From Week to Week

Grey River Argus, 31 December 1941, Page 7

From Week to Week

(By

H. Winston Rhodes)

The Man from Sarawak “Public opinion is difficult to judge in a country in which the Press is so much right of centre on practically all issues and in which there is no counterpart of the Gallup poll or the British Institute of Public Opinion.” This comment is made m New Zealand Affairs, a quarterly published by the N.Z. Institute of International Affairs, which is- an invaluable survey of political trends and foreign and economic policy, and should be subscribed to (the subscription is only half a crown a year) by all, who make a serious attempt to follow New Zealand affairs. There is certainly no way of gauging public opinion in this country, but I have been surprised at the way ir which the remarks of the Rajah of Sarawak have been privately applauded in the . most unexpected places. It would seem that a long series of disasters relieved only by the Libyan victories, the defence of Britain and the successes of the Atlantic naval patrol have slowly created a disillusion in the minds of very many. When someone like the Rajah takes the lid off the seething cauldron of unofficial criticism, its effect is to produce an immediate but false sensation of relief. A disastrous and inept foreign policy in the Pacific has been followed by a revelation or military unpreparedness. For some years expert and authoritative as well as amateur commentators have been pointing out the dangers of British & American foreign policy, pointing out the weaknesses of Pacific strategy. To-day it would seem that these criticisms were even more pertinent than in their impertinance could have been imagined. They had the right to assume that official secrecy' concealed many important aspects of the situation which might, if known, demonstrate much of the criticism to be unwarranted and ill-informed. Now it appears that official secrecy covered only weakness, inefficiency and worse. Hong Kong to Malaya The gigantic mistakes of Far Eastern policy .have been caused primarily by the attitude of mind which examines all policy from the point of view of power politics, from the point of view of vested interests, markets, raw materials and the inalienable right of the advanced capitalist countries to exploit the wealth of the East and the labour of the peoples of the East. The gallant defence of Hong Kong, important in retarding the advance of the Japanese, has thrown into strange relief the contradictions of the Eastern situation. The existence of a British Crown Colony in South-East China is contrary to Chinese national. aspirations, and yet the Chinese have been helping to defend it against the attacks of another power which desires to wrest it both from the British and the Chinese. The Burma Road which passes through a country where the people’s aim of self-determination has been thwarted will soon be the focus of Japanese attacks. It will be defended by the British, the Burmese and also the Chinese, although it has been built partly in order to exploit the riches of China. It was built by the labour of the people, and although it provided help for China, it was a tremendous asset to vested interests and could be turned to great use in exploiting the people. It will be defended because Japan’s bid for power threatens the security and liberty of all democratic people, as well as for the reason that its possession is vital to those who have no real interest in democracy. We had been told repeatedly that never again would troops go into action without sufficient air support, but as far as the cables can be taken to reflect the true situation, it would appear that the Dutch have been the only people who have adequately prepared their defences. Time after time commentators have pointed ou the weakness of Singapore’s back door, the weakness of the Philippines, the weakness of North Borneo. Whatever the reason their criticisms and comments have been ignored. The scorched earth policy of the Chinese has been described time and again, and its importance in relation to Chinese resistance. The scorched earth policy of the Soviet Union has been trumpeted round the world as an example of the sacrifice of an heroic people defending what they "themselves have built. And yet the Japanese have been presented with much-needed supplies at Penang. The rubber has remained undestroyed in Malaya. Democracy Must Work

There is nothing really surprising in the disillusion of thousands of people. There is nothing to be wondered at in the cynical comments one hears in unexpected places. Our leaders make speeches and our troops retire to “prepared positions,” elementary precautions are not taken and criticism is left unanswered. It is almost certainly true that Britain and America will be able to defeat Japan in a costly war of attrition, but if the people of those countries continue to find in disillusion and cynical comment a refuge from their own responsibility of making democracy work thet cost will be greater than necessary, Mistakes . and blunders committed. They Will committed .by , those who

estimate the power, of their enemy and the mighty reserves of strength in their own people, by those who wish to fight at one and the same time a war against fascism and a war for the protection of entrenched privilege, but the times are too dangerous to permit their critics to take refuge in cynical comment.

There is work to be done and democracy must be made to function in Britain and America as well as in China. The past with all its mistakes and blunders cannot be altered, but the future is to a large extent in our hands. The people must mould their own future and produce their own competent leaders, but private applause of the remarks of the Rajah of Sarawak will not be sufficient. By all means let us have more criticism, but also let us have .more energetic and constructive work fgr..aursel,ves.