Teoh’s death: The answer is in the next elections!
(Malaysian Mirror)
OPINION: Our nation has produced varying responses to the violent death of one of her young sons, Teoh Beng Hock. These reactions shed some light on our political system and collective conscience.
Ordinary Malaysians have expressed shock, dismay, and anger. Demonstrations and candle-light vigils have begun, symbolising an outpouring of sympathy for Teoh’s fiancée and family, and anger that the MACC has washed its hands in public and shrugged off any responsibility.
Leaders spanning the political spectrum, from the MCA’s Dr Chua Soi Lek, Umno Youth’s Khairy Jamaluddin, to PAS Vice-President Salahuddin Ayob, the PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim, the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, and the national human rights commission Suhakam, have called for an independent Royal Commission to reveal the truth.
A glance at the huge number of readers’ comments on news portals like the Malaysian Mirror, and blogs like Malaysia Today, reveals an explosion of rage and mourning. Readers demand an unfettered investigation. Some call for divine justice. A few call for retaliation.
Some, including blogger Rocky’s Bru, condemn politicians such as the DAP’s Lim Guan Eng for trying to gain political mileage from the young DAP aide’s death. Yet it is undeniable that Teoh’s death is deeply political, for Teoh died during an MACC probe targeted at Pakatan Rakyat (PR) representatives.
The MACC has not answered allegations of corruption among Barisan Nasional representatives, such as Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, with nearly the same fanatical hounding the MACC has given PR reps. After Teoh’s death, Khir blurted out disingenuous claims that he thought the MACC to be even-handed. He alleged that he, too, had been questioned by the MACC, for eight hours, a “similar treatment” to Teoh’s. It can be assumed Khir’s “similar treatment” did not involve a fall from a tall building.
One or two readers of news sites and blogs said Teoh “must have been guilty” of some unspecified crime. They claimed that otherwise, Teoh would not have been called in for questioning. One reader said Teoh must have felt guilty after being interrogated, and, as a result, jumped to his death. In response, other readers directed furious tirades at the abject stupidity of these remarks.
But then the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nazri Aziz, sprang to the MACC’s defence. The minister said the MACC had told him they had released Teoh after questioning him. “Don’t just accuse MACC for being responsible for this, wait for the investigation… (Teoh) should have gone home. We couldn’t have known he wanted to jump from that building,” he argued.
Angry readers and journalists poured scorn on the minister’s purported telepathic knowledge that Teoh had jumped, and had not been pushed. Perhaps the honourable minister felt he should be appointed as chairman and sole member of the investigative commission, since he seems to have superhuman insight.
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