The Asian Crisis and the Malay Peninsula
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Author | Arthur Creech Jones |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600105 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE
ASIAN
CRISIS
AND
THE
MALAY
PENINSULA
Rt.
Hon.
Arthur
Creech
Jones
I
AT
NO
TIME
since
the
end
of
the
second
Great
War
has
public
interest
in
the
affairs
of
Asia
been
as
intense
as
now.
Politicians
in
Britain
have
warned
the
public
that
grave
as
are
the
problems
of
Asia,
the
affairs
of
Europe
are
no
less
serious
and
indeed
may
prove
of
predominant
importance.
There
is
a
wide
appreciation
in
London
of
the
indivisibility
of
the
problem
of
security
and world
peace.
The
war
in
Korea,
the
communist
victory
in
China,
the
Pacific
peace
and
future
of
Japan,
the struggle
in
Indo-China,
the
difficulties
of
Burma;
the
terrorism
in Malaya,
the
rising
stature
of
India,
the
Kashmir
dispute, the disorders
in
Indonesia,
the relations
of
Tibet, the
consti-
tution
of
Nepal,
the
problem
of
Formosa,
the
menace
of
communism,
the
inadequacy
of
certain
of
the
successful
nationalist
causes,-all
these
matters
and
many
more
are
anxiously
discussed
in
almost
every
journal
and
wherever
people
gather.
Forebodings
mingle
with
those
deriving
from
the condition
of
Europe. The
task
of
statesmen
in
seeking
a
more
tranquil
world
seems
to
most
people
as futile
as
it
is
bewildering
because
intransigence
and
doctrinaire
rigidity
block
the
way
to
accom-
modation.
It
is
generally
recognized
that
the
significance
of
what
is
happening
in
Asia
is
profound
and
the
reactions
are
incalculable.
Alongside
the
destructive
and
constructive
forces
in
nationalism, and
sometimes
fused with
them,
is
the
disintegrating
influence
of
new
ideologies.
The
danger
to
the
world
is
immense when
the
frontiers
of
nationalism
and
communism
become
identical
and
when
a
stubborn
imperialism
resists
an
awakening
nationalism
which
is
able
to
reinforce
itself
by
the
willing
enlistment
of
communism.
The
liberal
spirit
of
Britain
in
conceding
Indian
independence,
in
acknowledging
the
nationalist
demands
of
Burma,
and
in
granting
fully responsible
self-government
to
Ceylon,
is
now appreciated
as
an
inestimable
factor
in
Asian
stability
and
in
friendship
between
the
East
and the
West.
Political
freedom,
however,
is
not
sufficient
to
defeat
the subversive
forces
of
communism and
thuggery;
it
is
essential
that
it
should
be
supported
by
positive
reforms
of
no
less
importance
than
those held
out
by a
lively
communism
to
people
groaning
from
economic
misery
and
oppression.
Political
in-
dependence
is
a
satisfaction
short
lived
if
incompetence,
inexperience
and inadequate resources
in
skills
and
material things
perpetuate
or
even
worsen the
physical
discontents
of
a
people.
It
can
effectively
stabilise
its
gains
only
by
planning
its
social
and
economic
life
and
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