Copy/
SECRET
Box No. 500
Parliament Street B.0.
London, S.W.1.
14th April, 1948.
S.F. 94/4/70/B.3.b.
Dear Sir Marston
Please refer to correspondence ending with our
S.F. 94/4/70/B.3.b. of the 24th February, 1948, regarding the present position of the control of civilian traffic from India to Malaya and Hong Kong.
The present position, as we understand it from H/S. I. F. E., is as follows :
1.
Malayan Union Forts (except Penang):
Control of traffic from India is exercised through the legal requirement that an Indian must be in possession either of a passport or certificate of identity before being allowed to land. In the case of passport holders, thereis, of course, no prior intimation of arrival; but to obtain a certificate of identity it is normal for the employer or guarantor of
the intendant immigrant to apply at Immigration H.Q., here, armed with photographs. The certificate is issued, or rejected, after screening by the Malayan Security Service.
2.
Penang.
The Singapore Passport Regulations for 1947 are now applicable to Penang, but to nowhere else in the Federation.
3. Singapore:
The Passport Regulations for 1947 apply. A memorandum from the Immigration Office Singapore on this subject reads:
(a) British subjects entering the Colony are not now placed in special categories and this Government no longer exercises priority control over shipping.
(b) On the 10th October, 1947, new Passport Regulations
(c)
(a)
were introduced.
Under these regulations an Indian British subject is treated in the same manner as a British subject from the U. K. or other British Dominions.
Such persons are required to be in possession of valid passports (there are exceptions to this regulation made chiefly for the benefit and convenience of British Indians - see (e) (i) and (ii) below). A passport valid for the Colony should bear an endorsement either for "British Empire" or "Colony of Singapore". Previous reference to this Government is not required prior to the issue of a passport so endorsed. The authority issuing the passport may do so at his discretion in cases he considers proper.
However, the fact that a person holds a valid passport does not unconditionally guarantee entry or exempt the holder from complying with the immigration laws of the Colony. In so far as British subjects are concerned provision is made under the Passengers Restriction Ordinance (Cap. 93) Section 9 whereby certain classes of persons may be
refused/
SIR MARSTON LOGAN, K.B.E., C.M.G. Colonial office.