The infamous incident that went down in history as the ‘Batang Kali Massacre’ may be far from the minds of Malaysians today, but remains close to the hearts of survivors and the next-of-kin of the 24 men who were executed on Dec 11, 1948, allegedly by British troops.

Last night, some 100 residents of Batang Kali turned up for a forum organised by DAP, to hear history being recounted by six individuals who have been waiting for justice. The event also marked the 56th anniversary of the massacre.

Those affected want a full investigation into the shootings, alleged to have been carried out by members of a platoon of the British Scots Guards, who apparently thought the villagers were communist insurgents.

In 1993, then Inspector-General of Police Haniff Omar had initiated high-level investigations after three survivors - Foo Mooi, Chang Hong and Tam Moi - lodged a police report. However the police have yet to reveal the results of their investigations.

Party acting secretary-general M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) raised the matter in Parliament today, and will also brief all parliamentarians on Monday.

Simon Ong, a spokesperson for the six residents, told the gathering that the survivors and family members of the victims have “kept their sorrow and suffering in their hearts for so long”.

“We just want justice and we’re trying to help them in getting it. They are so old now and some of them are in wheelchairs. They just want an answer,” he said.

Batang Kali, a community of rubber tappers previously, was designated a communist ‘black spot’ at the height of the Malayan Emergency in 1948. The town, located in Selangor, is a 90-minute drive north of Kuala Lumpur.

‘No feedback’

A preliminary investigation into the massacre was initiated by Britain’s Scotland Yard, but the inquiry stopped when the Conservative Party took power in June 1970.

In 1992, however, journalists from the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Inside Story programme spoke to former members of the platoon and obtained further evidence that they had indeed killed the 24 in cold blood.

A BBC team then spoke to several witnesses and their families, which prompted them to approach MCA Public Complaints Bureau chief Michael Chong in 1994.

“There has been no feedback and we would really like to know the progress of the investigations. We approached the MCA again last month, but were told there had been no response from the British government,’ Ong said.

The issue is particularly close to Ong’s heart, as his granduncle - Loh Wai Lam - was a victim. His uncle, Loh Ah Choi, 64, was among those who spoke last night.

Said Loh: “I was only eight years old in 1948 but it was an incident I will never forget. Wai Lam, was 19 years old and a student. He used to help out my mother by selling durians.

“He was taken into custody (on Dec 10) when he was collecting durians at around 5pm. We only heard the next day that he had been executed.”

A survivor, Chang Hong, 77, said he and several men were near a hostel used by plantation workers when the soldiers appeared on the evening of Dec 10.

“They rounded us up and took us into the jungle nearby. We were divided us into three groups the next morning,” he said.

“Suddenly, I had heard gun shots and fainted from fright. When I regained consciousness, I was surrounded by bodies. The soldiers had left me for dead.”

His wife, Tam Moi, 73, said the women were rounded up at the same time and locked in the hostel.

“They locked the doors from the outside. We were held there for a long time ... at some point, we heard guns shots. We were so afraid that we covered our heads with a blanket. The soldiers came back much later and gave us some coffee and biscuits.

“They then chased us out of the hostel. We only found out later from other people that the men had been killed.”

Hostel razed

The oldest member of the group Foo Mooi, 86, said she still has a clear memory of witnessing the killing of a young man, who was not in the group of 24.

“The soldiers took him out of the hostel, handcuffed him, and told him to look straight. They shot him. He was only a teenager,” said Foo, who was then staying in the hostel.

She said the soldiers then took away her husband Wong Ren and his brother Wong Tak Foong, who were among those executed in the jungle.

Till today, she remembers the harrowing sound of boots as the soldiers searched the hostel.

“They treated us like dogs. They asked if we knew of any communists, and we replied that we did not,” she said.

When the soldiers returned (on Dec 11 night), she said those left in the hostel were not allowed to cook or to eat anything. Instead, they were made to leave the building, which was burnt.

“What have we done wrong? They (those killed) were innocent,” Foo said.

Chan Kiu, 58, said she had to grow up without her father, Chan Kai, but that she has never failed to visit his grave every year for Ching Ming (the Chinese equivalent of All Souls Day).

“My mother related this story to me when I was child. The soldiers came and took my father away when I was only a year old. Every year, my mother would take me to his grave... she would cry and tell me the story again,” she said.

Chang Kuan Eng, 65, was another villager who was left fatherless. As a single parent, her mother could not afford to bring her up, so she had to be left in the care of relatives.

“After the incident, I wondered where my father was. We went looking for him after the soldiers left some time later, but only found the bodies,” said a teary-eyed Chang.

“The bodies had decomposed so badly by then, that we could only go near them with burning incense sticks. We had to carry the bodies out of the jungle, using plywood planks.”

These accounts did not leave the audience unmoved. When DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang asked if they were prepared to support further action to seek justice and compensation, they responded with a resounding shout and claps.