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PDF Text
Text
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
April 15, 1967
Dear Homer :
First impressions are not always right -- nor are second.
Last evening, when our Malaysia Airlines Comet jet dropped
down out of the towering cumulus clouds onto the rainswept runway, we
were awed by the beauty and magnificence of the $15,000,000 airport
building, far more elaborate than that of any city of equal size (about
400,000} in the United States .
Designed by an Australian, it must have
been strongly influenced by Yamasaki 's airport in Saudi Arabia.
After we suffered our way through Passport Control, we were
greeted by a representative of Interline (of which I had never heard} who
told us that our stay here, hotel and meals, were to be at their expense
(apparently a courtesy of Qantas).
We were driven along a fine divided
highway past a large industrial estate with plants of Mercedes, Peugot,
Caterpillar, I. C, I., and several other international companies, past
many handsome new buildings, the postal headquarters, the social
security headquarters and others (all government buildings) into the outskirts of the city and on to our modern hotel.
We were graciously received
and taken to our room where there was a refrigerator full of beer and soft
drinks and a quiet word that all of our laundry was free and would take
only six hours.
�-2-
Thus, the first impression was that this was obviously a
great place.
This morning, as I looked a t a too familiar, tired face in the
mirror, running the water to drown the bugs before using the washbowl,
all too awar e that even a $1 . 50 tip to the electrician had not caused the
e lect r icity to run my razor,,:, and thinking back over the irritation of
arrival (when at Pas sport Control I waited for ten minutes in Line No. 1
to reach the counter, was told to go back to the end of Line No. 2, where
after another ten minutes of shuffling progress I was told to go back to
the end of Line No. 1, whereupon there was one instant ugly American
declaring that we were going through the line then and ther e and they could
stamp our passports or not as they wished) and now realizing that the cold
be er was not a gift but a sales gimmick, the second impression was somewhat mare re served ,
In the rationa l appraisal of a third impression, this is a most
interesting city and the capital of a struggling new nation which has much
to offer.
The Federation of Malaysia consists of West Malaysia (the
Malaysian Peninsula south of Thailand), Sarawak and Sabah (which latter
two make up most of the northern half of Borneo, now called Kalimantan).
,:, Apparently I am not the first to experience t his problem as Mrs. Freeman
has read me from the Fan American book that 11 Electric current may be a
problem for the traveller, as both alternatin g and direct currents are
supplied at 230 volts. Depending upon the area and the whims of the contractor there are no fewer than 18 differ ent types of plugs in use . 11
�-3-
Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, which we "old China hands 11
(we have been he re twenty-three hours) call "K. L . ,
11
is about one-half
way down the southwest coast of West Malaysia.
This Malay Tuninsula is probably what the Gr eek geographer
Ptolemy referred to as the
11
land of gold.
11
It was engaged in trade with
India, directly to the west, at least a millennium and a half ago .
It has
been successively dominated by Sumatra (and the Buddhists), Java (and the
Hindus), and the Thais.
The Portuguese took over in 1511, the Dutch in 1641,
and the British in 1 795, although it was almost a century later before the
British really dominated the country.
The separate states (Johore, S.elangor,
etc.) were run, and are still administered by hereditary sultans .
During
the British rule, many Chinese and Indians and some middle easterners
immigrated.
The P e ninsula was conquered by the Japanese in World War II
and at the war 1 s end th e communist guerillas maintained a rebellion that
was not fully quieted for fifteen years .
In the meantime (1957) the British
granted independence ( 11 Merdeka 11) within the Commonwealth.
The present
Federation was created in 1963 and included Singapore until the summer of
1963 when it seceded.
Malaysia has an e lected king, His Majesty Tuanku Sultan Ismail
Nasiruddin Shah ibni Al-Mar hum Sultan Zainal Abidin ( 60), and a parliame ntary
government.
�-4-
The Singaporeans say that the Malaysian government discriminates against the Chinese (who, though they constitute 75 per cent
of Singapore I s population, are only about 40 per cent of total Malaysians).
This discrimination is a fact, for the constitution provides that three out
of four government offices must be held by Malays, but, as the Malays
point out, the Chinese, especially the Singaporeans, are far better educated'~
and, without such a constitutional preference, the government would employ
a disproportionately large percentage of the Chinese minority.
>:c*
The Singaporeans claim that the Malaysian bureaucracy is
incompetent and today's STRAITS TIMES headlines a statement by a former
detainee that
11
40 per cent of Malaysia's civil servants are bright, 20 per
cent are mediocre, and 40 per cent can be sacked on the spot without any
loss to the Malaysian government.
11
The Singaporeans claim that the Malays are lazy, that they are
content to eat and sleep and are not spurred by ambition to achieve more than
a full belly.
I cannot judge this, but I am told that those Malays who have
had the benefit of an education are able and aggressive.
,:,
Education in past generations has been largely confined to the cities,
and the Chinese, who are the traders, constitute the majority of the
population in the cities and thus have had the opportunity for an education, whereas the Malays, who are rural people, had no access to schools.
,;<>;,
In practice, the government cannot find enough adequately educated
Malays to maintain the required preference so the Chinese do in fact
exert a disproportionate influence.
�-5-
The Singaporeans claim that the Malaysian government is
corrupt.
That charge is repeated here,
But our Ambassador Bell says
that he has investigated many such charges and can find no evidence of a
:::c
single bribe ever having been asked of any American firm here.
Mrs. Freeman has surveyed the city while I have called on the
Central and Commercial Banks and reports that the market was fascinating.
Situtated in the Chinese area near the river, the streets and sidewalks were
filled with tiny booths and teeming with people .
She was a bit frightened as
there were no other tourists, but was assured that no one would molest her
and that, if they resented her, they would only turn their backs.
The booths contained fish of all kinds, fresh and smoked, but only
one booth had i ce over the fish.
other booths .
Meat {pork only) hung in large chunks from
Fresh vegetables were in abundance -- onions, cabbage,
many varieties of cucumber, sweet potatoes, spinach , and all the root
vegetables .
They had been cleaned and were nicely displayed .
However,
the most fascinating booth was the one that had fresh python meat, turtle,
iguana, rabbit and wild cat.
The fruits looked most appetizing.
Oranges
from Israel, apples from Australia and our State of Washington, and lovely
looking large peaches,
,:,
She asked the guide if he e ve r ate anything from the
I am sure that must be so, but I was also told that the Singapore nominee
on the Board of Malaysian Airlines {two-thirds of which is owned by
the governments of Singapore and Malays ia), when accused of having
done something improper, was immediately replaced by the Singapore
government while his Malaysian counterpart was not even criticized,
�-6market, and he looked really shocked and said "Never!
terrible stomach ache,
11
I would get
(Needless to say, we are still on Entero.lfioform.)
Mrs. Freeman was impressed with the exciting and elaborate
architecture of the mosques.
Perhaps slightly feminine by our standards,
each remains a beautiful reminder of the time when labor was cheap enough
to permit an ornateness that our present life does not permit.
She reports
that the National Museum of Art is indeed a treasure house.
She also had a very interesting visit to a rubber plantation.
The
first rubber trees were brought here in 1896 from those grown in the Kew
Gardens in London (to which, in turn, they had been brought from Brazil).
The trees produce from about five years of age to thirty years and are tapped
early each morning by a diagonal cut about two feet above the ground.
sap runs down this cut to a spigot and into a cup.
The
These cups are collected
shortly after dawn (to avoid the coagulation which would occur in the heat
of the day).
This juice is then mixed with water and acid and placed in
shallow trays where it is allowed to harden into sheets of about the size of
a hand towel.
These yellow sheets are then smoked and bound into bales
for export.
She also saw the tin mines which, in most instances, look like
lar ge lagoons from which the wet earth is either pumped through large tubes
and the various elements separated out, or is scooped up by large (and
expensive) dredges pulled slowly {about twenty feet a day) across the lagoons
while the floating machinery grinds and separates the ore into a black
sand-like material for subsequent refining.
�-7-
Mrs. Freema n was not able to evaluate the quality of the
farming but found in the newspaper references to the effect that, although
Malaysia presently produces only 70 per cent of its rice requirements, some
of its leaders feel that by devoting their attention to agricultural development,
rather than dabbling in international politics, their country will be selfsufficient in a few years.
They are also attempting to develop more modern
methods of fishing to obtain the protein so badly needed to supplement their
rice diet .
Are the people reasonably satisfied with their lot?
of any opposition party might so suggest.
cause trouble again?
The absence
Are the communists likely to
After twenty-three hours I can hardly claim to be an
authority, but I have the impression that the government is certainly determined not to let this occur .
As the universities offer a particularly fertile
ground for communist agitation, the government now examines every university
applicant as to his "political reliability" and will not admit those as to whose
loyalty it entertains any doubt.
We drove through the campus of one university of some 3,000
students, with colleges of engineering, art and education, and were much
impressed with its campus and attractive buildings .
The total university
enrollment in Malaysia is approxi mately 7 , 500 and, of those, only 500 are
Malays, the rest Chinese.
and economics are Chinese .
Almost all graduates in e ngineering, the scienc e s
The Malays study the liberal arts and agricul ture .
�-8-
In the university which we visited all classes are taught in
English, which language is familiar to most middle and all upper-class
groups, but the Malays are now putting great emphasis on their own language.
Perhaps, in part, this is intended to assert a superiority over the Chinese,
the great majority of whom have never bothered to learn Malay.
This
question of language may become as crucial here as it is in India, and some
students see in England's failure to develop the native language its greatest
failure as a colonial power. ,:c
In my one day in this country, I have been impressed by two
contrary reactions: First, the Malaysians are not doing anywhere nearly
as well as they should be with such great natural resources.
They produce
about one-third of the world I s supply of both rubber and tin.
They export
almost 900,000 tons ($500,000,000 U.S.) of rubber.
They have produced
tin for more than one thousand years and have been the world's largest
producer for the past seventy-seven years, last year's exports amounting to
$280,000,000 (U, S, ).
They export $150,000,000 (U, S.) of timber.
also export significant amounts of iron and some bauxite.
They
Of course, the
price of rubber declined as a result of the development of artificial rubber,
but in recent years this decline in price has been off set by greater efficiency
,:c
One recent forward step has been the adoption of the Roman alphabet
in preference to Chinese and Arabic which were previously prevalent.
�-9and increased production. ,:,
Both tin and rubber have also suffered price
declines as a result of the release by the United States government of some
of its surplus stockpile, but this amounts to only about 5 per cent of the
world's consumption each year.
The Malaysians still grouse about this,
but they do not mention that from 1960 to 1962, when we first became
involved in Vietnam, the price of rubber quintupled,
Just consider what the Japanese or the Koreans or the Taiwanese
would do with such a God-given source of exchange -- yet Malaysia has a
deficit in its balance of payments .
Second, the Malaysian government has done quite well in several
respects .
Although officially headed by the elected king, the government is
actually run by Prime Minister Yang Teramat Mulia Tunku Abdul Rahman
Putra Al-Haj (60), usually referred to as "the Tengku.
11
A graduate of the
English school in Singapore and Cambridge University, a determined anticommunist, he strongly supports our position in Vietnam.
The seventh
son of the Sultan of Kedah (a northern state of West Malaysia on the Thai
border), he is the head of the leading political party, a confederation of
Malaysian, Chinese and Indian ethnic groups.
He is genuinely concerned
about achieving a true unity of the various groups and, himself a Malay
aristocrat, is married to an Arab girl and has adopted two Chinese children
J.
,,,
Last month they exported 126,683 tons of rubber at an average price
of 56. 675 cents (Malaysian) a pound .
�-10-
(one of them the daughter of leper parents) .
There is no opposition party,
and the people here that I have
talked to believe that the Tengku will be in power for years to come,
Apparently he deserves to be .
difficulties created by the
11
He has pulled his country through the
confrontation 1 1 by Indonesia.
Sukarno inspired
several commando-type raids, both on West Malaysia and North Borneo,
there by creating the necessity for substantial increases in Malaysia I s military
expenditures and discouraging foreign investment .
The T:engku has now
achieved an accord with Suharto, with full diplomatic relations to be established at the end of this month,
The Tengku and his seven-year-old central bank can claim a
satisfactory accord and some quite excellent results:
1.
2.
Dollar and sterling reserves of almost $900,000,000
(U.S.), enough for nine months I requirements .
3.
A government debt of one billion (U.S.) dollars, of which
only about $150,000,000 is external.
4,
,:,
An increase in consumer prices of only 2 or 3 per cent
over a period of five years. Last year, prices rose
slightly more, but only about one per cent.
A growing industrialization -- Dunlop Tyre has a plant here
and a few small companies are making sneakers. B. M. C,
and both a Japanese and a Swedish company have started,
or are soon to start, automotive assembly plants here.
There is none in Singapore either, which makes it harder to overcome
the break between the two countries.
�-11-
5.
A remarkably stable currency, presently linked to
sterling (the dollar equal to 2/4d). After June 12, when
it is necessary to issue a new currency (because of
Singapore I s resignation from the joint currency board),
it will have the same value, but will be linked to gold
rather than sterling. Their dollar is equal to one-third
of ours.
6.
Malaysia, next to Singapore, has the highest per capita
annual income in Southeast Asia, somewhere between
$350 and $400.
On the other hand, Malaysia has three economic problems:
(a)
Unemployment is high, probably about 12 per cent over -all,
up to 20 or 25 per cent among those below twenty years of
age, and almost that high in the twenty to twenty-five-year
bracket.
(b)
Wages are low by our standards, but at $1. 50 to $2. 00 per
day (U.S.) plus medical, maternity, sick leave and compulsory
provident fund fringes, labor is not competitive with that rn
Korea, Taiwan or Thailand. Thus, the country exports
its valuable raw materials to be processed elsewhere.
(c)
Perhaps the most pressing economic proble m at the moment
is the failure to attract foreign capital. The present fiveyear development plan is based on the assumption of substantial and continuing foreign investment, but, despite a World
Bank conference on the subject , a Japanese offer of
$50,000,000 (U . S.), smaller loans from France and other
nations and such United States investments as that of Esso
(some $50,000,000), foreign investment just isn't flowing in.
Indeed, last year, although Malaysia had a surplus in its
trade account, it had a balance of payments deficit because
of a net capital outflow. Was this due to Malaysians sending
their money abroad or foreign corporations withdrawing some
of their earlier investment? The Deputy Governor of the
Central Bank (a very bright Chine se) d i d not know, but hoped
it might prove to b e j ust a temporary aberration. I hope so, too.
There are quite adequate banking facil itie s .
Indeed, the banks are
extremely liquid and are seeking good borrowers -- but only on short term .
�-12-
The banks pay 3 per cent on savings, 5 per cent on six - month deposits,
and 4-1 /2 per cent to 5 per cent on overnight funds .
7-1 /2 per cent, but they average 9. 6 p e r cent.
Their prime rate is
Banks are subject to the
40 per cent corporate income tax plus an additional 5 per cent " development
tax. "
What probably discourages investment is the troubled past, the
communist threat, the confrontation, the secession of Singapore, all of
which created fears which considerably reduced the inflow of capital.
Further-
more, there is not yet any substantial domest i c market, so the foreign
investor must either be satisfied with this limited Malaysian market or manufacture for shipment abroad in competition with lower-cost labor (of equal
or better productivity) in other Pacific nati ons .
It might seem reasonable to use local labor to process Malaysia's
raw materials, but perhaps most finished rubber products and also those of
tin would be more bulky and expensive to ship to distant markets than is the
raw material.
Our Ambassador expressed great hope for increased United States
investment, primarily for production and loca l marketing of consumer goods,
pointing out that bringing Malaysian-made goods back to the United States
not only aggravates our balance of payment s pr o bl e m, but also creates
resistance among both our manufacture r s and labor groups (who have already
joined together to cause Congress to set quot as fo r the importation of t extiles
�-13-
from other Asian countries, though not yet for Malaysia).
It is the
Ambassador's job to try to be helpful, but I fear that substantial fore i gn
investment will come more slowly than the Malaysians hope.
Kuala Lumpur is located at the juncture of two narrow, muddy
rivers which give the place its name.
A colorful mosque has been built
at the confluence of these rivers, and the city has spread out from that point .
The rivers, which were the first arteries of transportation, are now supplemented by perhaps the best system of roads of any country in Southeast
Asia, a benefit from England I s benevolent colonial rule .
We arrived here with the Singaporean propaganda in our ears.
We
leave one day later certain that, despite the superiority of Singapore I s government, we would, if faced with a choice, prefer to live h e re.
has little of the squalor of Singapore.
The city itself
Palac e s, British office buildings,
many Moorish-style government buildings side by side with excellent modern
buildings, most of which have decorative facades of metal or stone screening
to filter the intense sunlight, make
K . L. very interesting architecturally.
Yet it is still Asian and, between the arcaded sidewalks and the street, there
is an open (but stagnant) sewer which adds the odor of its decaying garbage to
that of the overflowing cans on the street.
For those representatives of United States companies who live here,
life can be quite pleasant.
The city has a siz e adequate to provide good
supplies, rents are fairly high (though perhaps only one-third of those in
�-14-
Tokyo).
Most European-style food is imported, much of it by air freight,
at considerable cost.
The weather is hot and humid.
Criticism of the
government, a national pastime at home, is not encouraged and, in a country
where a foreigner has to renew his work permit 'each six months, a word
of caution is not ignored.
But the surrounding country is absolutely beautiful.
Forested
mountains reach right down to the city and offer the opportunity for frequent
excursions .
The pace is leisurely and social life pleasant.
There is a sub-
stantial western community (of English, Dutch and Australians * ) with a small
group of Americans.
Mrs. Freeman saw many middle and upper-class homes that
were attractively d es igned and beautifully ke p t up.
She reports that there
is a magnificent country club, and I was told by a few westerners that I met
that they consider this an e xcellent post.
Some say it is the most desirable
in all of Asia.
Mrs. Freeman, who three years ago visited James Thompson's
house in Bangkok, has been terribly concerned about his disappearance three
weeks ago (from a fri e nd's home a bout 70 miles north of here in the Cameron
The Australians exert quite an influenc e her e. Radio Australia
is on the air nineteen hours a day, and Australians have set up
and, until just recently, run the central bank.
l
j
�-15-
highlands).
We explored that subject -- to the extent that we could.
The
Malaysian government had over 100 of their police * on the job for eight
days without finding a trace.
They do not believe that he was killed by a
tiger (though tigers do roam that area) for nothing was found, and a tiger
would not eat shoes, bones and everything.
It does not seem likely that
as experienced a man as he would have allowed himself to become lost,
though it is very rough and he might have slipped off the trail into a leaffilled canyon.
There are no communists known to be in the Cameron high-
lands area (such as there are left are further north along the Thai border).
His assistant in the Thai silk business flew over and for several days was
questioned as to Mr. Thompson's personal affairs, but these gave no indication of any difficulties.
If he was kidnapped, one would think that a ransom
note would have been delivered.
If it has, it has not been made public.
He was once lost for four weeks in the Himalayas and finally
wandered out, tired but smiling .
We certainly hope he will repeat, but, if
he is gone, his loss is a real one, not only to his close friends, but also to
Thailand where he helped so much in creating a world-famous industry,
providing employment for thousands.
~:,
His loss also would be a blow to our
This is a good force. Their l e aders have been well trained at
both Scotland Yard and our F. B. I. school. They effectively crushed
the communist guerillas in the forests several years ago .
�-16country whose interests he served by being so much the opposite of
11
the ugly American.
11
It is now 5 :00 p . m.
In a few minutes we leave for a long
flight -- first to Singapore, then the length of Sumatra across the western
Pacific, past Christmas Island into Perth, then completely across
Australia to Sydney and back down to Melbourne, w here we should arrive
tomorrow a little after noon, unkempt and sleepy.
En route, though already
tired, I will write this, the fourth letter in five days, but, if even for an
instant I felt over-burdened, I need only look up at the thousands of dark
faces on the "waving gallery" of the K. L. airport, all staring down at us
few fortunate travellers able to leave here for a r icher and more modern
world.
We end this Asian leg of our trip feeling, as we have so many
times in prior years, reverently thankful that we are Americans .
Since-.ely,
/
�MALAYSIA and SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE
MALAYSIA
c,,1101: Kuala Lumpur
C1plt1I: Sing a pore
Aru: 128,430 square miles
Ar11: 224 square miles
ro,,l,tin {1965): 9,429,000
D1111ty: 7 4 per square mile
,.,,1,1111: 1,840,000
D111lty: 8,2U per square mile
llnotin: Hi9hst Polit: 13,455 feet
lowest Poi1t: Seo Ieve I
EltHIIH: H1,~ .., Pel1t: 581 feet
Prl1d,ol l119H9t: Maloy
Prl1dp1l lH9119e:Chinese, Malay
& English
l1w11t Pel1t:Sea level
Prl1dp1I Rtll1i11: I s Io m
Pollllcol DMsloas: 13 Stoles
c;, SOUTH
1
Gulf of Siam
Prhul,el l11f9l11:Chinese, Islam
& Ch rislianily
I
VIETNAM
11 5°
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100
Sulu
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@ Nat ional Capital
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CHINA.
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Pontiana
Copllright by Rand McNally & Co,
and Reproduced with Their PermlHion
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Suffolk University Faculty and Alumni Manuscript Collection, (MS102), 1903-2013
Date
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1903-2013
Description
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This collection brings together materials donated by Suffolk University faculty, staff, alumni and friends that represent their individual academic pursuits, research, memorabilia, and other personal records. Some of them are small collections of personal papers or single items such as scrapbooks, objects or photo albums.
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Find out more about our collections on <a href="http://www.suffolk.edu/explore/24553.php">our website</a>.
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Copyright is retained by the creators of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. This item is made available for research and educational purposes by the Moakley Archive & Institute. Prior permission is required for any commercial use.
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ms102_04_01_05
Title
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Letter to Homer J. Livingston from Gaylord "Gale" A. Freeman Jr. about his travels in Malaysia
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
15 April 1967
Creator
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Freeman, Gaylord A
Livingston, Homer J
Description
An account of the resource
This is one letter from a series of letters, generally referred to as the “Far East Letters.” The letters were written by banking executive Gaylord A. Freeman Jr. (ca. 1910-1991) to then CEO and president of First National Bank Homer J. Livingston. Freeman, along with his wife, travelled to Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and Moorea from April 23 through May 4, 1967. Often only spending a few days in each location, Freeman described his observations of the economic and cultural climate. Some of the letters also include maps illustrating data such as population, geographical information, and economy. Multiple copies of these letters were forwarded to Freeman’s colleagues and friends. This collection includes the copies sent to John S. Moore.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Suffolk University Faculty and Alumni Manuscript Collection, (MS102), 1903-2013
Series 4: Gaylord A. Freeman, Jr. Far East and Oceania Letters Collection, 1967
Type
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Text
Documents
Format
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PDF
Language
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English
Subject
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Southeast Asia
Malaysia--Civilization--20th century.
Malaysia--Commerce--United States.
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Copyright is retained by the creators of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. This item is made available for research and educational purposes by the Moakley Archive & Institute. Prior permission is required for any commercial use.
Relation
A related resource
Find out more about our collections on <a href="http://www.suffolk.edu/explore/24553.php">our website</a>.
Asia
Far East Letters
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,
Singapore
April 14, 1967
Dear Homer:
Geographically, Singapore is as integral a part of the
Malay Peninsula as New York City is a part of New York State.
A flat
island of 224 square miles (compared to 22 square miles for the island
of Manhattan), it is a part of the same land mass, separated by the
straits, not nearly so wide or deep as the Hudson River.
To further
the analogy, western Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) is just about the
size of the State of New York.
But, in any other than geographic terms, the separation of
Singapore and Malaysia is far wider.
The beginning _ this separation dates back to 1819 when
of
Sir Stamford Raffles, impressed with the possibility of its great natural
harbor (just 80 miles north of the equator) as a trading base to serve all
of Asia and the east coast of India, moved into what had been largely
uninhabitated (except for a few Chinese fishermen), since the earlier
villages had been destroyed by the Javanese in the fourteenth century,
and founded the
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City of Lions.
11
�-2-
In 1867 the Straits Settlements were incorporated with
Singapore as a Crown Colony (comparable to Hong Kong).
The British
gradually cleared away the semi-tropical forest (except for some twelve
square miles that are preserved as a park) and built a great colonial city
(expanded by thousands of Chinese immigrants) and settled down to a
delightful colonial life, prospering on the tin and rubber trade and fortifying the island to the point that it was impregnable against attack fr om
the sea.
But early in 1942 the Japanese marched down the Malay
Peninsula and were able to fly, shoot and ultimately wade
across the
narrow straits and conquer the guns that pointed in the other direction .
We are told that in the first week they killed thousands of young men of
fighting age (17 to 40 years).
In all, some 50,000 Singaporeans were
murdered.
Upon the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese surrendered
to the British, who again administered the government and continued to
raise the living standard even as they planned independence.
Straits Settlements were dissolved.
In 1946 the
Penang and Malacca were incor-
porated into the Malayan Union and Singapore became a separate Crown
Colony.
In 1959 it became self-governing.
In 1963 it joined with its
geographical parent, Malaya, and with it, Sarawak and Sabah became
Malaysia,
�-3-
But the non-geographic differences became increasingly
obvious.
The British were still present with their great naval and
military base which provides one-quarter of Singapore's very substantial
~:,
per capita income of $450,
itself a second distinguishing characteristic.
Thirdly, Singapore is primarily (75 per cent) Chinese with perhaps
eight per cent Malays -- in contrast with a more heavily Malay ancestry
on the Peninsula.
Fourthly, Singapore is primarily Buddhist, whereas
Malay is primarily Muslim,
These differences led to unlike attitudes and aims.
The
Malaysian constitution frankly disting uished b etwee n citizens of different
origin and gave preferenc e to the Malays.
tion of Singapore.
This irked the Chinese popula-
The Singapor eans claim that the Malaysian government
was corrupt, its officials lazy, and that the public funds were spent for
show rather than for useful service.
On the other hand, the Malay govern-
ment felt that the Singaporeans play too close to the communists.
Thus,
on August 9, 1965, Lee Kuan Yew, a Cambridge-educated lawyer, later
communist trained, aggressive head of the P eople's Action Party, and
head of Singapor e I s provincial government since 1953, pulled his country
out of Malaysia to go it alone.
~:, According to John Scott, it is East Asia 1 s most prosperous
community.
�-4-
This frightened our government, for we feared a communist
takeover.
Some of Lee I s statements were not reassuring.
"We are non-communist. We like Mr . Nehru's
attitude. We believe in working with communists
as long as they play by the rules. If they begin
to play in order to abolish the rules, then they
musf be suppressed. This is the situation in the
Federation, But not here in Singapore. The suppression of the communist party here was
unnecessary."
Lee, who at one time may have been a communist and initially
felt that he could work with them, reacted to their pressure and, resent-
ful of their attempt to dominate him, elected to pursue an independent
and more central course,
This morning, when I asked our Ambassador Galbraith if he
thought the Singapore economy could achieve viability alone, he replied,
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It is viable,
11
and apparently it is.
Of course, it derives great income
(though less direct employment) as a port, the fifth most active in the world.
Not only Malaysian, but also Indonesian, rubber and tin pass through
Singapore and the hands of the commercial firms established there.
Lee I s .economic advisors recognize, and he accepts, the fact
that, without Malaysia's agricultural and industrial production, Singapore
would be at a disadvantage .
Unlike Sukarno and some other oriental rulers,
Lee operates his government as a team and, having attracted good men, he
listens to their advice and encourages them to carry out thei r recommendations -with excellent results.
�-5 -
Sing a pore has a balanced budget.
It has continued to
maintain a pleasant arrangement with the British, who have recently
stated their intention to keep their military base here as long as
conditions continue as they are,
Lee I s government has stimulated foreign investment by
legislative encouragements:
l. Bank accounts of non-residents are taxed
at only one-quarter of the rate on residents I accounts.
2. Interest paid on overseas loans for approved
capital equipment is tax-exempt.
3. Export sales (if over 20 per cent of the total)
are taxed at only one-tenth the regular rate (of 40 per cent).
4. Property taxes are substantially reduced for
urban renewal and waived entirely during construction
(six months plus one additional month for each story
of the building).
The budget, taxes and prices have all been kept quite stable.
After the "confrontation" between Indonesia and Malaysia,
which threatened Singapore with a tragic loss of all of Indonesia's rubber
and tin shipments, such trade is now back to almost pre-confrontation levels.
Indeed, the relationship between Singapore and Indonesia is now very satisfactory.
With Indonesia desirous of having Singapore as the official trading
base for traffic between Indonesia and Hong Kong, and with China and East
::~ Today 1 s STRAITS TIMES reports that Indonesia and Malaysia will
resume full diplomatic ties by the end of this month.
�-6-
Europe, which find its political climate neutral, its activity is rising
rapidly.
But Lee's interest in business is not to benefit his friends
(his is by all odds the most honest in the Orient - - the slightest suspicion
of corruption causes immediate dismissal).
His purpose is to improve the
lot of his people.
Ten per cent are unemployed
They badly need income,
and, though he has family planning centers in every part of the island
and is achieving a real reduction in births, young people (previously
conceived) are entering the labor market at the rate of about 1,000 per
week.
Lee, anxious to provide them all with jobs , is strongly pushing
to expand industry.
A newly-built area, the Jurong Industrial Estate,
has been developed about fifteen miles outside the city and already has a
steel plant, a sugar refinery, a textile mill, Mobii's oil refinery, and
a cement plant.
Labor rates run from about $1 to $2 (U.S.) per day (low by
our standards, but above those in Taiwan and Korea), but Lee does not
s e e this wage level as a deterrent to industry .
His present disappointment
is that the banks, which are used to self-liquidating commercial bills,
hav e not been willing to provide the long-term loans which his economic
advisors tell him are needed for industrial expansion.
The banks, mostly quite small (even though they may have a
dozen or more branches), are quite liquid and have reasonable ratios of
�-7-
loans to capital funds.
They have been and are still regulated by the
Central Bank of Malaysia which is soon to be superseded as the regulatory
agency by the Accountant General of Singapore .
It is likely that he in
turn will delegate the supervision to a Commissioner of Banking, though
as yet no such legislative provision has been introduced.
Present regu-
lations call for 20 per cent liquidity and a reserve requirement of 3-1 /2 per
cent.
The prime rate is 7-1/2 per cent, but with other loans rising above
10 per cent, the average rate is around 9 per cent .
The banks pay 5 per cent
on time deposits and 3 per cent on savings -- a nice spread.
The government i.s deeply committed to public housing (over
70, 000 units have been built} and to social welfare.
Social services amount
to $275,000,000 (Malaysian dollars, or one-third of that in U. S. dollars)
out of a budget of $560,000,000.
attendance is not compulsory.
Schools have also been expanded, but
Literacy is about 60 per cent.
That is enough economics.
If one came here directly from the United States, Singapore
would be overwhelming, but the visitor who comes here from Hong Kong
finds little that is bigger or more colorful.
Singapore, a city of more than 2,000,000, is literally teeming
with people, at least 80 per cent of whom are Chinese.
They -- and, when
you speak of Chinese, you unconsciously include their business - - spill
out over the sidewalks and onto the streets.
People, food, charcoal braziers,
�-8-
cooking pots, displays of shoes, a box of dark glasses, bicycles, children
running back and forth, old men sitting in the sun, so crowd the walks that
one has to move slowly just to avoid bumping into hundreds, or walk in the
street where one is likely to be bumped into by hundreds of bicyclists and
dozens of cars.
Once you get off the more important streets, you are
so pressed on all sides that it reminds you of coming out of a football
stadium at the end of a game, except that here the people are going in many
different directions or just standing still.
Alone and unsure of directions
(I manage to get lost for a little time each day). one can even experience
a moment of uneasiness.
Yet, though I experienced cans iderable scrutiny
(I think it is my heavy felt hat on this tropical island), there was not one
gesture of r udeness .
Perhaps because they live every minute in a crowd,
they have learned to avoid giving offense.
It is hot (about 98 today) and humid.
The national costume
for men is slacks and a short-sleeved shirt, but many of the Chinese wear
only a pair of cotton shorts.
Yet I have not been conscious of body odors,
but that may be because of the over-riding stench of food - - food cooking
all around you in the narrow open-front restaurants and on the sidewalks,
old food rotting in the gutters or in the open garbage cans in the street.
The odors, the crowds, the street-side shops, the disintegration of plaster
walls (due to excess humidity), and the presence of numerous Indians along
�-9-
with the Chinese reminded both Mrs. Freeman and me of our arrival
m Calcutta four years ago.
Also like Calcutta or Hong Kong, Singapore has what
John Scott referred to as "stodgy Victorian buildings and the fauna of
the stubbornly vigorous British Colony, the careful lawns and clubs of a
comfortable suburbia.
11
The hoards of people and the signs in Chinese are not unlike
Hong Kong, but Singapore is not nearly so much of a tourist center.
In the
central area there are few new buildings and those only up to four or five
floors.
The traffic is more pedestrian and l ess hurried.
It is closer to
the equator -- and much further from home .
Singapore Harbor, with berths for 25 ocean vessels, is more
significant than Hong Kong 1 s,but you don't see it from the city (unless, as
Horace Sutton suggests, you climb Mount Taber, "the local Alps -- a
dizzying 350 feet above the sea.
11
Singapore would like to become (as it claims it is) Hong Kong I s
equal as a shopping center, but it does not have the luxurious shops that
cause the Westerner to believe that the gems are genuine or the gold is
18 carat.
Its watches are Chinese rather than Japanese and, more important,
it does not have the tourists.
Mrs. Freeman reports that Singapore 1 s antique shops have
many beautiful old porcelains, exquisite screens and lovely ol d sculptured
�-10-
figures, but the United States will not allow any of this to be brought
into our country unless it can be proved to have been outside of China
since before the Korean war.
The certificate of a shopkeeper is not
satisfactory proof.
Mrs. Freeman found the Chinese market most fascinating,
with thousands of items, most of them food, haggled over with great
excitement.
Chickens are sold live and carried out by the feet.
Turtles
are sold live, but, if the buyer doesn 1t want the entrails, they are killed
and gutted on the spot.
Lodging and food are good.
hotel,
11
There is an Intercontinental
The Singapura," with a cabana-ringed pool, and a Hilton is being
built next door.
Most of the restaurants specialize in such delicacies
as spiced squid, pigs I tripe and gizzard, fish heads in a bowl, stewed
ducks I feet, and sea slugs with rice (which I can get along without), but
at the Raffles Hotel I had a "Singapore S1ing 11 and curried prawns which,
washed down with a decent local beer, were much more satisfying than
Mrs. Freeman 1 s finger sandwiches.
We took a short drive through the country, past banana trees,
palms (for palm oil) and pineapples.
We saw a beautifully kept orchid
farm and such flowers flourish in this high temperature and humidity.
�-11-
There are some minor aggravations for the tourist.
In
Japan everything is expensive, but prices are fixed and ther e is little
tipping.
The Chinese are not so simple.
All prices are subject to
negotiation (and it's imperative to undertake this in advance), tipping
is unavoidable and constant , but, with the Malay5i.an dollar worth only
one-third of ours , generosity is not too painful.
As we leave Singapore (after less than 24 hours) for the
45-minute flight to Kuala Lumpur , we are grateful for the opportunity
to have been here, but quite content to move on.
With very best regards,
�MALAYSIA and SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE
MALAYSIA
(1pi11I: Singapore
c,,1111: Kuala Lumpur
A111: 128,430 square miles
Ar11: 224 square miles
,.,,1,1111 (1965): 9,429,000
Doultr: 74 per square mile
,.,,1,1111: 1,840,000
Dtullr:8,214 per square mile
lln1tio1: Hi1•u1 Poli t: 13,455 feet
lowtsl Polit: Seo level
U1nf111: H11•os1 Polit: 581 feet
lawost Ptl1t: Seo level
Prl11ip1l l119H91: Maloy
Prl1dp1l lntHtt:Chinese, Maloy
& English
Prl1dp1I Rtlltl11: Islam
Polltlcol Diw1slo11: 13 States
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Gulf of Siam
Prlul,1l ltlitl11:Chinese, Islam
& Christianity
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Suffolk University Faculty and Alumni Manuscript Collection, (MS102), 1903-2013
Date
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1903-2013
Description
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Copyright is retained by the creators of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. This item is made available for research and educational purposes by the Moakley Archive & Institute. Prior permission is required for any commercial use.
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ms102_04_01_04
Title
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Letter to Homer J. Livingston from Gaylord "Gale" A. Freeman Jr. about his travels in Singapore
Date
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14 April 1967
Creator
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Freeman, Gaylord A
Livingston, Homer J
Description
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This is one letter from a series of letters, generally referred to as the “Far East Letters.” The letters were written by banking executive Gaylord A. Freeman Jr. (ca. 1910-1991) to then CEO and president of First National Bank Homer J. Livingston. Freeman, along with his wife, travelled to Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and Moorea from April 23 through May 4, 1967. Often only spending a few days in each location, Freeman described his observations of the economic and cultural climate. Some of the letters also include maps illustrating data such as population, geographical information, and economy. Multiple copies of these letters were forwarded to Freeman’s colleagues and friends. This collection includes the copies sent to John S. Moore.
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Suffolk University Faculty and Alumni Manuscript Collection, (MS102), 1903-2013
Series 4: Gaylord A. Freeman, Jr. Far East and Oceania Letters Collection, 1967
Type
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Text
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Format
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PDF
Language
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English
Subject
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Southeast Asia
Singapore--Civilization--20th century.
Singapore--Commerce--United States.
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Copyright is retained by the creators of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. This item is made available for research and educational purposes by the Moakley Archive & Institute. Prior permission is required for any commercial use.
Relation
A related resource
Find out more about our collections on <a href="http://www.suffolk.edu/explore/24553.php">our website</a>.
Asia
Far East Letters