Pressure on Malaysians

Students fear their Government

By Tony Jaques

By a decision at its AGM this weekend the Malaysian-Singapore Students' Association has defied Kuala Lumpur by rejecting a very strong suggestion to split the Association into two separate national groups

This defiance is, however, diminished by the fact that the present club will probably be allowed to die within the next few months, and a new Malaysian Students' Association formed, in compliance with the wishes of the Malaysian Government.

The present joint association was formally saved by a motion of continued support for it passed at the AGM.

This decision followed a fortnight of uncertainly among Victoria's Malaysian and Singaporean students.

At a recent meeting of the MSSA the newly-appointed Malaysian High Commissioner for Australia and New Zealand, Dato Donald Stephens, suggested that the joint Association was incongruous, and that the Malaysian Government was reluctant to continue financial support for a club which included students from Singapore, which separated from the Malaysian Federation in 1965.

It is unclear whether the initiative for this move came from the new High Commissioner himself or from Kuala Lumpur, but it is widely regarded as a reflection of worsening relations between the governments of Malaysia and Singapore.

The results of the High Commissioner's suggestion are manifold, and the ensuing crisis within the club was tainted with talk of "racialism" and "political blackmail".

The High Commissioner was understood to have implied that if the club declined his suggestion to exclude Singaporean students, the Malaysian Government would transfer both its official recognition and its considerable financial support from the joint association to a splinter group without Singaporeans.

Most of the Malaysian students of Chinese descent, who overwhelmingly outnumber the few native Malay members of the MSSA. would have liked to have remained in the same association as the Chinese. Indian and Malay students from Singapore, and to have continued the historical, cultural and economic links between the two countries

This continued alliance across national borders would have seemed in no way incongruous to them personally, as the only argument is between the Chinese-dominated government of Singapore and the Malay-dominated government of Malaysia.

The dilemma facing members of the MSSA was that if the association were to accede to the High Commissioner's suggestion and split along national lines, they would not only be excluding the Singaporeans from their facilities (including a club-house), but they would also be allowing the Malaysian Government to impose political pressure on what they insist is essentially a social club.

Some Malaysian students have rejected any suggestion of racialism, but this move would have slightly weakened the Chinese numerical nomination of the association; a domination which some consider may have been a motivating factor behind the High Commissioner's aparent desire to reconstitute the racial balance of the membership: or to trigger the formation of a racially acceptable splinter group.

To decline the High Commissioners suggestion on the other hand would have been to defy Kuala Lumpur.

The personal risk involved in taking the decision on the suggestions was very real to some Malaysian students who were reluctant to openly oppose their government for fear of reprisals.

Another Malaysian student said he regarded this fear as completely unfounded.

The Malaysian High Commissioner will probably be satisfied with the compromise solution that has been found as his ultimate objective of a separate Malaysian Association will soon be realised.

The Malay students will be satisfied that a new Association will soon be formed, and the Chinese students will be satisfied with the compromise, which enables them to defy Kuala Lumpur formally, and yet comply in the long run.

Even the Singaporean students, at who the original suggestions were aimed, may be accommodated within the new Malaysian Students Association when it is formed, by granting them associate membership (without a vote) rather than full membership.