TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

TRIBUTE TO TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
gave a quick digest of the story, and followed up with the full text;
that meant that soon all the world would know. The Press Association
man also telephoned the full text; that meant that soon every
newspaper in the United Kingdom would know. Satisfied that the
Tunku's views were well under way, I walked back to the Ritz Hotel.
That is how the Tunku's famous Press statement came to be
published. T tell this story just to put the record straight, because
there have been minor criticisms, a few, both in England and here,
hinting that the Tunku's action was impulsive, taken on the spur of
the moment. You will see from what I have said that his action
was far from being impulsive; his decision was carefully considered
and his method prepared with equal care.
When the Tunku was preparing the statement this was the
first news for any of his staff that he had walked out of the talks
with Mr. Louw the previous afternoon. He had said nothing about
it, obviously considering what he ought to do that night and during
the early hours. It was his problem and he grappled with it alone.
If the Tunku had any temptation to waver at all, this was clinched
by one newspaper headline, "Premiers beaten into silence".
Nearly all the morning papers carried smiling photographs of
Princess Margaret for her wedding day, but most of them also had
big photographs of a smiling Tunku.
The Conference was not due to meet again until Monday.
Friday was the wedding day, and on Saturday and Sunday most of
the Prime Ministers, including the Tunku, and also Mr, Louw, were
to spend the week-end in the country, either with Mr. Macmillan
or the Commonwealth Relations Secretary, Lord Home. When
the Conference resumed on Monday morning there was a special
private and secret conference, with no advisers present, only the
Prime Ministers. The subject - apartheid and Mr. Louw's Press
conference. The Tunku has revealed that Mr. Louw attacked him
for issuing the statement. The Tunku declined either to regret his
action or to retrace one word. The full details of what happened
at this formal session will probably never be publicly known, at
least for a long time to come.
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