THE CONGO

4.52 p.m.

The Prime Minister: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the motion* standing in my name.

*The motion reads as follows:

That this Assembly expresses its

ABHORRENCE at the cold-blooded murder of MrLumumba and his colleagues; and

CALLS upon the United Nations Organisation to assist in the investigation of the murder, the apprehension of the criminals and their principals to bring them to justice;

and that this Assembly also

CONDEMNS the presence of Belgian troops and agents in the Congo and

SUPPORT the proposal that all Belgian and foreign troops not under United Nations command should be forthwith expelled from the Congo and that the United Nations Organisation ensures law and order in the Congo so that the Congolese Parliament could be re-summoned for the formation of a Government to represent the Congolese people, to prevent foreign intervention which must inevitably lead to the tragedy of a civil war.

Since Wednesday last when the news broke upon the world that Mr Lumumba was said to have escaped and ten nations immediately signed a declaration that they believed that he had been murdered, billions of angry words, indignant words, have been uttered and millions of words have gone over the ether to carry the righteous indignation and anger of people with any sense of decency throughout the whole world. It illustrates in a small way the fact that we live in one world; that there is only one piece and that it is indivisible; and that what happens in the Congo affects everyone of us sooner or later. In a world shrunken in size as a result of man's scientific and technical advances, new problems emerge. In the case of the Algerian conflict, since total war means total annihilation, new forms of combat for partial or complete victory in limited fields have to be evolved. It is the intention of the Government, in bringing this matter up for debate, to state categorically, first, on behalf, I hope, unanimously of the people of Singapore, whether we represent the Government Benches or the Opposition in order that so much more little weight could be put in the balance in favour of what is right and just, and also to set the tone of the talking that has been going on and will be going on in Singapore and around us; and what is more important, to set the pace of the thinking.

Sir, I do not know if it is necessary for me to preface my remarks by pointing out that emulation is one of the most important motivations of human behaviour. Every day over the last one week particularly, more in the case of the non-English language newspapers, there have been pictures of people breaking up Belgian embassies in Belgrade, Warsaw, and other places in the world. In some of them, riots; civil commotion even taking place in America itself. Therefore, quite understandably, the people of Singapore and the workers who read of these matters day by day feel that they also should register their protest. Sir, I think it is a natural and an admirable point of view. But for the fact that we are a government entrusted with law and order and that the Minister for Finance is extremely keen to get capital to come in and start factories, I think we would not have the slightest hesitation in allowing massive demonstrations outside the Consular offices of the Belgian Government in order that the right kind of show of what we think of them can be put on. However, because of our somewhat limited and conscribed situation, and in case the demonstration against the Belgians turned, rightly or wrongly, into a demonstration against other Western governments connected or unconnected with the death of Mr Lumumba, I have, as Acting Minister for Home Affairs, advised many an association to restrain theselves from their righteous desire to show the Belgians what they think of them and to do as little damage as possible; and that if we must protest, then let us do it in a civil and unharmful way in order that those who are thinking of putting up new glass windows and putting new things in them need not be unnecessarily frightened away. The effect of the world radio, the world Press, the radio photographs that carry the message of what is happening in other parts of the world will not unnaturally stimulate our own people into wishing to be like what all independent, righteous, decent people all over the world think and do. However, I hope that with this explanation, I will have given them some grounds for consolation why we should not break a few glass windows. I am told the Belgian Consulate is on one of the upper floors of the Asia Building, and I asked them to desist in case a few other windows besides those in the Belgian Consulate got broken and people got hurt unwittingly in a demonstration not meant for them.

Sir, there are really very few new things that can be said on the subject of the death of Mr Lumumba. Everything that need be said has been said so well and eloquently by so many other eminent people with more powerful pens and more eloquent voices than our own. All I wish to do is to draw attention, from our point of view, to a few salient facts. There are really two issues: 1. Lumumba the man when he was alive. 2. Lumumba the myth that has been created by his murder. As for Lumumba the man, we never said anything. We stood for the freedom and independence of the Congo, and if the Congolese people chose Mr Lumumba as their Prime Minister, then it is their right to do so and he should have been given the opportunity to carry out his duties as Prime Minister. It is said in some quarters that he had a somewhat different past and so on and so forth. But whatever he was, the stupidest thing that could have been done was to kill him and create the myth; and the myth inevitably grows bigger and bigger and stronger day by day. It is the biggest united front issue on world basis that has been created since the Spanish Civil War. Whether you are a Right-wing, or a Liberal, or a Fabian, or a Social Democrat, or a Democratic Socialist, or a Communist, willy-nilly if you believe in decent behaviour, certain standards of honesty and certain standards of what people should or should not do, then you must be against what has happened. As Mr Nehru said, "Some very evil things must have been done with the active concurrence or connivance of people in high authority." A group of men endowed and vested with authority and recognised by other governments in the world did not have the courage to say that Mr Lumumba had been executed without even a secret trial. It has been said that people in some parts of the world got executed without a proper trial, but at least they were given a trial even though it was in secret. When Mr Beria was executed, nobody heard about the trial, but there was a trial and there was a proper execution. So was the case with Imre Nagy and other people. But here are a group of men who did this man in, and then, knowing full well that what they did was a disreputable and outrageous act against humanity and decent human behaviour, said that he had escaped. And ten nations who had good reasons to know what was happening because they all had representatives there immediately said, "You have done him in." And true enough they said, "Yes, he has been dismembered by Baluba tribesmen in some unknown village and his remains have been scattered in some unknown place in order that he should not be deified." And so we are in the curious position of finding ourselves in complete and absolute unanimity with a lot of people with whom we are often in disagreement. Your Right-wing people with the right sort of conscience — I am quite sure Sunday school teachers who are Members of this Assembly would revolt at the thought of doing in an opponent in that way. I grant them at least that much sense of decency and moral rearmament courage. On the other hand, of course, you have your dreamy-eyed idealists and Liberals. They also, in the name of freedom, of what is right and wrong, must denounce it. And in the extreme, you have your hard-boiled ideological Communists all shouting the same slogan: "Lumumba the myth, Lumumba the statesman." Nobody called him a statesman when he was alive; but I think if for nothing else when he died he became a statesman, and so it must be.

But I would like to point out the line and the stand that we have decided to take in this motion. If anybody differs from this line and wants to take another line, let him do so. There are several lines. One is the line taken by the Russians: from the death of Lumumba to down with Hammarskjoeld; withdraw the United Nations troops from the Congo; recognition of Gizenga (the successor to Lumumba), and a host of other things, which would mean another Spanish Civil War or another Korea. It is bound to happen. Then on the other extreme end, there is the American, Ambassador in the United Nations, Mr Adlai Stevenson, who so eloquently put it, "We denounce all that has happened is wrong. Never mind about the past, but let us concentrate on the future. And therefore let us think of some coherent and practical way of resolving it." That is the whole problem. People cannot forget the past. They get angry and they get extremely cussed because some very serious wrongs have just been done. And then there is the line which we are taking — the line which has been charted by people who sincerely believe it to be wise and who are in possession of the facts - to demand the minimum conditions within which to contain the conflict in the Congo, to prevent it from becoming an international arena (either a hot or a cold one), to create the minimum conditions under which some form of representative government can be established, and the will of the Congolese people expressed by their elected representatives. Different problems with different notes and different timbre are being sounded in memory of the same man. They carry different meanings to different people. But for us — the uncommitted - the sound that we respond to the clarion call that we would like to join in, is one which says, "Let us contain the conflict of the civil war in the Congo. Let us prevent more trouble being created by new troops being sent in and recognition of opposing governments inside the Congo, and give the Congolese people a chance to get started with their independence in circumstances which would at least give them a chance of success." That is the purport of this motion.

We add our voice to the rousing chorus of indignation and, if for nothing else, we would at least have added one more protest for those who are on Mount Olympia to hear, since they decide our fates. I hope that we in Singapore will give the lead to the thinking that should be done by people in a position to influence public opinion. One could get hysterical over this. One could get very angry. But what I am asking this House to do is soberly, albeit we are angry, to see what this means to us, what it is doing to our people, what ploy and play is being done at this moment, and how we, as the elected representatives of the people, should lead them in expressing their views of what is right and wrong in matters which concern us, although these matters take place some thousands of miles away in some country unknown to us, but so vitally important to the survival of all of us.

Question proposed.

5.10 p.m.

Mr S. V. Lingam (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the motion of the Prime Minister.

The peoples of the world are shocked at the news of the cowardly murder of Mr Lumumba. We in Singapore join in this world-wide demonstration of sympathy, solidarity and, friendship with the Congolese people. The whole world condemns the atrocious acts of the imperialists and their lackeys.

Mr Speaker, who are the murderers of Mr Lumumba? The Kasavubus, the Mobutus or the Tshombes are only the front Quislings of powers behind the scenes. It is the Belgian colonialists assisted by the N.A.T.O. powers with the connivance of the United Nations. I cannot believe for on moment that the United Nations could not protect the life of Lumumba when it can protect the lives of ordinary white men in the Congo.

The Government must take positive action against the ostensible murderers of Lumumba. At least this Government must initiate action to boycott Belgian goods. The murders in Sharpeville and in the Congo are as a result of the African people's determination to fight for freedom. All colonial powers, be they French, Belgian, Dutch or British, join one common flag for mutual aid. They can only hope to last a bit longer by binding together in the face of a common foe. To the anti-colonial people, the fight is like that of a trade union of workers against an association of employers. All colonial powers die or fall together. Sir, it is therefore necessary for us in Singapore to fight against British colonialism with renewed vigour. The murder of Lumumba is an object lesson for all colonial people.

Mr Speaker, Sir, at this juncture, we must therefore not forget our own fight and our own political prisoners. Our fight, is part of the world-wide fight against colonial forces. I would therefore ask the Government to convene a mass meeting in front of the City Hall and invite all political parties, unions and mass organisations to participate. At this meeting, we should demand the British colonialists to free our political prisoners. We should also—

Mr Speaker: Order. I wonder whethere the hon. Member can indicate how that trend is relevant to the motion moved by the Prime Minister.

Mr Lingam: Sir, in those days, these political prisoners were fighting against the colonial masters in the same way.

Mr Speaker: Order. I would suggest then that the hon. Member send in a notice of motion dealing with that particular subject if he so desires.

Mr Lingam: Sir, I ask the Government to challenge the right of the French colonialists to suppress the Algerian people's struggle for freedom.

The Prime Minister: What has that got to do with this one?

An hon. Member: Wrong page!

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member has gone backwards!

5.16 p.m.

Mr S. T. Bani (Thomson): Mr Speaker, Sir, today we are registering a protest against the brutal murder of an elected leader of the Congolese people. In debating this motion before the House, we are, in fact, joining with the peoples of Africa and Asia in denouncing colonialism. We are joining the world-wide cry of denunciation of the atrocities committed by the hirelings of Western imperialist powers.

Sir, the essence of the motion before the House is anti-colonial. The struggle for freedom is a consistent struggle. There can be no compromises in any way. It would only end if there is full political, social and economic freedom. While we condemn and denounce the colonialists and their stooges, we must not make it merely a negative cry. The unanimous call of the Afro-Asian peoples is not negativism. It is a positive call for the restoration of the fundamental human right to be free from subjugation and exploitation. In fact, it is a demand for the restoration of the right to decide one's own future and destiny.

We in Singapore, Sir, are far from being free, even politically. Colonialism in Singapore has not ended. Our struggle today, as it was before, is still largely anti-colonialism. In this phase we endorse the aspirations for which Mr Lumumba stood. And when we denounce and condemn imperialism, we must be able to draw objective lessons for the furtherance of our own struggle against imperialism. The greatest justice that we can do to Lumumba is to intensify our anti-colonial struggle and destroy all evidence of colonialism in this part of the world.

Sir, in so far as the Congo is concerned, the facts are evidently clear. Lumumba and his colleagues were legally constituted as representatives of the Congo. The fact that Mr Lumumba was removed, the fact that the popularly-elected Parliament was dissolved, and the fact that Mr Lumumba and his colleagues were arrested and murdered in cold blood, do not change the basic proposition. Killing the leader of the people does not mean killing the aspirations of the people.

Sir, Col. Mobutu, Tshombe and Kasavubu and the N.A.T.O. powers - which connived with them are nothing, but political criminals. These traitors of the Congo people, no matter what influential positions they now hold, no matter how strongly they are armed by the foreign imperialists to fight their own people, and no matter how dearly they are petted by colonial powers like Belgium, France, Britain and America, cannot be recognised by any standard as the legal representatives of the Congolese people.

In my view, Sir, those who accept Lumumba as the rightful leader of the Congo people cannot but accept anybody, be it Kasavubu or Mobutu or Tshombe, or anybody who is anti-Lumumba and anti what he stood for, as traitors to the Congolese cause. Sir, the only justifiable thing any country could do, or the United Nations itself could do, is to restore effectively the legal Government of Lumumba. Any solution which disregards these fundamentals is essentially anti the Congo people. We in Singapore, Sir, are not in a position to contribute directly to this struggle of the Congolese people. We have not even come to the stage where our voice could be heard in the world forum. But, Sir, we can make the solemn declaration that if we have the will and the determination, we must develop the courage to say "wrong" to that which is wrong, and to contribute in any way, no matter how small, to denouncing the atrocities of imperialist powers.

Mr Speaker, Sir, today the United Nations is nothing but a laughing stock. Western imperialists are manipulating the United Nations to give legal protection for the plundering of colonial territories. We can only hope that the United Nations Organisation fulfils the objects for which it was founded. This, Sir, is the hope of peace-loving people of the entire world.

I said earlier that it is necessary, in denouncing colonial intervention in the Congo and in endorsing the struggle of the Congolese people, that we must try to draw objective lessons for the eradication of our immediate enemy, the British imperialists. In Singapore, Sir, colonialism is as strong as ever. There are people who pose as anti-colonialists but they are not any better than Kasavubu, Tshombe, or Mobutu. There are imperialist agents working in Singapore, obstructing the struggles of the people in a very shrewd and cunning manner. The criterion to judge an anti-colonialist is not the strength of his anti-colonial cries, but the record of his deeds. Some of these fake anti-colonialists have been exposed, but some have not as yet. But, Sir, as sure as certainty can be, the day will come when colonialists and pro-colonialists, no matter in what form they appear, will be exposed and destroyed by the will of our people.

Sir, in our midst we have one of the most powerful colonialist agents, and I want to make certain remarks in passing, because I think it is the responsibility of all of us to take note of the situation. I am referring to the Straits Times. Sir, the Straits Times is British-owned.

Mr Speaker: Order. I wonder whether the Member can assist the Chair by indicating how those comments on the Straits Times are relevant to the motion on the Congo.

Mr Bani: Sir, as I said earlier, the motion before us is essentially anti-colonialist. We, in Singapore, are still continuing our struggle which is essentially anti-colonialist. The Straits Times, Sir, by its conduct has proved to be an agent of the imperialists here.

Mr Speaker: I think the hon. Member was perfectly in order when he passed the first two remarks. But when he goes into details, in enlarging on his comments, then I think he is perhaps going a little bit too far away from the motion.

Mr Bani: With due respect, may I say that my reference to the Straits Times is only in so far as it relates to the motion before the House, i.e. the Lumumba affair? What I intend to do is just relate what I have to say about the Straits Times to what it has been reporting on Mr Lumumba and the Congolese crisis, which I feel, Sir, is significant in the debate on the motion before the House.

Mr Speaker: Is the hon. Member embarking on a criticism of the Straits Times? If he is, then I am afraid that perhaps he is going a little bit too far away.

Mr Bani: It is in a way a criticism, Sir, but when you are debating a motion which is essentially anti-colonial, and when you are, in fact, denouncing colonialists who are thousands of miles away, may I submit, Sir, that it is necessary for me to debate on the motion in such a way as to point out even local agents who have been deliberately carrying on a propaganda campaign with the idea of influencing certain sections of the people.

Mr Speaker: Order. I think I must rule the hon. Member out of order. I think his remarks might have been pertinent to the motion on Algeria where there was a definite mention of French colonialism, whereas in the Prime Minister's motion there is no such reference at all.

Mr Bani: Very well, Sir. The struggle for freedom, Sir, is not, as I have said earlier, a compromising one. Freedom is the birth-right of every human being. The sooner we realise that it is not a subject for compromise, the better it would be for the people of Singapore.

All I wish to say here now in conclusion, Sir, is that no single member, no single politician has been the crusader who has been successfully carrying out the struggle to end colonialism. But in the past, the vanguard of the anti-colonial struggle in Singapore has been the working class. It shall continue its mission, and ultimate victory and freedom will come, not through the ability of individual political leaders or foreign political agents, but through the unrelenting struggle of the workers.

When we identify ourselves with the spirit of Mr Lumumba and the Congolese people, we must pause and reiterate our anti-colonial stand. The struggle in Singapore is led by the working class. No imperialist power, no pro-imperialists or no agents of the imperialists, no matter in what influential position they are, whether they own newspapers or not, can stop the will of the people.

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Opposition wholeheartedly supports the motion. The Congo situation has become very explosive, and unless the United Nations handle the situation with firmness and determination to bring law and order, there will be chaos and many deaths will be laid at the door of the United Nations. We support the motion, Sir, because we not only abhor but deplore the killing of any political leader of any political party in any country. This method of political elimination should be condemned. Sir, Malaya has set a very fine example to the world in her handling of the Congo situation. Her soldiers in the Congo have done a very fine job, and they have not been found wanting. They have won for Malaya and for themselves the admiration and respect of the whole world. The Opposition would like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to their good work.

Sir, the Government, in the motion which has been disposed of earlier, has asked for a grant of $10,000 towards the Algerian fighting front. In this motion I feel that the Government should give consideration to a contribution towards the Congo Cheer Fund as a token of Singapore's appreciation of the good work that the Malayan soldiers are doing in the international field.

Sir, the Opposition does not propose to make a long political speech. In fact, the Opposition finds it difficult to understand the speech of the hon. Member for Thomson, especially after the sober and responsible speech of the Prime Minister in moving the motion. The stand of the Opposition is clear. We are with the motion one hundred per cent, and we do not require, like the hon. Member for Thomson, to use language that may tend to give the impression to the people of Singapore that the Congo situation is an all absorbing matter that requires their full interest and that they should try not to remember the burning question of the day.

Mr Speaker: No other Member wishes to speak?

Hon. Members indicated dissent.

The Prime Minister: In my opening. Sir, I have indicated that what we want to do today is to add one more voice in the world forum, albeit we are not in the United Nations; because in a position of no total war, the voices of groups of people, of nations, of Governments, add to the sum total of world opinion, which finally decides big and burning issues which are settled by the gods on this earth in Mount Olympia where they meet from time to time, either in Geneva or in the United Nations. Not that we believe, of course, that we are not fully aware of the difficult problems which lie in the path of all those who seek freedom, liberty and a better life for their people. In Algeria, it has meant downright shooting and killing of the French until the last blow has been delivered and the French side says, "We have had enough. Let us stop." In the Congo, a different situation prevails. True, riots persuaded the Belgians to give over political and theoretical independence, hoping by their controls on the administration to maintain their economic and military position there. That blew up in their faces, and the position has collapsed. And because political independence has been granted, the Belgians are now guilty of a heinous crime in meddling in the affairs of the Congo, either directly through their administrators or their soldiers, or indirectly by supporting people like Tshombe, Mobutu and, it has even been said, Kasavubu, either through arms or finance, and to make the arms prevail over the politicians. The Member for Cairnhill found himself in the same company. "Let us," he said on the Algerian issue, "likewise do the same in Singapore, i.e. fight for freedom, relentlessly, manfully, and courageously to the bitter end." The Member for Aljunied says, "Let us do so by calling a mass meeting." Let me explain first. If you say that independence for Singapore by itself is a must and a necessary step forward, then I say you must be prepared to pay the price. And whatever our shortcomings, we are prepared to pay the price of the things we seek. But it has been our proposition from the very beginning - and I would welcome an opportunity in this House or in Hong Lim, if the Member for Cairnhill would send his representative there, to debate the proposition that Singapore can and must be independent by itself.

Mr Speaker: Order. I do admit that perhaps the Prime Minister has been jockeyed into saying what he is saying, but I have already ruled that all that is not relevant to the present motion. In fact, I did over-rule the Member for Aljunied when he embarked on a similar proposition. I ask the Prime Minister not to deal with that topic.

The Prime Minister: Very well, Mr Speaker. I never intended to deal with it. It is a much bigger topic which requires considerably more time and thinking. All I need say is this. All right-thinking people in their right minds must be against colonialism. But a lot of not right thinking people were talking wrongly and out of their minds in the days gone by, the Progressives, the Labour Fronters and so on. We are talking of colonialism, Mr Speaker, Sir, and I am talking in abstracto, no longer of Singapore as independent, which is a bigger issue: whether you have independence through merger with Malaya or whether you have independence for Singapore by itself. But I am aghast at the number of phoney would-be martyr who all want to be like Mr Lumumba when they know full well that they are in no danger of liquidation. Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to see fierce men in fierce situations. Then I admire them. When there is a danger of annihilation and liquidation, and then fierce words are spoken. Not just stones are thrown, but grenades and mortars — hand-made ones — are thrown; and in return a big bomb from an aircraft which comes down, as they do in Algeria, and smacks you out. Then I say, "Brave men", and—

Mr Speaker: Order. The Prime Minister is perhaps forgetting that he is replying and not making a new speech. He is replying to arguments which have been raised.

The Prime Minister: That is the burden I have now to discharge, Mr Speaker, Sir,If I had only to round up what I said at the opening, then my task would have been a simple and, I hope, a graceful one. I had already made those two points which I thought would have rounded up the argument nicely. But the task I am now confronted with is to embark altogether on another theme, the anti-colonial crusade which is going on all over the whole world but which, in our circumstances, has to be interpreted in an intelligent and courageous manner. Courage means not just taking a stone and throwing it; but courage means, firstly, having the intelligence not to throw a bomb when you know it is going to break your own window; and secondly, saying you are not going to throw a bomb when you are in the midst of phoney fierce men. I say I know I am in no danger of being liquidated. Therefore, I require no courage to invite people to liquidate me, people whom I know have not the slightest intention of doing so. Let me remind the Member for Aljunied that we would have held more than just a protest rally if anybody in a detention camp had been liquidated like Mr Lumumba. But we are dealing with different people, Mr Speaker, Sir. These people are more intelligent and, in their own interests, they are playing the game in a different way. What I would like to welcome is a thoughtful exposition by the Member for Cairnhill, in his long and tortuous career, on how to meet the present difficulties which lie in the way of the aspirations of the people of Singapore towards freedom, a democratic way of life, and a better and more equal society. That is the issue. I have been arguing in this Assembly—

Mr Speaker: Order. I think the Prime Minister will agree with me that that is not the issue, because the issue is item 7.

The Prime Minister: My reply to that is how to meet the meat of the insinuation that have been made in between your bringing me back to the motion, Mr Speaker, Sir.

There is only one point of material substance which the Member for Cairnhill has made, namely, that we should contribute $10,000 to the Congo Cheer Fund. Sir, let me straightaway say that I think it is a courageous thing for the Federation Government to have sent their troops to the Congo, and an even more courageous thing in the circumstances, in extremely perilous circumstances, to keep some 600 Federation troops in provinces where, I am told, some three or four battalions of well-armed and well-equipped Congolese officered by Belgians are confronting them. We would welcome an opportunity to give expression of some cheer to the Malayan contingent in the Congo. But let it never be suggested to this Government that we should boost up a colonialist newspaper which has been attacked by the Member for Thomson in what I thought was a mild, moderate and restrained tone, and which you felt was somewhat out of place in this motion. The Berita Harian Congo Cheer Fund, besides having the purpose of cheering up the troops in the Congo, has also to cheer up the people who read Berita Harian, and cheer up the owners of Berita Harian by putting up their sales—

Tun Lim Yew Hock rose -

Mr Speaker: Order. Is it a point of order?

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Point of explanation.

The Prime Minister: Explanation?

Mr Speaker: If the Prime Minister will give way.

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Sir, I will have no chance later to speak.

The Prime Minister: Sir, the Member for Cairnhill is always full of explanations after having put his big foot into it. The Congo Cheer Fund by no stretch of the imagination can be said to be disinterested. We are prepared to cheer the troops in the Congo, and we will do so. But we are not prepared to cheer the owners of Berita Harian who happen to be the same owners of the Straits Times. Sir, may I go back to the motion?

Some hon. Members: Hear hear!

The Prime Minister: I am glad, Mr Speaker, Sir, that Members of the Opposition are mindful if the fact that when they stray from the beaten path of the motion, they do so at their peril. Because, despite your vigilance, Sir, it is my duty to meet them in all these asides somehow or other within the rules of debate allowed in this Assembly.

May I just wind up by saying that this motion is nonetheless sound and deserves the full-hearted support of the whole of the people of Singapore, despite the very embarrassing fact that the Member for Cairnhill wholeheartedly agrees with it? Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Cairnhill is in such a position that when he wholeheartedly agrees with anything, it becomes suspect! I would like to mention to the people of Singapore that, in spite of the fact that he agrees with it, it is a sound resolution in keeping with the proposal put forward by the three members of the Afro-Asian group in the Security Council, namely, Ceylon, the U.A.R. and Liberia. It is an attempt by countries which have not the wherewithal to influence, subvert or extract any benefit from the Congo, or any other State for that matter. It is a proposal put forward by countries whose only interest is peace and justice. Peace to be maintained by the Big Powers staying out of this and not turning the Congo into a hot war or a cold war arena. Justice by ensuring that those who have committed this crime should be brought to book, that a properly constituted government should be allowed to emerge from the Congolese Parliament, and that the wherewithal of an effective government should be granted to the people of the Congo through the assistance of the United Nations.

One last word on the United Nations, Sir. One of the most curious things about the ploy and play of propaganda in the Press and in the radio is an often informed and tremendously solid and firm conclusion on the basis of third or fourth-hand information reported in the Press. Therefore, the only basis on which people who have not got representatives in the Congo can work in the formulation and pronouncement of policy made by people in authority who have representatives there.

I will say this: that Mr Dayal, the United Nations representative in the Congo (he happens to be an Indian, but he is the United Nations representative who represents the Secretary-General in the Congo) is a man of integrity, acknowledged all round. He has never been attacked by Mr Khruschev. He has never been attacked by the Americans, or even by the Belgians. Sir, he has never been attacked by any Afro-Asian powers. Presumably, we must conclude that he is a man of some considerable integrity. He has published reports from time to time and I think it is a pity that such reports have not been read more by Members of this Assembly, particularly if they have to make speeches on the matter. I hope through you, Mr Speaker, Sir, such valuable material should be made available in the Library.

What is clear is this. Mr Nehru undoubtedly is well-informed, and whatever else he may or may not know, in his formulation of policy he has made clear that to abolish the Secretary-Generalship of the United Nations or to withdraw United Nations operations in the Congo must mean chaos, disaster and civil war; a civil war leading to international intervention on a big scale in the Congo. I know nothing about the Congo, Sir. All I know is Mr Dayal's credentials and what Mr Nehru has publicly said. I would say that Mr Nehru is not a man likely to mislead other people, nor India. And the odds are that if he is prepared, on behalf of his Government and the nearly 400 million people of India, to commit them to what he thinks is right, despite what other countries are shouting and wishing to have happen in the Congo, then I say that is a point of view worth thinking about. I would like to see a great deal of evidence to the contrary before I discard that point of view on the ground that he has been ill-informed, or that it is erroneous or misguided. Sir, on the authority of the credentials of those people who have not been challenged by any side, I ask this Assembly, without a dissenting voice, to give approval to a resolution which is in the same terms and spirit as that presented by three small nations, with no Big Power interests in the Congo, or anywhere else in the world, and which is put forward for the sake of the peace of the world and the happiness of the small nations, as well as those of the big ones.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to. Resolved,

That this Assembly expresses its

ABHORRENCE at the cold-blooded murder of Mr Lumumba and his colleagues; and

CALLS upon the United Nations Organisation to assist in the investigation of the murder, the apprehension of the criminals and their principals to bring them to justice;

and that this Assembly also

CONDEMNS the presence of Belgian troops and agents in the Congo and SUPPORT the proposal that all Belgian and foreign troops not under United Nations command should be forthwith expelled from the Congo and that the United Nations Organisation ensures law and order in the Congo so that the Congolese Parliament could be re-summoned for the formation of a Government to represent the Congolese people, to prevent foreign intervention which must inevitably lead to the tragedy of a civil war.