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during his stay, and that (for reasons we cannot fathom) there
.. been reluctance in Ministerial circles here to authorise even quite small gestures which would have cost little but have given 1 Thais much pleasure. After much labour, we have managed to engender some feelings of guilt, about the Government's performance and are not unhopeful of being able to persuade some Ministers to visit Thailand during our current year (a junior DoT Minister has volunteered himself for a call). The Thai Ambassador in London, Thun Vannamethee, is sensible and energetic and may have some muccess in a public relations' role. At our urging, his Embassy has begun replying to polite correspondents, especially ones complaining about the sentencing on a narcotics rap of kita
htingale (referred to in the press as "a British nurse" instead ul, more accurately, a "former Hong Kong hostess").
11. The Nightingale case, which has gone to appeal, could, if the verdict is unfavourable, lead to public pressure here in favour of the Government's doing something on Miss Nightingale's behalf. Consular are the responsible Department in the FCO; they and we do not lose sight of the fact that Miss Nightingale is not the only hitish subject imprisoned in Thailand for narcotics offences (or the most deserving) and that intervention on her behalf would be Tollowed by requests for help for the others. The implication that they should all be "sprung" from jail because they are British, would have a bad effect on the campaign to keep some kind of control on narcotics' traffic and could not fail to damage our wider relation- ship with the Thais.
SINGAPORE
12. We have seen reports of Mr Lee complaining about the United Kingdom's having lost interest in South East Asia instead of taking advantage of investment opportunities there (especially in Singapore). He has also been associated with the view, which has been propagated by certain Malaysians, that there is a danger of the UK's "de-stabilising" South East Asia by pulling out of Brunei without adequate preparation. Nothing could be further from our intention. Even in a "worst case" situation (in the unlikely event that talks with the Bruneis broke down) it is most unlikely that the Government would be prepared to take condign action against the Erucis by withdrawing our Loan Service Personnel or attempting to provent the runcis from hiring technicians under contract. We rather suspect that the Malaysians, in particular, are apprehensive at the prospect of British withdrawal
We think the Malaysians would regret losing the ability to blame us for the absence of democratic practices in Brunei. They now appear to be considering what to do about the next debate on Brunei in the Committee of 24, where they have annually sponsored a
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/Resolution