CONFIDENTIAL
17. The dispute has not yet been settled.
DSR TIC
Relations have
been badly affected and could deteriorate further, especially
if terms of the pending sale of plantation assets by
Harrisons & Crosfield, the biggest remaining British-controlled
concern in Malaysia, fail to give Bumiputras an adequate share.
The proposal to charge foreigners with the full cost of
treatment under the National Health Service could also prove
troublesome. Early indications are that substantial business,
both in visibles and invisibles, will be lost. The damage
to political relations threatens to be more enduring than with
Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.