The kin of the Batang Kali massacre victims who filed a judicial review claim at the High Court in Britain have been granted legal aid funding of almost RM1 million.
The decision was made last month by the Special Costs Control Review Panel, which is the highest appeal body within the UK Legal Service Commission.
The families had in February filed a judicial review to challenge the decision of the British government not to conduct a public inquiry into the incident which occurred in 1948.
However, the Special Case Unit of the UK Legal Service Commission on March 8 refused to grant legal aid representation to the claimants.
This meant the four families would have had to pay the British government RM480,000 in legal costs. A trial would have incurred an additional legal cost of RM525,000.
"There is no way the claimants can meet a fraction of the cost and the decision made by the panel could not be more important and timely," said Quek Ngee Meng at a press conference today.
Quek is the coordinator of the Action Committee Condemning the Batang Kali Massacre and a lawyer representing the families. Also present was MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong.
Quek said in allowing the appeal, the panel was of the view that there was a 50%-60% chance of the families succeeding in their review application.
"The panel was also of the view that this case has significant public interest," he said.
He said in the event of a full trial of the judicial review claim, further funding will be sought from the UK Legal Service Commission.
"We are confident in obtaining continuous support from the UK legal aid," he added.
The British government has until Monday to file their preliminary defence.
On Dec 11 and 12, 1948, in a small village near Batang Kali, 24 unarmed men who had been detained overnight on suspicion of communism were shot dead by British soldiers from the Scots Guard.
The soldiers claimed the villagers had tried to escape, but a 1992 BBC documentary, In Cold Blood, showed the killings were unlawful and extra-judiciary, based on confessions from the soldiers themselves.
Attempts by the kin of the victims to pressure the British government to conduct an open and independent investigation into the incident were rejected, leading to the judicial review claim.
