PRESS RELEASE
Apologies and reparations for Batang Kali
Colonialism Reparation supports the request for apologies and compensations of the victim’s families committee for the Batang Kali’s massacre and calls on the United Kingdom to apologize and pay compensation to Malaysia for the colonial period.
On December 12 1948, during the so-called Malayan Emergency, a patrol of the British army surrounded a rubber plantation in Sunga Rimoh by the Batang Kali river massacring all men although they were unarmed (24 people, the only survivor was considered dead) and then setting fire to the village.
In 1949 a first inquiry of the British army exonerated all the soldiers involved.
In 1970 a second inquiry by the British police was aborted for lack of evidence after Foreign Office officials intervened.
In 1997 a third inquiry of the Malaysian police was aborted for lack of evidence as a result of pressure from the British Government.
In 2011 the requests of the High Court in London for the judicial hearing of the Mau Mau tortured by the British army brought to light that many documents of the time were kept secret. As a result, the so-called migrated Archives were made public at last.
On September 4 2012 the High Court in London ruled that it would be very difficult to establish now whether the Batang Kali massacre had been deliberate and the use of force by the British army had been disproportionate.
On November 26 2013 the appeal process promoted by the victim’s families Committee for the Batang Kali’s massacre begun.
Colonialism Reparation supports the request for apologies and compensations of the victim’s families committee for the Batang Kali’s massacre and calls on the United Kingdom, together with Portugal and Netherlands, to apologize and pay compensation to Malaysia for the whole colonial period.
For further information, inquiries and interviews, please contact:
Colonialism Reparation http://www.colonialismreparation.org
Press Office: media@colonialismreparation.org
Colonialism Reparation is part of the movement for the condemnation, the reconciliation, the apologies and the compensation for colonialism. It was conceived in 2008 by a volunteer of the Italian association “Battito solidale” which, thanks to his frequent journeys to Guinea and Senegal, had the opportunity to realize which disastrous impact the colonialism still had in the daily life of billions of people and how in many nations the current situation is merely its camouflaged continuation. Colonialism Reparation promotes, supports and spreads non-violent activities aimed to create awareness of the current world situation and thereby to encourage the achievement of its objective
– that the colonizing nations condemn their colonial past recognizing it as a crime against humanity and that the colonized nations exert pressure to make it happen
– that the colonizing nations reconcile with their past, permanently distancing themselves from it by officially apologizing the colonized nations
– that the colonizing nations compensate the colonized nations for the atrocities and abuses committed thus allowing an improvement in their socio-economic conditions.
The contribution of every person who recognizes the importance of this activity to the creation of a climate of friendship and cooperation between peoples is necessary and appreciated. This contribution will create an extremely positive precedent in international relations as well, promoting the supremacy of the “force of law” on the “law of force”.
