Sarawak Crisis MALAYSIA DECLARES EMERGENCY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31166, 16 September 1966, Page 13

Sarawak Crisis MALAYSIA DECLARES EMERGENCY

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright»

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 15. Malaysia’s Federal Government today placed a state of emergency on its Borneo territory of Sarawak to crush a rebellious Chief Minister and counter the threat of violence.

Only hours earlier unidentified people stoned windows in two British buildings in Kuching, Sarawak.

The situation in Kuching was tense but calm after the Malaysian Government’s emergency declaration. The emergency decree signed by the Malaysian King, the Yang Di-pertuan Agong, was printed in a government gazette issued this morning. Circulation of the gazette came shortly after an announcement by the Deputy Premier, Tun Abdul Razak, that the emergency action was being taken as part of a campaign to halt a “political

and constitutional crisis” which he blamed on the Chief Minister, Dato Stephen Kalong Ningkhan. Special Session 'The Federal Government will meet in special session on Monday, said Tun Razak, [to amend the national constitution and give Sarawak’s Governor the power to convene the State Council for a vote of no-confidence in Dato Ningkan and remove the Chief Minister on the basis of that vote. Under Malaysia’s Federal arrangement the Governor is Head of State in Sarawak while the Chief Minister is head of government. The State Council is the Legislative Assembly. Dato Ningkan—ejected by the leadership of the ruling National Alliance Party last

Criticism Of Party Chief

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) PEKING, Sept. 15. A member of the Chinese Communist Party’s policymaking Politburo has been criticised by name for the first time in a Red Guard poster, according to Chinesespeaking foreign diplomats in Peking. He is Li Ching-Chuan, Communist Party chief in China’s most populous province of Szechuan. Li, whose title is first secretary of the party’s South West China Bureau, ranked nineteenth in the Communist Party hierarchy when the last official list of Politburo members was published eight years ago.

June but returned to power by a High Court ruling last week—has been ignoring Alliance demands that he convene the Alliance-dominated council to test his popular support. Provision for the federal action is contained in Article 154 of the Malaysian Constitution but the specific measures must be legislated in the form of a constitutional amendment. Tun Razak said. This announcement followed a statement he made on Wednesday, describing the Sarawak situation as “deteriorating rapidly.” 200 Paraded This was accompanied by the first anti-government demonstration in Kuching where some 200 people paraded with slogans demanding the removal of Dato Ningkan and supporting the Alliance Party’s choice for Chief Minister, Penghulu Tawi Sli. In Kuching police said they heard a car drive away from

r the vicinity of the British Int formation Service and the ! Borneo Company, Ltd., about • 2 a.m. local time. I When they investigated, • they found one window broken in each building. I The stonings came only a ■ few hours after Penghulu • Tawi Sli said in a press • statement that foreigners are i interfering in Sarawak’s inl ternal affairs.

Foreigners Blamed In his statement, Penghulu Tawi Sli said: “The pattern of foreign interference in the current Sarawak crisis is becoming more apparent. “We know that a few expatriates and foreigners are going out of their way to assist Dato Ningkan.” Most of the expatriates in Sarawak are British. Dato Ningkan left the capital this morning to attend a meeting of the district council at Betong, in his own constituency. Betong is about 70 miles east of Kuching.