Govt reconsiders Malaysia massacre inquiry

[Coventina]

Source: AFP

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — The government is considering holding an inquiry into a 1948 massacre of Malaysian villagers by British troops, reversing an earlier decision to reject a probe, officials said Wednesday.

The about face comes three months after London turned down a request from Malaysian activists to investigate the killings which took place during an anti-communist crackdown when the country was under British rule.

The "Batang Kali massacre" occurred in a village in central Selangor state on December 12, 1948, when 14 members of the Scots Guards killed 24 unarmed ethnic Chinese and torched their village.

"The (British government has) decided to reconsider the decision... that no inquiry would be established or other investigation undertaken into the incident at Batang Kali in 1948," the government's lawyer said in a letter to the activists dated April 24.



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