Word: sarawak
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...week after its stormy birth, the infant nation of Malaysia was hoping for peace but preparing for war. Two Malayan infantry battalions packed their kit bags and prepared to embark for the steaming jungles of Sarawak and Sabah (North Borneo); in Sarawak, orders were issued to raise a native infantry battalion. A round-the-clock watch was begun on the Malayan shore of the Malacca Straits, and 6,000 British, Gurkha and local troops and constabulary units doubled their patrols along Sarawak's tangled, 400-mile border with Indonesian Borneo...
Indonesia's President Sukarno has threatened the new Federation of Malaysia, insulted Britain and brought his own country very close to disaster. Both Indonesia and the Philippines refuse to recognize Malaysia, questioning the United Nations survey which found that the inhabitants of Sarawak and Sabah favored federation...
...Philippines' objection stems from its claim to Sabah. However, this claim is both tenuous and obscure, and the Philippines have showed no aggressive tendencies. Indonesia has been less reticent. President Sukarno has promised to crush Malaysia and has sent combat troops to the borders of Sarawak and Sabah...
America's interest goes beyond a friendly solicitude for British prestige. The threatened state of Sarawak is less than 650 miles from South Viet Nam, and parts of Malaya are less than 300. The United States hopes Malaysia will form a barrier against the Red Chinese. It certainly will not stand by and see Malaysia taken by Indonesia, a country which has not only signed an amity pact with Peking, but has also recognized Mao's claim to Taiwan...
...safety in Singapore, and in London, the Foreign Office threatened to break diplomatic ties with Indonesia unless it guaranteed to protect British lives and property. Both Britain and Australia pledged military aid to Malaysia if Indonesia stirred up any trouble-as it had threatened-along the jungle border separating Sarawak and North Borneo from Indonesian Borneo...