Optimism about 'Malaya
There is no mistaking the sustained note of optimism in the pronouncements on Malaya of General Sir Gerald Templer, the High Commissioner. His latest broadcast to Australia referred to the progress made with the resettlement of 500,000 people, the recruitment of a voluntary armed force of 400,000, steady social progress, and even the beginning of a sense of solidarity among the various races in Malaya. There is no doubt that the achievement to date in checking terrorism, the growing recognition of this by the Malayan peoples and the certainty that self-government will follow if safe government is maintained give the High Commissioner something to be optimistic about. There is also good reason to believe that with the arrival in Malaya of Mr. A. D. C. Peterson, who is taking over the information services, the successes of the past few months will be fully used to spread confidence among the Malayans. Already it is possible to attack with effect some of the morale-sapping propaganda of the Communists—such as the myth that Communist terrorism had achieved the stature of a national uprising. What national uprising there is is of an anti-Communist nature. General Templer did not attempt to deny that there is a long way to go before even safety is achieved. And even when it is achieved there will still remain the problem of ensuring the prosperity of a community which is dependent on factors so inconstant as the prices of rubber and tin. At this moment the producing companies are caught between a slack market for rubber and an increasing resistance by the trade unions to the present level of wages. But these are the problems which any stable government would have to face. The first step is to ensure that they can be faced calmly, without one eye on the jungle.
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