Teoh 'the first political death' under Najib

Seventeen civil society groups have dubbed the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock a casualty of politics and demands a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the incident.

“While many Malaysians have suffered political persecution including detention without trial and torture, no one to our knowledge has directly died at the hand of a government institution because of politics since the Kampung Memali incident in 1985.

“No blood should be shed because of politics... Unfortunately, Teoh is now the first political death under the Najib-administration and under the MACC, which has joined the police force in causing death in custody,” said the groups in a joint statement yesterday.

The groups include the Bar Council, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH), Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI), Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), Malaysia Youth and Student Democratic Movement (Dema), Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower), Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM).

On Thursday, Teoh, 30, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam at about 1.30pm after giving his statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which was located on the 14th floor of an adjacent building.

Teoh, an aide to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was being interrogation by MACC over alleged misappropriation of state allocations involving Selangor Pakatan Rakyat state reps.

‘Even Umno man was abused’

The 17 groups also demanded that the royal commission’s terms of reference to include an evaluation of the whether the command and power structure of the MACC had contributed to Teoh’s death.

In addition, the groups want MACC national director Ahmad Said, Selangor director Mohd Samsudin and all officers involved, to be suspended pending completion to the inquiry to avoid any possible interference.

The statement pointed out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had failed to act on complaints by Umno Maran division committee member Halimi Kamaruzzaman that he was abused by MACC officers early this year.

“If that (an investigation) was done, Teoh may still be alive now,” lamented the statement.

Halimi was probed over allegations that his boss and former Umno supreme council member Norza Zakaria was involved in vote-buying during the March party elections.

He lodged a police report in January that three MACC officers had punched him in the head, stomach and shoulder. He also claimed that he was kicked in the ribs and knee.

Bar Council: MACC flouted the law

In a separate statement, Bar Council president K Ragunath said the MACC had flouted the law by denying Teoh legal representation during questioning and for questioning him overnight.

Ragunath said it was inexcusable and unacceptable that the MACC ignored Article 5 of the Federal Constitution and Section 28 A (4) of the Criminal Procedure Code which guarantees detainees right of counsel.

“These provisions must be jealously safeguarded,” he said.

On the long interrogation period, Ragunath said the MACC had violated Rule 20 of the Lockup Rules 1953 which stipulates that detainees must be locked up between 6.30pm and 6.30am to allow sufficient rest.

“It is indefensible that a witness in a routine investigation should have been deprived of sleep and interogated for more than eight hours,” he said, adding that Teoh could have been ask to return the following day.

“He was not a flight risk and indeed, was to have had a civil registry marriage on the following day,” he added.

Ragunath said Teoh’s interrogation “amounted to torture” according to international human rights norms and urged that the royal commission would also look into MACC’s interrogation techniques.

“We note that this incident is the latest in a deplorable string of deaths occurring in the context of investigations carried out by law enforcement agencies. This must be the last,” he said.