Mr A’s complaint to the Ombudsman
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The complaints which are the focus of this report were made by Mr A on behalf of himself and four of his siblings (Mrs B, Mrs D, Mrs E and Mr F).8
Prior to the Japanese invasion of Malaya,9 which led to the fall of Singapore, Mr A and his family had lived in Negeri Sembilan, one of the Federated Malay States. The family were interned by the Japanese as British civilians in Sime Road internment camp in Singapore on 25 March 1945. They were liberated from that camp on 6 September 1945 and the whole family was subsequently reunited, returning to Malaysia after the war. In 1957 Mr A emigrated to Australia.
Mr A complained about the MoD and the Agency. Mr A was aggrieved that in 2007 both bodies refused him and some of his siblings a £4,000 payment to recognise the injury caused to their feelings by the rejection in 2001 of their applications for the £10,000 payment under the original scheme.10
Mr A believed that this constituted maladministration because the decision to refuse him and his siblings the £4,000 payment was taken on the basis that he, like his siblings on whose behalf he complained, had been a British protected person rather than a British subject when interned – when that was not relevant to the injury to feelings that he and they suffered. Mr A also complained about the way the Agency handled his correspondence with them since 2001.
Mr A said that the MoD and the Agency’s actions had denied him and his siblings a £4,000 payment to which, he believed, they were entitled. He also said that he and his siblings had suffered outrage and distress at the way in which their cases had been handled.
Mr A wanted the MoD and the Agency to reconsider the decisions which were made in his case and the cases of his siblings who had been denied a payment. He believed that an apology was due for the injustice they had suffered.
He also wanted the Agency to pay him (and his siblings) compensation for injury to feelings.
On 12 August 2010 Mr A very sadly passed away aged 73, having been seriously ill for some time.
- Further detail about Mr A’s family is set out in paragraphs 62 to 65 of the report, and in Annex B under the chronology entry for 1930 to 1943.
- In the 19th and early 20th centuries, what is now Malaysia comprised the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements (made up of Singapore, Penang and Malacca) and both the Federated (Perak, Selangor, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan) and Unfederated Malay States (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu). The UK Government had entered into treaties with the rulers of these Malay States, under which those States had each become British Protectorates. In 1945, when the Second World War ended, Britain resumed control of these states until 1957. In 1961 the term ‘Malaysia’ came into being.
- Those siblings born in Singapore received the injury to feelings payment as they were British subjects.
