Justice For Batang Kali

It happened a long time ago, when Britain was struggling to maintain its dominance in the world.

There was a major war going on. The British wanted to maintain its hold on all its colonies, but in Malaya, the Communist insurgency was proving to be quite a challenge.

Britain eventually lost its power and status, but its sins have come back to haunt it.

It was a time when some lives were more important than others.

It was a time when some lives didn't matter at all.

The people of Batang Kali suffered because of this mentality.

A 14-man Scots Guards patrol was tasked with interrogating the villagers about communist guerrillas operating locally.

Given that no answers were forthcoming, it is very likely that said villagers had no information and probably were not cooperating with and/or helping the communists.

Yet 24 civilians were killed in cold blood.

The British, in the past, turned a blind eye to it, never properly having investigated the incident - for political reasons.

But this time, the Supreme Court is going to hear the case and have the witnesses tell their side of the story.

It's about time. It really is.

Related:
The Independent - Batang Kali killings: Britain in the dock over 1948 massacre in Malaysia
The Guardian - Malaya inquiry to hear from survivors of Batang Kali shootings by British troops

No One Questioned Import Of Fighter Aircraft Parts?

It appears that exporting fighter aircraft parts to Malaysia is a blissfully easy operation.

Now we're neither talking plastic, toy aircraft here nor some of the many Tamiya small scaled models which I own and don't know what to do with.

Nor are we discussing home appliances, cute Nintendo or Playstation games or even automotive parts.

MILITARY FIGHTER AIRCRAFT parts, ladies and gentlemen.

As far as I know, the Malaysian government does not have any F-14s within its fleet. We have F-18s, MiG-29s and we have the infamous Su-30MKM.

But not any F-14s.

NY man pleads guilty to arms exports to Malaysia

But evidently, no one thinks it's out of the ordinary if a Pakistani brings component parts into Malaysia for an aircraft we do not possess.

And what does our government have to say about this?

The Deputy Prime Minister also said the government had no knowledge of companies illegally importing F-5 and F-14 military fighter jet parts into the country.

"It cannot be with the government as we have no knowledge whatsoever about it. I do not know if there are private companies involved in this.

"There is no stopping them to buy on their own accord without informing us. We are not in the business of selling parts to a third country. We don't do that. I cannot determine if any company had sought for the parts," he said.

However Najib, who is also the Defence Minister, said the government would not hesitate to act against any company if it had breached the law of the country.

You don't seem to know much about this country, do you Najib? And being Defence Minsister at that.

We do need to cut a sizable amount of your entertainment allowance, methinks. You're spending too much time playing around instead of doing your job.

Though if you didn't get a huge cut out of this deal, there's plenty to annoyed about, I'd say.