M’sia’s anti-graft body sued

A MALAYSIAN ethnic Chinese town councillor filed a suit on Wednesday against the country's anti-graft agency over his detention amid widening protests against the death of another man questioned by the agency.

Tan Boon Wah, a councillor in the opposition-held state of Selangor, said his suit questioned the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission's (MACC) interrogation procedures after he was detained for 17 hours by the body.

'The officers called me a 'stupid Chinese' and also asked if I was from China,' Mr Tan told a press conference.

The MACC is charged with investigating corruption and has questioned opposition legislators and officials.

It has wide-ranging powers to question whoever it likes and reports directly to the prime minister's office. Its powers were greatly expanded when it was established this year, replacing the inefficient Anti Corruption Agency Thousands of people have protested against the death of Teoh Beng Hock, another ethnic Chinese opposition figure, who fell to his death from a building after being questioned by the MACC over corruption in Selangor..

The death comes as Prime Minister Najib Razak had seen his approval ratings rise after economic reforms and pushing an inclusive concept dubbed '1Malaysia' in a country where the majority of the 27 million population are Malays with large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

An online petition started on Wedneday calling for a Royal Commission of inquiry into Teoh's death had gathered nearly 4,000 signatures by mid afternoon.

The government is to decide at a cabinet meeting today whether to set up a commission.

'I think this, as far as Najib is concerned, has turned the clock back for 1Malaysia,' veteran opposition figure, Karpal Singh, who is also Mr Tan's lawyer told the press conference. — REUTERS