Winston Churchill himself was singled out for criticism, for failing to protect British assets and placing too much reliance on the support of the US Pacific fleet.

[1][3] The Indonesians had been incensed by the decision of the Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and the Colonial Secretary Duncan Sandys to proceed with the inauguration of the Federation of Malaysia without first waiting for a United Nations ascertainment mission to complete its survey of public opinion in Sarawak and British North Borneo (modern–day Sabah).

While the United Nations mission found majority support for Malaysia within the Borneo Territories, the Indonesian and Philippines governments regarded the Tunku-Sandys declaration as a violation of the Manila Accord.

[4][3] During the Malaysia diplomatic crisis, 10,000 members of the Indonesian Central Youth Front marched on the Malayan and British Embassies in Jakarta.

Tensions further escalated when an argument broke out between the leaders of the Central Youth Front and the British Military Attache, Lt Colonel Bill Becke, over the number of delegates that would be admitted to the Embassy to present their protests to Gilchrist.

[5][6] During the ensuing incident, several Indonesian demonstrators broke into the embassy compound, and burnt the Union Jack and Ambassador Gilchrist's car.

At that time, Gilchrist was returning from lunch with Walker, and ordering the latter to save the car they were driving, he joined twenty-two other British Embassy staff huddled in a corner of the compound.

Due to the large crowd, it took several hours for the police and fire service to breach the embassy compound and evacuate the diplomats to a safer area.

[9][8] On the evening of 18 September 1963, British-owned homes, businesses, and cars throughout Jakarta were systematically attacked by groups of militant Indonesians with accurate information on their whereabouts.

Over the next two days, PKI-affiliated trade unionists seized control of Royal Dutch Shell installations and British rubber estates throughout the country.

After retiring from the Foreign Office in 1970, Gilchrist became the Chairman of the Highlands and Islands Development Board, a UK government quango which funded small start-up enterprises in what was a relatively poor region of the country.