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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 10. May 22, 1974

A courtesy call on the Singapore High Comm

A courtesy call on the Singapore High Comm.

On April 16 the President (David Tan), Vice-President (Kelvin Ratnam) and Secretary (Soh Yew Seng) of the Malaysian—Singapore Students' Association called on the newly appointed High Commissioner for Singapore to New Zealand, Mr Chan Keng Howe.

Owing to misunderstanding on the part of certain junior officers in the High Commission what was intended to be an interview with the High Commissioner to ascertain some of his views on various topics related to student politics in NZ and the politics of the Republic of Singapore in general, failed because the High Commissioner would entertain only casual conversation and no formal questions.

Mr Chan is married with two children and was educated at Raffles Institution and the University of Singapore before leaving for Britain after the war to spend a year at Oxford, majoring in English with honours. He then spent most of his time as a civil servant under various ministries before retiring from the civil service. Prior to being recalled to the Singapore Foreign Service to serve as High Commissioner to New Zealand, Mr Chan had gone into business.

Mr Chan expressed some regret that he was not met by any Singapore students on his arrival to New Zealand. Only the Malaysian High Commissioner Jack De Silva, (who incidentally is a very old friend of Mr Chan) and the Indonesian Ambassador were there to greet him.

My first question of Mr Chan was how he saw his rule as a representative of the Singapore Government particularly in the context of Singapore nationals being involved in the area of student politics in New Zealand. He looked quizically at me and then answered, "I don't know what your student politics are, you tell me what they are and then maybe I'll be able to answer your question."

Seeing that he was new to student politics in New Zealand I thought it best to go on to the next question to which he could not really plead ignorance about. I asked "Supposing a situation arose like the Jack De Silva claims on the subversion of Malaysian students in late 1973, but this time with Singapore students and Singapore as the focus. What would your response and official stand be in this case?"

Almost instantly the High Commissioner's face turned red as a beetroot and he flew into a rage. He barked out, "You don't expect me to answer a hypothetical question of that nature do you?!!"

He then turned around to his deputy and asked as to why he was misinformed about the nature of this meeting. He said, "I was told that this was to be an informal meeting with a group of Singapore students, but this seems to be a formal interview."

It was quite apparent that he did not like the idea of a Malaysian confronting him with such questions. What the High Commissioner did not realise was that we went to see him as representatives of a students group — the Malaysian-Singapore Students Association — not as Malaysians or Singaporeans. But unfortunately one's national identity was more important. Perhaps he was not aware that the MSSA is a group that seeks not to highlight any national creed.

David Tan said that he was quite sure that he informed the second secretary — Mr Lin — that three members of the Executive Committee of the MSSA were coming to meet the High Commissioner. But Mr Lin was under the impression that it was not the MSSA but a group of Singapore students who wanted to meet the High Commissioner.

The High Commissioner then demanded an apology from the group for the manner in which they had conducted themselves. The atmosphere was tense in the office for a while but as the chit-chat session developed, mainly between David Tan and Mr Chan, the strained looks and sensations eased off.

Somewhere in the midst, MSSA's secretary dauntlessly posed the question whether the Singapore Government opposed the idea of Malaysians and Singaporeans associating among themselves through the MSSA.

The High Commissioner replied that as far as he was concerned his first duty was to represent the national interest of Singapore in New Zealand. The role of student interests and activities was secondary to this and as such the High Commission would not disapprove of Singaporeans in the MSSA if they so wished to unite themselves with the Malaysians on campus.

However, he also emphasised that Singaporean students should call on their High Commission and make themselves known. Even if they did not wish to meet the High Commission they should at least sign the visitor's book. Signing the visitors books, he said is (i) a very symbolic act which carried a lot of meaning, and (ii) is a very good British custom.

After about one and half hours of chit-chatting with the High Commissioner we finally left, not particularly impressed.

—Kelvin J. Ratnam