E.R.
127/m
Mr Worlie an
SEAO
a PS
Вё
Ps/ves Ps / MKK ZH PS/BLS
NOTE OF A MEETING HELD ON 23 JULY 1979
Refugee distribute THG0
-
CALL BY THE MALAYSIAN MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS
коо
^ 11602013
نست.
This was a courtesy call by the Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs accompanied by a Counsellor from the Malaysian High Commission.
Vietnamese Refugees: the Geneva Conference
2.
The Minister told the Home. Secretary that his Government had worked hard to persuade the Vietnamese to adopt a course of action in relation to the refugees which would give all countries a breathing space. He had spoken to the Vietnamese Vice-Minister who had drawn his attention to the drop over the previous few days in the numbers of refugees leaving Vietnam, to which the Minister had replied that this was a clear indication that the Vietnamese Government exercised more control over the flow of refugees than they had led other countries to believe. Both the Home Secretary and the Minister expressed doubts as to how long the undertakings which the Vietnamese had given at the Geneva Conference would be honoured.
3. The Home Secretary said that the UK Government had agreed to take 10,000 refugees and that this had been in accordance with public opinion in this country. He pointed out that it would be difficult for the UK to accept more than the 10,000: the problem was not so much that of receiving the refugees into camps in this country but their settlement in the community and finding them jobs and housing. It was important to avoid concentrating them in a few areas. During further discussion the Minister said that in his view the refugees would be likely to prove useful citizens and that they would almost certainly be self-supporting.
Drugs
4.
The Minister referred to the growing problem of drugs in Malaysia. The Home Secretary said that the police in this country had had considerable success in dealing with the drugs problem and that the Government would be pleased to co-operate fully with the Malaysian Government on this matter. The Minister promised to let the Home Secretary have a copy of a paper he had prepared about the drugs problem in Malaysia. This paper dealt particularly with four topics: prevention, cure, research, and education. The Minister said that he attached particular importance to education as a means of dealing with the drugs problem in the longer term.
Police
5. The Minister expressed his appreciation for the way in which the Malaysian Chief of Police had been received during his recent visit to the United Kingdom.
16.