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Malaysia activists protest Britain's refusal to investigate 1948 killings
Agence France Presse - August 26, 2009
Malaysian activists expressed outrage Wednesday over Britain's refusal to hold an inquiry into the massacre of 24 unarmed villagers by British troops in 1948.
After a decades-long campaign for an official probe, a British foreign office spokesman confirmed government lawyers have issued a letter indicating a provisional decision to reject any investigation.
"It is a sickening disappointment for all the victims' families because all the British government has done is prolong their suffering," said Quek Ngee Meng, who represents the families.
The letter, a copy of which was provided to AFP, said the government was willing to listen to further submissions but did not say when a final decision would be made.
"The government is saying that because these events happened so long ago it is hard to find out what happened, but there should not be a sell-by date for justice," Quek told AFP.
"They are depriving these people of recognition of the crimes committed against their relatives and compensation for the suffering they have gone through over the last 61 years."
The "Batang Kali massacre" occurred in a village in central Selangor state on December 12, 1948, when 14 members of the Scots Guards killed 24 unarmed ethnic Chinese and torched their village.
British colonial authorities said at the time of the incident – at the beginning of a 12-year communist insurgency in the former Malaya – that the men were shot because they were suspected guerrillas fleeing the scene.
The massacre remained largely forgotten until 1970 when a British newspaper ran an explosive account of the killings, publishing sworn affidavits by several soldiers involved who admitted the villagers were shot in cold blood.
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