“His Majesty shall have complete control of the defence and of all the external affairs of the Federation, and undertakes to protect the Malay States from external hostile attack and for this and other similar purposes, His Majesty’s Forces and all persons authorised by or on behalf of His Majesty’s Government shall at all times be allowed free access to the Malay States and to employ all necessary means of opposing such attacks.”
“(b) The safeguarding of any grave menace to the peace or tranquillity of the Federation or any Malay State or Settlement contained therein”
“Phase 2 comprises the operation necessary to liquidate guerrilla bands in the jungle involving also destruction of camps, cutting off of food supplies and uncovering of dumps of arms etc. In this process we shall have to deal with KMT, communists and individual robber bands and sealing off of the northern frontier will remain of primary importance. These operations will be primarily of a military nature in which the police will participate …. Phase 2 cannot be extensively undertaken until sufficient success is achieved in Phase 1.”
“In Malaya, the trouble was not only of local origin, but was instigated by the Chinese communists and kept going by Communist reinforcements from across the Siamese boarder. The situation had not been firmly handed in the first place - the police had been weak – but the fact was that Malaya was the only place in all the areas where we were actively fighting against Communism and it was British territory. Moreover our own nationals were being killed. We could not stand this nor could we afford to lose Malaya to Communism. His conclusion was that we should take risks in the West and the Middle East, and send immediate help to the Far East”
“Another 2 SG patrol captured twenty six male bandits near K Kubu Bahru. Detained for night in kongsi huts. Early the following morning on infm from one of the captured bandits ambush laid for lorry arriving with food. Lorry captured. Bandits attempted mass escape. 25 killed one recaptured.”
“After my inquiry I was satisfied of the bona fides of the patrol and there had not been anything that would have justified criminal proceedings. I reported my findings to the High Commissioner, Sir Henry Gurney, and am under the impression that a written report was made for record purposes and passed to the Special Branch at Kuala Lumpur” ii) He told the World at One that he arranged to meet the Sergeant in charge of the patrol and another non commissioned officer. They had given him an account of arresting men they believed were bandits and had put them into huts. On the following morning, the patrol let the men out to take them to interrogate them, but they made a dash for it and it was then the Guards opened fire. He had cross examined them and the police officers who had accompanied the patrol and was “absolutely satisfied a bona fide mistake had been made.”
“10. Everyone who has visited the spot including the Attorney General is satisfied that the soldiers who had been posted with object of protecting the clearing from external attack did everything that it was possible for them to do to stop the escaping Chinese before resorting to force. Moreover, one Chinese had been shot the previous evening during an attempted escape and the others had been warned of the danger to them should they attempt to follow his example…. 12. One of the difficulties of this situation is that we have a war of terrorism on our hands and we are at the same time endeavouring to maintain the rule of law. I would also point out that is an easy matter from one’s office or home to criticise action taken by the security forces in the heat of operations and working under jungle conditions but not so easy to do the job oneself. Rightly or wrongly we feel here that we must be conservative in our criticism of the men who are undoubtedly carrying out a most arduous and dangerous job and it must be remembered that when persons are picked up by the security forces under such circumstances until they are screened at headquarters it is impossible for the security forces to tell whether they are members of killer squads or to what extent they are involved. Furthermore although some of the killed were rubber tappers it is our experience that such persons are frequently rubber tappers part time and bandits the rest of the time and that their arms are usually hidden in the neighbourhood and not found with them. Moreover we feel it is most damaging to the morale of the security forces to feel that every action of theirs, after the event is going to be examined with the most meticulous care.”
“Any act or thing done before the coming into force of this Regulation which would have been lawfully done if this Regulation had been in force, shall be deemed to have been lawfully done under this Regulation”
“I am satisfied that on the evidence we have there is no prospect of criminal proceedings. But there are at least five persons who say this was murder. It seems to me that enquiries must be pursued in Malaysia, as otherwise the inquiry will only be half done. Furthermore there are a number of witnesses out there who claim to have seen what took place, including Cheung Hung. The various statements by this witness are inconsistent and we want to pin him down. It appears also that a number of persons who say they saw what happened (women on the lorry) could not have been in a position to do so. I feel that this should be cleared up. I am of the opinion that, if we do not go through to the bitter end, we will lay ourselves open to attack by the newspapers and the anti-military brigade.”
“I have nothing to add to my minute of 5/6/70. Having embarked on this inquiry, must we now go as far as we can? Perhaps the Malaysian Government will refuse entry to the investigating team and save any further expenditure of time and money on this unrealistic inquiry.”
“In view of the findings of the two previous investigations that there was insufficient evidence to pursue prosecutions in this case, and in the absence of new evidence, regrettably we see no reason to re-open or start a fresh investigation.”
“Nevertheless, having regard to the principle of legal certainty, the Court’s temporal jurisdiction as regards compliance with the procedural obligation of Article 2 in respect of deaths that occur before the critical date is not open-ended. First, it is clear that, where the death occurred before the critical date, only procedural acts and/or omissions occurring after that date can fall within the Court’s temporal jurisdiction. Second, there must exist a genuine connection between the death and the entry into force of the Convention in respect of the respondent State for the procedural obligations imposed by Article 2 to come into effect. Thus, a significant proportion of the procedural steps required by this provision – which include not only an effective investigation into the death of the person concerned but also the institution of appropriate proceedings for the purpose of determining the cause of the death and holding those responsible to account – will have been or ought to have been carried out after the critical date. However, the Court would not exclude that in certain circumstances the connection could also be based on the need to ensure that the guarantees and the underlying values of the Convention are protected in a real and effective manner.”
“The obligation to ensure respect for and implement international human rights law and international humanitarian law as provided for under the respective bodies of law, includes, inter aila, the duty to …. (b) investigate violations effectively, promptly, thoroughly and impartially and where appropriate take action against those responsible in accordance with domestic and international law.”
“But it is not conclusive for any other purpose and I am far from clear how liabilities for the acts of the British Army (as opposed to forces of any other part of the Commonwealth) can be said not to arise from the acts of the Crown in respect of the Government of the United Kingdom”
“Nonetheless, these concessions of potential liability demonstrate that the most extreme view of the extent of the Quark principle (i.e. that nothing done by the British government in respect of colonial Kenya could be other than an act of Her Majesty in right of Kenya) was not argued before me.”
“In appropriate cases, inquiries can and do serve [the purpose of establishing the truth about contested events] but the goal of establishing the truth about contested events is especially important – and especially likely to justify the substantial and other resources which an inquiry inevitably involves – when that truth can cast light on systemic or institutional failings, the correction of which would be likely to reduce the prospects of a repetition. In the view of the Secretaries of State this is more likely to be the case where the events of the subject of the inquiry are relatively recent ones.”
“with particular reference to the relevance of the instigation and presumed inadequacy of previous investigations into the killings. They have considered that matter both as a matter which may militate in favour of an inquiry into the killings themselves and also as a matter which may warrant investigation in its own right.”