R.N. Concentration In S.-E. Asia Waters

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30557, 28 September 1964, Page 13

R.N. Concentration In S.-E. Asia Waters

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) SINGAPORE, September 26. Two British destroyers and two frigates sailed into Singapore yesterday to join the Far East Fleet which is now the biggest complement of the Royal Navy’s fighting vessels anywhere in the world.

Two aircraft-carriers the Victorious and Centaur form the nucleus of the fleet.

Exact figures are being kept secret but other fleet components include two guided-missile destroyers, the Hampshire and Kent, and the commando carrier, Bulwark.

The latest arrivals were the Aisne, a “fleet radar picket,” armed with Seacat guided missiles; the anti-submarine destroyer Cassandra; and the frigates Falmouth and

Brighton. About 5000 Malaysians who volunteered to fight for Indonesia in West Irian three years ago “today posed the biggest security threat to Malaysia, the English language “Malayan Times” said today. “It is a known fact that all have been brain-washed by the Indonesian Communists, and are highly trained in subversion and jungle warfare,” the newspaper claimed. Military informants say that Indonesian forces which have landed by sea and parachute in south Malaya have included some Malaysian dissidents who “have been ordered by the Indonesian Government” to undertake three tasks, the newspaper claimed:

Cause internal strife by agitating communal feelings;

help Indonesian agents destroy important targets: and revive the Communist struggle for power in Malaya. Since the attempted Communist rebellion in Malaya was put down in 1960, hardcore Communists, estimated to number several hundred, have been hiding in the heavy border jungle. They now were concentrating propaganda machinery along the south-east regions of the border, the paper added. Thailand and Malaysia will discuss next week streng-

thening of their border patrols. In south Malaya, Malaysian and Commonwealth security forces are continuing mop-ping-up operations against the remnants of Indonesian invaders.

Security forces have killed 27 and captured about 60. About a dozen are believed to be still hiding in the hilly jungle around Labis. Security forces yesterday captured one more Indonesian paratrooper in the Labis area.

In Singapore, the acting chairman of Malaya’s Leftwing party, Raayay, Inche Nazar Nong, was detained yesterday under the Internal Security Act. The party is one of three small left-wing parties which make up the Socialist Front in Malaya. Government members have frequently accused Socialist Front rank and file of harbouring anti-Malaysia sentiments.