N.Z. TROOPS FACE ACTION

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30539, 7 September 1964, Page 13

N.Z. TROOPS FACE ACTION

Move In Johore

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 6. Malaysia’s military crisis with Indonesia today moved one step closer to an international conflict as New Zealand and Gurkha troops moved into action on the Malaya mainland against Indonesian guerrilas.

A battalion each of New Zealand infantrymen and British Gurkhas were ordered into action for the first time in Johore State where small-scale Indonesian landings by air and sea have taken place.

A Government spokesman said yesterday the deployment to flush out the Indonesian remnants numbering about 40 had been completed.

The move was made to free Malaysian combat troops for duty in riot-tom Singapore, just across the causeway from Johore, where fresh race rioting has broken out. A spokesman for the Malaysian Defence Ministry said an entire Gurkha battalion was engaged in the search for the Indonesians. The Gurkhas and the first battalion of the Roval New Zealand Regiment have come from the camp of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade near Malacca. Western Malaya. Eighteen Indonesians have so far been reported killed in the Malayan mainland fighting and more than 50 captured after 100 Indonesians landed In three grouns on the coast of South-west Malaya on Augv«t 17. About 40 of these are stil’ at large. The order sending New Zealand soldiers into the field marked the first use of that country’s troops on an operational basis in the Indonesian guerrilla war against Malaysia. Gurkhas have been in action for the last year in Malaysian Borneo where Indonesian raiders have been staging strikes from across a shared jungle border. A Commonwealth strategic reserve force stationed on the Malayan mainland includes Australian troons N.Z. AREA The Gurkhas have been assigned to Labis, while the New Zealand troops have moved into the Pontian area. The Pontian area consists largely of low-lying coastal peat swamp, poor fishing villages, pineapple and rubber smallholdings, and secondary jungle. Its population is mainly Malay.

Labis is hilly rubber estate and jungle country, with a large Chinese element. . It was a bad area during the 12year Communist rebellion in Malaya. Labis town itself lies on the main trunk railway, almost midway between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Directly after the Labis landings, the Malaysian Premier, Tunku Abdul Rahman, called in the British High Commissioner. Lord Head, the Australian High Commissioner, Mr Tom Critehley, and the New Zealand High Commissioner Mr R. H. Wade, for consultations. NOTHING FRESH There were . no immediate reports of fresh action in either landing zone. The Malaysian Home Minister, Dr. Ismail Dato Bin Abdul Rahman, flew to New York yesterday to seek action by the United Nations Security Council. Malaysia has protested that the Indonesian landings were acts of “blatant aggression.” The council will meet on Wednesday to consider the charges. Tunku Abdul Rahman has said that if Malaysia does not get satisfaction from the Security Council it reserves the right to “take all action necessary” to prevent further Indonesian incursions. In Singapore, police fired tear-gas into a rioting crowd in Geylang Serai yesterday as violence in Singapore continued during a three-hour break in the curfew imposed yesterday. Two women died in hospital after being injured in an incident, bringing the death-roll to 10 since violence erupted on Wednesday night. Powerful reinforcements of security forces, among them regular troops and para-mili-tary riot police, were on alert as arsonists threw Molotov cocktails and fired four cars. About 7000 troops and police

were involved. Two men were arrested trying to burn down a house.

The King of Malaysia signed a decree which proclaimed the entire country a national “security area.” It was a stiffer emergency decree than the one proclaimed yesterday.

The new decree permits local authorities to impose curfews and ban unlawful assembly and gives police sweeping powers. A Government statement said the King was taking this action “in view of the fact that public security in the federation is seriously threat-

ened by reason of action taken by a substantial body of persons, to cause a substantial number of citizens to fear organised violence against persons and property.” A 24-hour curfew was imposed from noon yesterday in the Labis area, where Indonesian paratroops were airdropped last Wednesday. Radio Malaya said a settler had found several parachutes in the district. Reports circulated in Kuala Lumpur that another airdrop of supplies had been made over Labis, but a Defence Ministry spokesman denied this.