《越洋控诉》读后感(上、下篇)——陈凯希

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八方回响:《越洋控诉》读后感(上篇)•陈凯希

《越洋控诉》是一部描述峇冬加里屠杀惨案的历史记载:此案可以称得上是大马殖民地时期罪行的冰山一角,更是一部旷世的作品;因为它是第一次在英国庄严的法庭上,推翻了“官方说法”。

作者已故郭仁德老先生晚年在峇冬加里休养疗病期间,听闻村民的申诉惨无人道的冤情,竟然不顾健康和生命之安危,动员周边的友人同道,义无反顾的号召,为村民申冤。

若不是他老人家最后一锄,让水眼涌现“依法向英控诉”,恐怕此悠悠过了六十余年之后的冤案,就此石沉大海;令上个世纪的前人,几度企图翻案的成果,为山九仞,功亏一篑。

欠缺公开道歉及赔偿

虽然,这件惨案的罹难者所追加的罪名如今已经获得法院法官的平反,至今65年方露出曙光,真相 大白,可是始终欠缺了一个公开的道歉与及赔偿,令案件进入上诉的阶段,以争取获得设立听证会的权利。这项法律程序的目的主要为罹难者家属讨回公道,洗清将 责任推到24个普通老百姓的村民身上,警惕殖民主义者将惨案事件当领功的历史错误。

殖民政府从当年惨案发生开始扣错了纽扣,把事件当作盛宴庆祝与宣传,发现错误尚不纠正,选择继 续坚持掩盖滥杀无辜的事实,就算有关英国籍园主出面澄清众等皆为奉公守法的平民,可是为了英国政府的颜面,继续采取不调查、不承认、不处理的方式。因此, 激发了村民及马来西亚国民的愤慨,更引起大义凛然的郭仁德与郭义民父子,兴起了这支仁义之师,讨伐至英伦法院,誓为罹难者家属追讨公道,向英政府施压成立 听证会,才能得知真相及道歉和赔偿。

在2008年初发动的“追讨英军屠杀罪行工委会”,能够坚持到今天,是前有郭仁德,后有郭义民。他们父子二人,大义凛然,挑起这个没人敢挑起的历史重担,追索冤案真相,锲而不舍。

越战越勇令国际关注

郭仁德先生爱国爱民,为素昧平生的罹难者打抱不平。在他义无反顾的带动下,就连律师出身的儿子 郭义民,也致力支持父亲的行动。义民在几年前开始参与这案件时,就开宗明义说不收律师费。4年来,他确实分文不取。义民在父亲郭仁德去世后继续扛起这个任 务,他放下自己的工作,优先处理这个被视为史无前例的越洋控诉、抱着义薄云天的情怀,勇往直前。

基于社会责任及个人信念,我也因缘际会参与这个行动。但整个过程我只是提出一些建议,实际的工 作,由始至终,主要是郭仁德和郭义民父子积极带动的成果。案件也是郭义民作总策划下,形成了一个集体行动的团队。参与者如罹难者家属、乌鲁音村民、义务律 师、英国代表律师及许多义务人士,也包括华总一路护航,他们都义无反顾地在马来西亚屡次进行签名盖章运动,提呈请愿书予英驻马最高专员署与到马访问的英国 首相,在英国则有法律诉讼行动。这屡败屡战、越战越勇的持续工作逐渐引起了国际媒体的关注。

 

八方回响:《越洋控诉》读后感(下篇)•陈凯希

转发自南洋网 2013-03-12

英伦女皇法院的法官公正不阿,判决让案件有机会进行司法审讯,突破性允许异国百姓可以对 英国政府提出诉讼,史无前例的取得了第一次的胜利。第二项胜利是第二位承审法官接受和认同大马律师团的10个论点指出苏格兰军有预谋射杀村民的证据。第三 项胜利是随着修博法官的判决,英政府被迫必须在法庭上自辩外,也必须在开庭前提呈详尽答辩状(Detailed Grounds Of Defense)以书面形式抗辩。第四项是法官谕令必须公开许多我方要求多时与封存多年的官方档案。第五项胜利是法院重新审阅当年其中五名英军队员坦诚屠 杀的资料,佐证了其他目击证人的供词,协助推翻官方的说法。

这个过程中也让我们看到了英国还是有许多有志之士,有良心的人,如律师哈尔佛及资深媒体人伊恩等,他们具有国际主义的精神,令人佩服。

另外,英国也提供法律援助金,这是他们有诚意帮助受践踏、受害的人,这或许是英国的可敬之处。

解密许多官方资料

这本书每一章都有特点,例如分析了英政府试图将责任推卸给雪兰莪苏丹的策略,十分笨拙;以及记录了这过程中的博弈和许多不为人知的秘密。

但我觉得最可贵的是,这书记载了跨世纪的战役,如何突破法律上的局限,如何连连发出司法行动预告书逼使英国政府首次回应等,终于还原整个过程的真相。

我知道义民在写作过程中,记录了很多在后来才解密的资料。这许多官方档案原是不可能公开,若不是罹难者家属与工委会的坚持,我们的法律行动就不能使这些掩盖丑行的官方档案无所遁形。

老百姓要改变历史

无论最后这个法律诉讼如何定案,这本书可以向世人清楚说出60多年来的曲折离奇过程,揭开了英国政府掩盖事实的丑相,让后人记得先辈在这块土地上曾遭遇过何等悲惨的不幸,也激励了后人的醒觉和奋斗。

这本书的价值在于具有人民力量,反殖民主义,法律诉讼资料,人道主义的美好一面。

书内的种种造就了许多不可思议的细节一一呈现眼前,有真理,有谎言(英国官方说法),说明了此书乃是一本旷世之作,每位律师皆值得人手一册。

在历史洪流中,许多平民百姓的命运被大时代改变,现在却是老百姓要改变历史的时代。尽管我们面对诸多不公不义,我们将尽自己最大的努力,打造一个人间有情、社会有正义的和谐世界。

但愿大家都能从历史中汲取教训,唾弃战争。谨以此结论:“凡不纠正的谎言,将是永远的骗子”。

峇冬加里屠杀惨案 《越洋控诉》还原真相

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《越洋控诉》成功推介,有兴趣的公众,可在全国大众书局购买此书。

或联络追讨英军屠杀罪行工委会成员

 

更多报道:

峇冬加里屠杀惨案 《越洋控诉》还原真相 (光华日报 2013-3-3)

家属上诉许可申请获批 峇冬加里屠杀案未完结 (南洋网全国 2013-03-03)

一代血恨两代请命 峇冬加里惨案未了情 (南洋网全国  2013-02-26)

一代血恨两代请命 峇冬加里惨案未了情 (澳奇网 2013-2-26)

《峇冬加里屠殺慘案》書出版 4年訴訟全紀錄.下月2日推介 (中国报 2013-2-11)

峇冬加里英軍屠殺慘案.英法庭批准上訴 工委會冀公眾響應簽名運動  (中国报 2013-3-2)

追討英軍屠殺罪行工委會‧3月2日推介新書 (星洲日报 2013-2-27)

 

64年后峇冬加里屠杀案沉冤仍待雪——《星洲日报》副刊特辑

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阅读全文:

第一页:这是一场被掩盖的屠杀

第二页:罗亚财——道出真相,平反冤案

第三页:林亚英——为枉死村民追讨迟来的公义

第四页:林国——爸爸死了,家也散了

第五页:张观英——谁害我们家破人亡,这个公道一定要偿还

第六页:何观娣——不敢提惨剧,不敢说真相,怕被人报仇

第七页:郭仁德、郭义民公义路上父子兵

第八页:“父亲像菩萨那样微笑”

第九至十页:一甲子的创伤,不道歉,不罢休

《越洋控诉——峇冬加里屠杀惨案》 新书推介礼

Invitation card

“追讨英军屠杀罪行工委会”已出版《越洋控诉——峇冬加里屠杀惨案》,并定于2013年3月2日(星期六)上午10时,在蕉赖孝恩馆2楼举办新书推介礼。

工委会希望通过推展这本纪录峇冬加里惨案的案由经过,提醒公众关注英军在马的暴行及英国政府尝试掩盖事实真相的丑行,并向英政府表达罹难者家属要求道歉与赔偿的强烈心声。高教部副部长何国忠博士将担任推介仪式的主礼嘉宾。

这本书记录了一群失去丈夫或至亲的乌鲁音妇女的伸冤之旅。她们坚持为亲人平反和讨回公道的坚定意志牵动了许多人的恻隐之心。这64年来,媒体工作者、非政府组织、社会工作者、律师甚至是警察都前仆后继地挺身而出,维护罹难者家属的尊严与还原历史真相。直到2012年5月,峇冬加里屠杀惨案的罹难者家属终于在英国法庭揭露英军暴行,迫使英国政府放弃维护欺瞒了64年的官方说法。

工委会主席陈观添说,这部作品是工委会前任主席郭仁德的遗作。郭老自2008年发起平反峇冬加里冤案后,就纪录了这起庭内外的社会运动,直到2009年中因病故难以执笔,其长子,也是工委会总协调郭义民律师承接他父亲的遗愿,不只继续推动这起平反冤案运动,也完成郭老尚未截稿出版的著作,真是一桩好事。

陈观添认为出版此书有4个目的:第一,推动由工委会联同华总、隆雪华堂人权委员会以及青运发起的“道歉吧,英政府”签名运动,吁求英国政府正式道歉。其二,筹款建立纪念碑,为了纪念24名罹难者和罹难者家属的坚毅不屈,还能成为峇冬加里地区的一个重要历史教育,警惕后人。并记录英军在马的暴行以及英政府不断掩盖事实真相的丑行。其三,还原历史真相,此书揭发马来亚英殖民时期的一段残暴与被掩盖的历史。在罹难者家属的坚持和努力下,几经波折和挑战,终能还原。这段过程与发展翔实记录在书中,作为珍贵的地方历史档案留下记录。最后,此书也记录了一个社会运动的发起、策划、联络、定位以及与英政府的博弈。这些笔记都可让其他社会运动作为参考。

欢迎各界踊跃出席,备有茶点招待。活动地点在孝恩馆,No. 1, Jalan Kuari, Cheras, 56100 Kuala Lumpur。有兴趣者或有任何询问,可向《追讨英军屠杀罪行工委会》秘书处03-27103818 分线 137/140( Ms Sandra或Ms Mavis)索取详情。

 

Batang Kali – Exhuming a Buried Massacre

January 18, 2013 from jasminetea2

The taxi from the Penang Sungai Nibong Express Coach Terminus arrived at my Mum’s gate at 10.30pm yesterday. This was a return from one of my trips to Kuala Lumpur, for this year. It was a talk at the Bar Council in KL that drew me to make this trip, especially to listen to two British human rights lawyers who are now acting for the living relatives of 24 victims of a massacre by British Scots Guards in Batang Kali, Selangor, during the 1948 Malayan Emergency. The sharing started about 5pm till nearly past 9pm. The attendance wasn’t overwhelming, most of the audience being lawyers and members of the Bar, and a small sprinkling of others like me with an interest in such things, and to some extent a relevant background.

The talk was riveting, being the first time the relatives and descendants of victims of unjustified violence by ex-colonial authorities in Malaya have come forward to demand posthumous justice for their parents or grandparents. These people also want closure and their families cleared of the stigma of criminality imposed on their forebears. To all intents and purposes, these 24 men were unarmed farmers, gunned down in cold blood by British government troops apparently hunting down communists insurgents. The circumstances of the incident were that British Scots Guards entered the village of Batang Kali, rounded up men, women and children, separated them, sending women and children away into the town. They took the men aside, questioned and tortured them, then led them into the jungle and ‘executed’ them. Those are the facts in a nutshell.

The case had gone to the British High Court, that gave a recent decision supporting the families’ claims. The five points on which this decision turned are briefly :

a. The British Government, not the Sultan of Selangor, is and always has been legally responsible for the Scots Guards, their orders and the killings of 24 innocent men at Batang Kali in December 1948;

b. those killed were civilians not wearing any uniform, had no weapons and were a range of ages;

c. the majority of the Scots Guards interviewed by the British Police admitted that the killings were a murder;

d. it can no longer be permissible to maintain the “official account” that the 24 men were shot when trying to escape;

e. the 1948-9 inquiry by the then Attorney-General on which the official account was based, has very serious weaknesses, and there is evidence of a “cover up”, a public inquiry should have been properly considered in 1970, and British officials decided to positively block the 1990′s Royal Malaysian Investigation.

(Source: Signature Campaign Leaflet by the Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre, September 2012)

Despite this court decision, the British government today still persists in upholding the false account and justification for the Batang Kali Massacre, and are going to the British Court of Appeal to appeal against the High Court decision. The Batang Kali Action Committee are holding a signature campaign to urge the British Government to tell the truth about these tragic events, recognize the killings as a criminal massacre of innocent, unarmed civilians, and put an end to the 64 year cover-up stigmatizing these victims of institutional violence as dangerous insurgents and terrorists whose deaths were allegedly justified.

I urge readers to support this signature campaign for the sake of justice, not only for the victims of this massacre, but to clearly show that ordinary people around the globe will not tolerate cover ups of unjustified governmental violence on innocent people.

Please use this web link to find out more about the Batang Kali Massacre and join the signature campaign : batangkalimassacre.wordpress.com.

Add your signature to the existing list, you will be helping to secure justice for the innocent.

May the Force be with you!

 

英軍屠殺罪行工委會簽名運動‧納茲里首名部長簽名

(吉隆坡17日訊)由追討英軍屠殺罪行工委會發起《道歉吧!英政府》全國簽名運動,首相署部長拿督斯里納茲里今日成為第一個簽署的國陣部長。

英軍屠殺罪行工委會本月10日發起10萬人簽名運動,獲得國大黨烏雪國會議員卡瑪拉納登支持,和引介該組織到國會與納茲里會面。

納茲里認同1948年峇冬加里大屠殺案死者家屬的努力,並指尋求正義沒有時限,即使屠殺案發生在上個世紀也可以討回公道。

部長也表示將尋求國會下議院議長丹斯里班迪卡的批准,把要求英國政府道歉的請願明信片放在每一位國會議員座位上。

他今日在英軍屠殺罪行工委會義務律師郭義民等人陪同下,在國會走廊召開新聞發佈會時,當場在《道歉吧!英政府》請願明信片上簽名,以示支持。

詢及大馬政府是否會向英國政府提出正式要求道歉時,納茲里指將詢問外交部如何提供協助。

簽名活動在12月統計

較早前,郭義民透露,英軍屠殺罪行工委會希望能收集到10萬個簽名,雖然他們沒為這項活動設下期限,不過會在12月12日,即峇冬加里大屠殺案64年周年進行統計。

英國高庭在今年9月,駁回死者家屬挑戰英國政府不召開聽證會調查案件的司法檢討申請,不過死者家屬已於10月2日提出上訴。

數名死者家屬包括張觀英、張玉球、林國、追討英軍屠殺罪行工委會主席陳觀添、華總副總秘書陳耀星、青運總會長陳沛良等人都到國會出席新聞發佈會。

(星洲日報)

Campaign for UK apology over Batang Kali massacre gets backing from Malaysian lawmakers

KUALA LUMPUR: Efforts by relatives of the Batang Kali massacre victims to push for an apology from the British Government received a boost following backing from Malaysian lawmakers here.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mohd Nazri Aziz said support will be sought from lawmakers here from both sides of the political divide here for the signature campaign seeking the apology.

“I will seek permission from the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat to place the forms on the MPS tables to allow them to participate in the signature campaign,” he told reporters Wednesday during a press conference at the Parliament lobby with relatives of the Batang Kali massacre victims and survivors of the incident.

Besides this, he said he would also seek assistance from Wisma Putra and the Attorney-General’s Chambers for the apology and get the official account of the incident expunged from the Hansard of the British Parliament, following a court decision there stating there was a cover-up.

In the incident, 24 men, mostly rubber tappers, were shot dead in the Sungai Rimoh rubber estate on Dec 11 and 12, 1948 and their houses set on fire by the 2nd Battalion of the Scots Guards, during operations against the communist insurgency.

President of the Queen’s Bench Division Sir John Thomas and High Court of England and Wales Justice Colman Maurice Treacy had heard the judicial review of the British Government’s position on the killings.

In their judgement, it stated the men were not running away and that two of the soldiers implicated, George Kydd and Robert Brownrigg, had reportedly said they were told by the army to testify that those killed had been trying to escape.

(The conclusion of an inquiry into the incident in 1948/9 was that those killed were shot while trying to escape and was tabled before the British Parliament.)

On Sunday, survivors and relatives of the massacre launched a signature campaign, in the form of a postcard address to British Prime Minister, to hold the British Government accountable for the killings.

The surviving families members are also appealing against the British High Court decision that there was no obligation to hold a public inquiry into the killings.

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