
rerere’
erete!

3

peaking at a coffee

party of the Vancouver
Voice of Women, Diana
Collins, wife of Canon
John Collins, stated that
the road to peace will not
be found in “the cold
war, the witch hunt and
the arms race.”

She said that the wo-
men of the world are con-
cerned with the kind of
world their children are
growing up in — a world
in which there is a spiri-
tual and moral confusion
taking place and in a soc-
iety which is preparing
to destroy all morality.

As an example, she
pointed to the numerous
churchmen who were
trying to convince people
that it is alright to use
nuclear weapons, when
today’s young people
know that the use of nu-
clear weapons means
death for thousands and
thousands of people .. .

Stating that ‘“‘we must
reject totally that it is
permissible to use nu-
clear weapons at any
time,” Mrs. Collins in-
formed her listeners that
plans are being laid now
for an International Co-
operation Year. Tentative
plans call for 1965 to be
the ICY.

Main targets of such a
year would be:

@ Influencing the press
to stop fostering the. cold
war (she had just spent
3% weeks in the U‘S.);

@ Making full use of
the studies now being
conducted on the econo-

‘mic effects of world dis-

armament (this would not
affect the socialist coun-

Legislative Council and nine non-
elected members as against six
elected in the Executive Council.
PROPOSE ALTERNATIVE

Even in face of this situation
the People’s Party was anxious
to express its opposition to ‘“‘Ma-
laysia’’ through the Legislative
Council and put forward a motion
for the session due to begin on
Dec. 5, proposing an alternative
federation of Sarawak, Brunei and
North Borneo into a new State of
North Kalimantan — the proper
name for this region.

The Sultan _ postponed the
session, so lighting the spark
which led to the revolt of De-
cember 8. Sarawak also saw an
uprising at the same time as the
Brunei revolt.

The federation is doomed to
failure because it is an imposi-
tion from above with imperialist
and aggressive aims and has
nothing to do with the interests
of the peoples in this region.
EXCUSES T“READBARE

The British attempts to excuse
this aggression and repression
as defence against Indonesian
“threats” are rather threadbare.
On the contrary, it is the ‘‘Ma-
laysia’’ plan which threatens In- |
donesia and all the peoples of
South-East Asia struggling to end
colonialism in all its forms. ~

Even more disturbing is the
small scale of the protest from-
the Labor benches in the British
House of Commons against this
aggression. One plea was, in fact,
that the British troops should be
“better equipped.”

tries, as they live under
a different economic
system).

@ Increasing greatly
the prestige of the United)
Nations through the ICY;

@ Making a major ef-
fort to overcome one of

DIANA COLLINS

mankind’s chief ailments

— such as cancer — and
have governments  fin-
ance this drive out their e
arms budgets. s

Mrs. Collins emphasiz- Bs
ed the point that we %
musn’t shy away from %
the political implications
of what we are doing...
this is just a form of
cowardly escapism.
She closed by saying
that there is no single
road to peace—there are
hundreds of different
ways—; the sum total of
all these will achieve the
kind of world for which
we are all working.

SoSSSeeS

SSS

Rt