TNAG-0031-FCO40-67-Relations-with-China-1968 — Page 13

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for propaganda exploitation and at the same time necessitate re-arrest

action if they are not to be allowed to flaunt Government's authority.

In these circumstances it is considered there is no advantage to be

gained in imposing conditions of this nature.

17.

The release within the Colony of a small number of the less

important persons would present a means of judging communist reaction

and that of the general public. Should this reaction be acceptable

then a phased release programme could be planned taking into account,

of course, the political climate and the level of communist activity

generally. Should the reaction be unfavourable the vast majority

of the detainees, including the more important ones, will

still be in custody.

18.

Factors to be taken into account then selecting prisoners

for release should be:-

(a) their relative importance in their respective spheres

of communist activity and the threat they pose to security;

(b) the extent to which the communists are likely to give

publicity to their release in view of (a) above;

(c) the date of their arrest and subsequent length of

detention; and

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(a) the date of expiry of their detention order (in many

cases this is not linked to the date of arrest).

It is suggested that the general principle upon which selection should

be based is early release of the lesser important communists and,

where possible, those who have been detained the longest. However,

this latter factor should also be allied to the date of expiry of

the detention orders to avoid the need, if possible, of applying for

new orders.

19.

If selective release within the principles set out above is

to be considered some further advantage could, perhaps, be obtained

by endeavouring to suggest that one or more of the released detainees

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