Batang Kali massacre kin inch closer to truth

By Debra Chong

January 26, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Lawyers for families of 24 unarmed civilians who died at Batang Kali, once a communist stronghold, have finally received key documents from the British government that may shed light on their still controversial deaths nearly 64 years ago.

The Guardian reported yesterday that the documents from the UK’s Foreign Office concern correspondence about its government’s past investigations and its Cabinet Office guidance on inquiries in a case that has dragged in even Buckingham Palace.

The daily reported that a petition surrounding the civilian deaths at the hands of British troops has been handed to Queen Elizabeth II via the high commission here and the palace has replied. The paper added however that the royal household has refused to release the text of the letter.

The newspaper said the solicitors too have been given access to police files, which it remarked was “unusual”.

According to the Guardian, the lawyers have also contacted soldiers but added that none was expected to testify unless a public inquiry was ordered.

The paper quoted London-based lawyer John Halford, whom it said is representing the Batang Kali families, as saying: “We are not asking for anyone to be prosecuted. The surviving soldiers are too old for it to be considered appropriate.

“But the families want the state to take responsibility for the actions. It’s necessary to get to the bottom of what happened. Extrajudicial executions by British troops have not ceased. There are recent examples [Iraq]. These are people who have been wronged and had no remedy at all.”

Four relatives of the 24 unarmed rubber plantation workers shot dead in December 1948 by British troops in Batang Kali, Selangor, had been granted leave last year by a High Court in London for a judicial review of Britain’s refusal to hold a public enquiry into the killings.

The judicial review was filed in the name of four claimants — Chong Nyok Keyu, Loh Ah Choi, Lim Kok and Wooi Kum Thai.

According to the Guardian, the UK hearing is likely to take place this spring.

The hearing is to examine whether the British Secretaries of State for Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office acted lawfully when they refused in November 2010 to hold a public inquiry into both the killings and their cover-up, and to make any form of reparation to the victims’ families.

The victims’ families have long been seeking a proper explanation, apology and reparation for the killings.

The Guardian also reported that the Batang Kali massacre kin’s hopes have been boosted by developments in another similar case last year.

A group of Kenyan survivors, mostly now in their 80s, were granted the right to sue the British government for damages over claims of torture during the 1950s Mau Mau uprising.

The paper reported that the UK Foreign Office — which has confirmed to hold some 8,800 files from 37 former British administrations including Malaya — has refused to release additional documents from its still unreleased colonial-era archive.

The Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence have always insisted the villagers were shot while trying to escape detention.

However, the last Malaysian adult witness to the massacre called Tham Yong — who died in April last year — reportedly said that the soldiers had led the men out in the morning, after locking them overnight in a hut, and shot them in the back.

Following the killings, Tham reportedly found that many of the bodies had been mutilated, with their heads hacked off and genitals smashed.