Establish independent team to probe Beng Hock's death, govt told

 

The Teoh Beng Hock Association for Democratic Advancement had urged Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail's intervention in probing the death of the deceased political aide.

Its vice-chairperson Kenneth Cheng said more than a year since Pakatan Harapan came to power, there was little development in the matter.

"We believe the government can do more. We believe the executive can certainly expedite the case from its side.

"We urge the home minister to set up an investigation team which could potentially be wholly independent of the police to probe the case," Cheng told reporters in Kuala Lumpur after meeting DAP assistant national publicity secretary Hannah Yeoh at the party's headquarters this morning.

The group planned to meet DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke but Yeoh represented the party chief in today’s meeting instead.

Cheng said that Yeoh, who is also the youth and sports minister, was conciliatory over the issue but did not comment much.

Teoh Beng Hock Association for Democratic Advancement vice-chairperson Kenneth Cheng (centre)

According to him, she said the government would not interfere until the court reached a decision, in the spirit of the executive not interfering in the judiciary.

Disappointed with Madani govt

Teoh was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth-floor service corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after being questioned overnight on the 14th floor of the Selangor MACC headquarters.

He was then a political aide to Selangor state executive councillor and incumbent Seri Kembangan assemblyperson Ean Yong Hian Wah.

In 2011, a Royal Commission of Inquiry determined that Teoh was driven to commit suicide following aggressive questioning by the MACC.

In 2014, the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that his death was caused by the act of “a person or persons unknown”, including the MACC officers who questioned him overnight before he was found dead.

Teoh’s parents had filed a judicial review to compel the police to wrap up the long-standing investigation into his death.

Elaborating, Cheng said the deceased's family and activists championing the case are deeply disappointed with the coalition government, including its component DAP, for not having done anything on the case despite being in power for over a year.

"There is no sense of transitional justice and that beggars belief whether this is a government that truly respects the rule of law and international human rights principles,” he said, recalling Harapan championing the cause when it was still in the opposition.