Bindmans’ client, the Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre, has welcomed the “sincere” apology given by Catherine West MP, UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific in response to its 75th Massacre Anniversary Petition.

On 11 and 12 December 1948, British soldiers from the Scots Guards executed 24 unarmed villagers in Batang Kali, Selangor, during the Malayan Emergency. The Guards had taken control of the village, forcibly separating its men, women, and children. The men were then subjected to mock executions and 24 of them were murdered in cold blood. Their homes were burned, and the survivors taken to a nearby town and abandoned. The British Government propagated a false narrative, claiming the victims were insurgents with a cache of ammunition, shot while attempting a pre-planned escape.

Ms West’s apology letter states:

Let me begin by recognising that these killings were a tragedy and have undoubtedly caused deep suffering for the families of those who died and the wider community. I also recognise that unhelpful, incorrect narratives portraying those killed as supporters of the insurgency have compounded the harm caused to survivors and their descendants.

His Majesty’s Government wishes to acknowledge the pain and harm caused by these events… the UK deeply regrets the tragic deaths and the pain suffered by many families. We extend our sympathies to all of those affected and the wider community.”

The apology is one of an only a handful ever given by the UK for colonial-era human wrongs.  

Professor Ng Yean Leng, a leading Malaysian academic related to one of the men killed during the massacre, welcomed the apology as “long overdue, yet deeply significant”. She added today:

Though poor and marginalized, victims’ families have persistently spoken out against powerful oppressors. Their fight is not for monetary compensation but for the restoration of their reputations and acknowledgment of their true identities—they were neither terrorists nor bandits. As a descendant and an intellectual, I bear the responsibility to continue advocating for them and am grateful that UK Government acknowledges the suffering and pain went through by the families for more than two generations. ‘History can be forgiven, but it cannot be forgotten.”

The Action Committee’s Co-ordinator, Dato Quek Ngee Meng said today on behalf of the families of those killed:

We are grateful for the British Government’s acknowledgement of the Batang Kali Massacre, which serves as a step toward mending historical wounds and fostering reconciliation. While the Minister’s response is carefully phrased, we sense a genuine sincerity and humility in her approach, which will play a crucial role in facilitating the healing process and providing closure for the affected family and community.”

The UK Government’s response marks the end of decades of official denials. The Action Committee will now urge Minister West’s statement to be formally read in Parliament, correcting the false ‘official account’ that the killed were insurgents or sympathisers, who had an ammunition cache and were killed while attempting to escape.”

The apology comes after a legal challenge established Britain was responsible for the killings and the basic facts of what happened, but found there was no obligation to establish a public inquiry. Lord Kerr commented in the Supreme Court’s ruling, that the:

… overwhelming preponderance of currently available evidence [showed] wholly innocent men were mercilessly murdered and the failure of the authorities of this state to conduct an effective inquiry into their deaths.”

adding:

The law has proved itself unable to respond positively to the demand that there be redress for the historical wrong that the appellants so passionately believe has been perpetrated on them and their relatives. That may reflect a deficiency in our system of law.”

Bindmans’ Partner John Halford has acted for the Action Committee and affected families since 2008. He said today:

This letter is a very welcome and unequivocal acknowledgement that the Batang Kali killings were unjustified and then covered up, something that has cause decades of pain.  The families of those killed look forward to what has been said being repeated in Parliament. That is required by the Ministerial Code and will formally mark the end of a cover up of the most serious and lethal form of racial profiling.”

The Batang Kali apology letter represents a dramatic shift in the stance the UK Government has taken for seven and a half decades.

• The killings were portrayed as a military victory at the time, and those killed falsely described as communist insurgents.
• In 1970, six of the soldiers involved presented themselves, first to the press and then to the Metropolitan Police, to confess that they had murdered the male villagers. The resulting police investigation was terminated prematurely by the government against the wishes of the officers involved who described the reasons as ‘political’. The bodies were not exhumed and those in command at Batang Kali were never interviewed.
• In 1993, a Malaysian police investigation began but was also blocked by the British Government.
• Legal action was taken families in the UK when the then Foreign Secretary refused a public inquiry in 2010, despite new evidence coming to light (R (Keyu and others) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and another). The Supreme Court ruling is here.
• The Action Committee’s 75^th Anniversary Memorandum, which called again for an apology for the massacre, is here.

The full text of the apology letter reads:

31 March 2025

Dear Dato Quek Ngee Meng,

Thank you for your letter of 6 September 2024 to the Foreign Secretary. I am replying as the Minister for the Indo-Pacific. My apologies for the delay in providing you with a substantive response.

Let me begin by recognising that these killings were a tragedy and have undoubtedly caused deep suffering for the families of those who died and the wider community. I also recognise that unhelpful, incorrect narratives portraying those killed as supporters of the insurgency have compounded the harm caused to survivors and their descendants.

His Majesty’s Government wishes to acknowledge the pain and harm caused by these events. With the passage of time we assess that no new inquiry would have a realistic prospect of reaching definitive conclusions about what happened in 1948. However, the UK deeply regrets the tragic deaths and the pain suffered by many families. We extend our sympathies to all of those affected and the wider community.

Whilst we should never forget or diminish the painful moments in our history, the UK and Malaysia have also made important strides towards building a strong and modern partnership. By continuing to focus on what unites us in a spirit of friendship we are confident that the relationship between our two nations will go from strength to strength.

Thank you again for your letter. I am copying my reply to the British High Commissioner in Malaysia, David Wallace.

Yours ever,
CATHERINE WEST MP
Minister for the Indo-Pacific

The Batang Kali Massacre apology is one of a handful ever issued by the UK for colonial wrongdoing:

• In 2013, Foreign Secretary William Hague issued a formal statement acknowledging “regret” for the 1950s Mau Mau abuses, accompanied by £19.9 million in compensation for 5,228 victims and funding for a memorial in Nairobi.

• In 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron issued an apology acknowledging the Bloody Sunday massacre as both “unjustified and unjustifiable” and accepting that the government was responsible.

• In 2010 Gordon Brown apologised for the UK’s role in sending more than 130,000 children to former colonies, where many suffered abuse. He expressed regret for the “misguided” Child Migrant Programme, announcing in the Commons that he was “truly sorry”.

• In 2007 Tony Blair apologised for the slave trade, not long before the 200th anniversary of its abolition. “I have said we are sorry and I say it again,” he said after talks with Ghanaian president John Agyekum Kufuor. The most important thing was “to remember what happened in the past, to condemn it and say why it was entirely unacceptable,” Mr Blair said.