Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang today urged the British government to declassify the investigation papers on the 1948 Batang Kali massacre.

"I hope the prime minister could raise the matter with the British government during his visit," Lim, who is also DAP chairperson and Ipoh Timor MP, told a press conference at the Parliament's lobby.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is currently on an official visit to the United States, Britain and France. He is due in London on Thursday and will be meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday.

Lim said the British should have declassified the investigation papers since its 50-year-long government document secrecy order expired six years ago.

Despite this, he said a BBC report recently stated that the investigation papers were still classified.

Meanwhile, M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) said he is seeking an appointment with Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to discuss this issue.

He added that he will also meet with local historians to obtain further information on the case.

Classified investigations

In the incident, 24 unarmed rubber tappers suspected of being communists were massacred by a patrol of Scots Guards.

Following this, an official investigation was carried out on the same year by the British government upon the instruction of then attorney-general Stafford Foster-Sutton.

It was stated later that the attorney-general was satisfied with the finding that the 24 'suspects would have made good their escape had the security forces not opened fire'.

However, the investigation paper was never made public.

In 1970, the British government ordered a fresh investigation after it was highlighted in the media but this was cancelled after the Conservative party came into power.

In 1993, MCA arranged three survivors of the massacre to lodge a police report it but the investigation paper completed in 1997 was classified under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

DAP had organised a dialogue with the Batang Kali villagers recently.