After more than a year of hearings in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, final submissions are due to be made on Friday.       

However, his family is far from optimistic that the truth will prevail. As such, they have reiterated their demand for a royal commission of inquiry to be set up to look into his death.

NONE His sister Lee Lan ( left ) told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today that those political parties which have insisted on the inquest being completed first, should be in court on Friday to understand why the family has been making the call for a royal panel.

“We, the family members, have attended every hearing. We want a complete answer. But during these two months, we’ve not seen any sign of hope for the truth that we need," she said tearfully.

“We hope the coroner will be responsible and fair, (that he) will convince us with the truth. But the question remains as to whether our hope will be realised.

"All we need is the truth, so we hope all the parties will keep their word and attend the hearing to listen to our lawyer’s words.”

She dismissed a BN allegation that the family has been emotional nd that it is being controlled by certain political parties.

 

Lawyers for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Teoh's family and the Selangor government are to present their submissions to coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas.

azlan The inquest began on July 29 last year, after a huge outcry over the suspicious manner of Teoh’s death following his visit to the Selangor MACC headquarters at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.

Teoh had been called in to assist in investigations against his boss, Selangor state exco Ean Yong Hian Wah, who was accused of misappropriation of funds.

His body was found sprawled on the fifth floor landing of the building on the afternoon of July 16, after he had been questioned overnight.

Signature campaign to continue

Lee Lan and the ‘Malaysians for Beng Hock’ support group also accepted the 33,376 signatures collected by PKR in support of a petition to set up the royal commision.

um pro-m talk 05022010 03 lee khai loon According to Lee Khai Loon (right) , the executive director of the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Keadilan team, the signatures were collected soon after Teoh’s death - about 22,000 of these were gathered online.

“Since the inquest had started by then, we didn’t submit these signatures out of respect for the proceedings,” Lee said.

“But after more than one year, we have given up on the (outcome of the) inquest. So we’ve decided to hand over these signatures to (the support group).”

Ng Yap Hwa, the coordinator of the support group, appealed to all political parties to join the signature campaign.

“We have already sent a letter to all secretaries of parties to ask for their participation. We hope that the ruling (coalition) can convince the cabinet to set up a royal commission. We also welcome the grassroots (adding to the) signatures to pressure the government on the issue.”

The group hopes to gather 100,000 signatures in three months before submitting the petition to the prime minister.