No available shotlist




Initials



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Kuala Pilah in Negri Sambilan was the scene of the first anti-Communist rally since Malay's Merdeka. Seven thousand people of all denominations gathered to welcome Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, who came to address them.

After inspecting a guard of honour formed by Alliance organisations of both men and women, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of a Merdeka Hall, declaring that he was proud to see that people of all races had gathered together to build a place where they could meet and share problems.

He congratulated community leaders on their spirit of co-operation and then led a parade through the town to the Pedang, while banners carried by all communities called upon Communist terrorists to come out and surrender.

The Tunku urged the people to spread the news of the Government's amnesty terms far and wide so that the Merdeka offer would reach all the terrorists in the jungle. He gave his target date for ending the Emergency as August 31, 1958. This successful rally, supported by every group and race, is a stirring reminder that in a fully independent and united Malaya the Communist terrorists are fighting for nothing more than their own survival.