Malaya inquiry to hear from survivors ofBatang Kali shootings by British troopsSupreme court to hear case over deaths of 24 unarmed villagers at hands of Scots Guards in 1948,

during communist uprising in UK protectorate

Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent

Tuesday 21 April 2015 16.44 BST

Lim Ah Yin last saw her father alive on her 11th birthday. A British soldier, pointing a

rie, was telling him to shut up. A week later, she followed her heavily pregnant mother

back to the Malayan rubber plantation and discovered his bloated body amid a swarm of

ies. There was a bullet hole in his chest.

On Wednesday, Lim, now 78, will take a seat in the supreme court in London, to witness

a legal battle over the governments responsibility to hold inquiries into allegations of

historical atrocities.

The judicial review challenge, brought by the relatives of 24 unarmed men killed by

Scots Guards at Batang Kali on 12 December 1948, has broadened out into a dispute over

the vanishing point of when unresolved claims of injustice are allowed to disappear into

the past.

Northern Irelands attorney general, John Larkin QC, and several Northern Irish human

rights groups have intervened on dierent sides in the case because of the precedent it

will set for the ocial duty to investigate legacy cases from the Troubles. Larkin is

expected to argue that the obligation to investigate is limited; the human rights groups

will say that even historical cases deserve justice.

Lims heartbreaking journey to the UKs highest court began more than 60 years ago. She

was living with her parents near Batang Kali, a rubber estate in Selangor, then part of the

British-protected Federation of Malaya. It was the height of the communist insurgency.

On the morning of 11 December 1948, she followed her parents out to the paddy elds to

harvest rice. On their way back they met British troops and saw the body of Loh Kit Lin,

the rst of the villagers to die.

A soldier pointed at my father, Lim told the Guardian. They checked the rice and

pushed him into a hut. Then one of the soldiers pulled my mothers arms. She was eight

months pregnant. I and my sister tried to stop them taking her away but she was pushed

down to the river. We heard gun shots and thought my mother had been killed.

There were mock executions to persuade villagers to hand over information about

bandits. Later that evening her mother was brought back to the hut. I realised she had

survived. Women and children were ordered to go upstairs. In the morning, we camedownstairs and I heard my fathers voice. We had been ordered to go out to a lorry thatwas waiting.

He [Lims father] said I should follow the adults. I told him mother was alive but aBritish soldier with a gun opened the door and told him to shut up. We climbed into thelorry and as it moved away we heard gunshots, sounding like recrackers. As we lookedback, we saw smoke come up from the [burning] houses.

A week later Lim and her mother returned to Batang Kali on a truck carrying plywoodcons. It was very smelly, she recalled. The bodies were covered in ies. They werebloated and swollen, lying in groups of three or four. Finally I found my father. He hadbeen shot in the chest. That day, December 12th, had been my birthday.

My mother cried almost every day. She brought me and my sister up. When the babywas born she gave it away for adoption. She only stopped crying when I married and hergranddaughter was born. She was 92 when she died.

Lim is one of seven living survivors who can recall what happened in Batang Kali. Theocial British account was that victims were attempting to escape when they were shot.In the years that followed there were two abortive criminal investigations by Malaysianand British police. Both were prevented from reaching a conclusion because of ocialopposition to interviewing witnesses.

In 1969, several of the Scots Guards on the patrol that day gave interviews to The Peoplenewspaper, alleging that they had been ordered to massacre villagers in Batang Kali. Twosergeants, however, insisted that the men had been shot because they tried to escape.

John Halford, a solicitor at the law rm Bindmans who represents the Malaysiansurvivors, said: The bullets that killed half the inhabitants of Batang Kali can neverreturn to their barrels and the time has long since passed when any soldiers who redthem might be prosecuted.

But when six of them have confessed to murder, eyewitnesses remain alive and forensictests can conrm the killings were close-range executions, the law should demand ananswer from the state. After all, those killed were British subjects living in a Britishprotected state. They and their families have a right to meaningful justice.

Prof Sue Black, a forensic anthropologist who has carried out excavations on mass gravesin Kosovo and Rwanda, has advised Halfords legal team that evidence could still beobtained from the victims bodies.

In the past the Foreign Oce has resisted holding an inquiry, saying: It is very unlikelythat a public inquiry could come up with recommendations which would help to preventany recurrence. The government has also argued that any responsibility for an inquirypassed to Malaysia when the former colony became independent in 1957.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: This was a deeply regrettable incident. Thecase will be heard in the supreme court on 22 and 23 April. It would not be appropriateto comment further whilst legal proceedings are ongoing.

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Yasmine Ahmed, director of Rights Watch UK, one of the groups involved, said: The

outcome of this case will have considerable implications in Northern Ireland, where

many of the deaths that occurred during the Troubles happened before the enactment of

the Human Rights Act in 1998.

Sara Duddy, a caseworker with the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, said: Dealing with the

past, whether through inquests or investigations, continues to be a battleground where

the UK government seeks to deny families the right to truth. The Batang Kali massacre is

proof that the past will always come back to haunt us if it isnt dealt with.

After recounting her experiences, Lim said: I hope the British government can give my

family justice for all the suering they have been through.