Teaching the Malay language in New Zealand was suggested by the Prime Minister of Malaya in a farewell broadcast after his recent tour of New Zealand. The language was spoken by more than 100 million people in South East Asia who were the closest to New Zealand and Australia, he said. “This would be, to my mind, the surest and most effective way of cementing relations between the peoples of this region,” he said. “English is an official language in Malaya and is being taught extensively in our schools and in Indonesia. It would be very useful for you, on your part, to encourage the study of Malay among your people. One thing we can do under the Colombo Plan is to provide teachers for this purpose.”