《追讨英军屠杀罪行工委会》义务律师团召集人兼全国社团盖章运动主任郭义民声明

 （一）马来西亚前锋报在12月22日刊登署名Tan的读者来函，其内容将在12月12日赴英国最高专员署呈交553份社团签盖请愿书与备忘录给英女皇的人士，标签为“华人沙文主义分子”，并企图“篡改大马历史，以合法马共的斗争”。

 

（二）前锋报刊登的此封读者来函，纯属污蔑、歪曲事实，故意曲解。我已撰写辩正文稿，在26日电邮与传真至前锋报，希给予机会澄清驳斥，至今未见刊登。

我与工委会负责人讨论后，认为应公开揭发此事，以免被误解为“默认”。

Response to Utusan’s article: Menegakkan Kebenaran Terhadap Pembunuhan Kejam Askar-Askar UK/ Addressing Atrocity Committed By UK Soldiers

The Utusan Malaysia, on 22 December, published an article written by a reader Tan with the title “Usaha pinda fakta sejarah iktiraf perjuangan PKM” .  This article miscontrued our efforts to address the historical injustice committed by British Army as an effort to rectify the Communist movement during the Emergency.
In view of the fact that the the article is baseless and relies on wrong facts, Quek Ngee Meng, Head of the Condemning Batang Kali Massacre Signature Campaign, has responded to the article via the Utusan Malaysia Forum.

Below is Quek Ngee Meng’s statement (originally in Malay and with English translation) :

Malay version (sent to Utusan Malaysia)

Menegakkan Kebenaran Terhadap Pembunuhan Kejam Askar-Askar UK

 Pembangunan yang berterusan oleh negara kita sedang berhadapan dengan satu masalah besar. Sesetengah suku masyarakat kita masih dibebani dengan pemikiran stereotaip yang gemar untuk melabel pihak yang tidak bersetuju sebagai pelampau atau “extremist”  tanpa sebarang asas atau justifikasi. Seorang yang dikenali sebagai “Tan” termasuk di dalam kategori ini apabila beliau mempamerkan permikiran yang sempit dan kolot di dalam artikel beliau yang bertajuk “Usaha pinda fakta sejarah iktiraf perjuangan PKM” (Utusan, 22/12/08).

 Tan telah membuat beberapa kesilapan fakta dan asas di dalam artikelnya apabila beliau mendakwa individu-individu yang mengetuai kempen menuntut pembetulan untuk keluarga-keluarga pihak yang terselamat di dalam pembunuhan beramai-ramai di Batang Kali, seolah-olahnya cuba untuk menyatakan yang pergerakan Komunis adalah wajar, yang mana dakwaan tidak berasas ini adalah disangkal dengan keras. 

ABC Interview: Campaigners Seek Compensation for ‘Massacre’

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) programme Connect Asia interviewed Quek Ngee Meng on 15/12/2008 in relation to the Condemning Batang Kali Massacre Campaign.

Following is the report and audio clip of the interview: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/connectasia/stories/m1681798.asx

Sixty years ago, a Scottish regiment in then-British Malaya shot and killed 25 villagers, in the name of fighting communism now, the Malaysian Chinese descendants are seeking compensation from Britain.

At the time, the Scottish regiment said the deceased were armed Communists trying to escape, but the sole survivor says they were unarmed villagers shot in cold blood. Their claims have been never been thoroughly investigated either by Malaysia or by Britain. Marking the sixtieth anniversary of the deaths, the Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre visited the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Quek Ngee Meng, from the Malaysian Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre

News Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/200812/s2446473.htm

German Press Report on Batang Kali Massacre Petition

Courtesy of Alois Leinweber

Sixty years on, last witness to British massacre in Malaysia speaks out

Telegraph (15/12/2008) : The Asia File

by Ben Bland

The Batang Kali massacre, in which 24 unarmed Chinese villagers were gunned down by Scots Guards in extremely questionable circumstances at the height of the Malayan Emergency in 1948, has been largely forgotten in Britain. It has never attracted the level of coverage accorded to the American outrages carried out at My Lai, Vietnam in 1968 and Haditha, Iraq in 2005.

But, 60 years after the incident that occurred at Batang Kali village, near Kuala Lumpur, on December 11-12, the last surviving witness in Malaysia is once again repeating her call for justice.

77-year-old Tham Yong, who is dying of throat cancer, has spent decades fighting for a full public enquiry, an apology from the British government and compensation. She told AFP that “after so much time, it still hurts me every time I talk about it, I remember it just like yesterday”.

“I’m still angry because these were innocent persons but labelled as bandits and communists, when all they were doing was collecting durians and not supplying food to the communists,” she said. “My advanced cancer means I will not around much longer, but I hope people remember what happened here so that those who were killed here are never forgotten.”

A group of politicians and activists, which is continuing the campaign for justice, delivered a note to the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur last week, calling on the British government to close the matter once and for all by holding a public enquiry. But the government has in the past always resisted such requests.

Like so many similar incidents, the exact details of what happened at the village of Batang Kali on those two days are clouded by the fog of war and remain sketchy. Perhaps the best recent account is contained in the excellent Forgotten Wars by Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper (who I studied under at university). Originally it was claimed that the men, who were rubber tappers suspected of helping supply communist insurgents, had been shot while trying to run away.