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| August 28, 2009 |
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| An international team of lawyers in London have begun distributing to Westminster MPs a newly published book claiming Britain has, for 60 years, been wilfully concealing the truth behind a mass killing perpetrated by Scots Guardsmen during the Malayan Emergency |
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| It is the latest move by the legal group to force Britain into re-examining an incident that occurred in December, 1948, and has long been referred to throughout Malaysia as the “Batang Kali Massacre”. |
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| The lawyers are seeking justice for the surviving kin of 24 unarmed Chinese men shot dead during a Scots Guards raid against a rubber plantation living quarters in Ulu Selangor. |
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| The book, Slaughter and Deception at Batang Kali, published and released in Singapore on August 1, has become critical to the body of evidence being submitted to UK authorities jointly by both Malaysian and British lawyers. |
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| They are demanding the establishment, once and for all, of an official inquiry into the Batang Kali killings. |
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| The book’s authors, Singapore-based writers Ian Ward and Norma Miraflor, spent four years researching the subject. Their book asserts that an official cover-up was imposed immediately following the shooting and has been deliberately sustained ever since. |
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| According to the book, none of the formal inquiries claimed by British colonial police, military and civil authorities ever took place. This being the case, Britain’s six-decade old position on the incident is rendered groundless. The authors further argue that British politicians deliberately derailed investigative efforts by Scotland Yard in 1970 following dramatic disclosures at that time by Fleet Street newspapers. |
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| Included in the book is documentary evidence of investigations conducted by Malaysian police in the 1990s – yet another conveniently aborted attempt to get at the Batang Kali truth. |
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| In January this year the Foreign Office in London flatly rejected the legal team’s call for the establishment of a Batang Kali inquiry. Then, three months later, the Malaysians received formal notification that Britain was reconsidering the January decision. |
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| Last month, three Kuala Lumpur lawyers flew to London for consultations with senior Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence officials. At this meeting advance copies of Slaughter and Deception at Batang Kali were submitted by the Malaysians. The British representatives promised a final decision would be forthcoming within a week. A few days later they indicated that, in view of the issues raised in the book, their official response required further consideration. They then pledged an answer by August 14. The August 14 deadline came and went without comment. |
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| A letter from the Treasury Solicitor’s Department dated August 21 ultimately arrived at the London law office of Bindmans, one of the firms representing surviving kin. Written on behalf of both the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Secretary of State for Defence, the letter makes specific reference to a range of statements and other evidence revealed in Slaughter and Deception at Batang Kali. The Secretaries of State, it claims, wish to examine further the new evidence presented in the book before reaching a final decision whether to establish an inquiry. |
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| John Halford of Bindmans said last night: "The fact that ministers have yet to accept the compelling case for a proper investigation and explanation for this massacre comes as a sickening disappointment to the surviving kin. |
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| “As to the reasons given in the latest letter, these amount to little more than a cynical attempt to put a sell-by date on justice. The events detailed in Slaughter and Deception at Batang Kali plainly show this to be an injustice so grave that responsibility should be taken for it and all possible steps taken to put matters right, regardless of the fact it occurred 60 years ago. That is especially so when those responsible and their victims are still living.” |
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| Mr Halford added that none of the relatives of those killed sought retribution. However, they did seek the truth and proper reparation for what was taken from them. |
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The briefing being dispatched to MPs, along with the book, is headed “A Very British Cover-up”. |
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For further information please contact:
Horizon Books Pte Ltd
Blk 5, Ang Mo Kio Ind Park 2A,
#05-12/14 AMK Tech II,
Singapore 567760
Tel: 64835953
Fax: 64835963
Contact:
Purushottaman Raman (91505290)
puru@horizonbooks.com.sg
Zariena Bte Soleh
zariena@horizonbooks.com.sg |
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