“Malaysia Will Survive”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30543, 11 September 1964, Page 2

“Malaysia Will Survive”

“Malaysia will survive and overcome the confrontation policy of Indonesia. Good will always triumph over evil,” said Mrs D. Marks, a Eurasian resident of Kuala Lumpur, in Christchurch yesterday.

“In spite of his greed, Sukarno will never come into the open and really declare war,” she said. “I do not think there will be an open war.”

But in the meantime, the aggression and infiltration by Indonesia were worrying. “Naturally we are worried in case there will be a war. We do not wish to be caught napping,” she said. Many women had been among those who had registered for active service since the confrontation. Women's organisations were ready to help internally in the community if called upon. Mrs Marks, the president

of the Kuala Lumpur branch of the Pan-Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association, came to New Zealand after attending the recent conference of the association in Tonga. She is accompanied by Mrs I. Stanley, who is a vice-presi-dent of the same branch, and also attended the conference. The two women planned a month’s sight-seeing in New Zealand, but with the situation in their country they have shortened their stay. They will now spend only six days more on a southern tour, before flying home. “We must pass through Singapore, as there are no direct flights to Kuala Lumpur,” she said. Both women are active in social work in Kuala Lumpur, supporting, among other organisations, the Red Cross and the Poppy Day appeal. Both are members of the Associated Country Women of the World. Mrs Marks represented the Eurasian com-

munity on the Municipal Council for seven years and was an adviser in juvenile courts for some time.

Mrs Stanley is particularly interested in Girl Guiding, and in supporting the Assunta Hospital, which is run by an order of Franciscan nuns.

One of Mrs Stanley’s four daughters is a doctor, and another, an arts graduate, was a lecturer in the University of Malaya. She is now in London, where her husband is studying to be a surgeon.

Mrs Marks, a retired schoolteacher, spent 45 years in the profession. “I began when I was 15,” she said. Education was now compulsory for children oyer six. Last year the Malayan Teachers’ College had been opened. For the 10 years before that, 300 student teachers had gone each year to England, where they had been trained in two colleges set up there by Malaya. “My daughter was in the first batch which went to England,” Mrs Marks said.