CONFIDENTIAL
have agreed guidelines for planning this. But the course of these negotiations did not fulfil Malaysian expectations, aroused by the British offer to review air traffic arrangements, about which both sides were unhappy, ab initio in a new and positive spirit.
15. The first and second rounds of concurrent talks held in March and May 1978 were relatively inconclusive, partly because the Malaysians tabled impossibly optimistic requests for extension of MAS services and partly on account of the tactics of negotiators on the British side which were aimed at obtaining a favourable decision on Concorde before becoming too seriously engaged over traffic rights. The Malaysians were asked in May for an answer on Concorde within a month and a further round of official talks was tentatively planned for Kuala Lumpur in July or September. Neither answer nor talks eventuated; for both sides were in effect playing for a firm concession by the other before giving anything away. The Concorde issue was, therefore, shelved until after the Malaysian general elections in July and the UMNO General Assembly in September, and I was instructed to raise it with Malaysian Ministers at a convenient time subsequently. This I did, tackling the Prime Minister, Minister of Transport and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
were
16. The main factors which eventually persuaded Datuk Hussein a fair-minded member of the Bar called by Grays Inn, who took the initiative in Cabinet the desirability of a fair practical trial and a political wish to mend fences with us. Indian permission for Concorde to fly near the Laccadive Islands also carried weight and a few Malaysians may
/have
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