TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

TRIBUTE TO TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
was no commitment on what members of the Commonwealth would
say if South Africa decided to become a Republic and asked to be
a member again. Mr. Louw was not going home with a blank
cheque.
The Press conference given that afternoon by Lord Home was
the final scene ringing down the curtain on the Commonwealth
Prime Minister's Conference. When he had finished his general
review of the communique, Lord Home said he wanted to make it
quite clear that apartheid was discussed by all the Prime Ministers.
Newsmen asked, "What did the Prime Ministers say?" Lord
Home replied, "I am not at liberty to tell you what each Prime
Minister said, but I suggest you should ask the Prime Ministers
themselves. I do not doubt for one moment that they will tell you".
The dominant attention of the Press was still concentrated on apartheid.
I suppose Lord Home must have been asked fifty questions
altogether, and only four of these did not relate to apartheid or South
Africa. There was only one question about Cyprus, and only one
about the vitally important subject of the Commonwealth's attitude
towards the Common Market.
Later when Tunku Abdul Rahman was asked for his views on
the Conference, he told the Press that he thought the Conference
had done a very good job, but the communique did not do justice
to its work, and he reserved the right to speak his mind in the Parliament
of Malaya.
At the final Press conference Lord Home made one interesting
observation which I shall always remember with particular pleasure.
He said that the non-Asian members appreciated very much the
opportunity the Conference gave them ro benefit from the wisdom
and experience of such eminent Asian statesmen as Mr. Nehru and
Tunku Abdul Rahman. That particular remark leads me to my
final one.
Before the Conference began our Prime Minister, Tunku
Abdul Rahman, was well-known as an Asian leader; by the time the
Conference ended he was known all over the world as a statesman.
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