Malaysian Chinese communities urge British gov't to apologize

Malaysian Chinese community leaders on Sunday urged the British government to apologize over an alleged massacre more than six decades ago in a small town of Malay Peninsula.

Pheng Yin Huah, president of the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia, urged the British government to "take the first step" in correcting its cover-up of the massacre after a British court agreed that the British government should be responsible for the incident.

"We won't allow the historical fact to be distorted or covered up," he told reporters in a press conference.

Pheng demanded the British government to take back its official account to the parliament over the incident, and apologize to the victims' families "without reservation".

A British High court agreed in September that the British Government had legal responsibility for the acts of the Scots Guards, who allegedly killed 24 unarmed Malaysian ethnic Chinese workers in Batang Kali, a remote town north of Kuala Lumpur in 1948.

However, the court rejected the request by the victims' families for a official inquiry into the matter while upheld British government's refusal to hold such a inquiry.

Quek Ngee Meng, lawyer representing the victims' families, said an application for permission to appeal has since been filed against the ruling.

Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia and several other Chinese groups has launched a Signature Campaign to support the case. Tan Khai Hee, joint founder and the adviser to the "Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre", said he hoped the campaign would exert pressure on the British government.