Police Violence at the Peaceful Assembly over the Mystery Death of Teoh Beng Hock at MACC Selangor
MEMORANDUM TO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA (SUHAKAM)
21 JULY 2009
POLICE VIOLENCE AT THE PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY OVER THE MYSTERY DEATH OF TEOH BENG HOCK AT MACC, WISMA MASALAM, SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA
We, the victims of police violence, Rawang State Assemblyperson Gan Pei Nei, Loo Chuan Boon, Ng Yap Hwa and Sarah Devaraj would like to lodge an official complaint to Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) in relation to violent attack by the Royal Malaysian Police during a protest over the death of Teoh Beng Hock. This incident was took place on 17th July 2009 about 11am to 12pm, at the headquater of Selangor Malaysia Anti Corruption Commision (MACC), Wisma Masalam, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
Background
On 16 July 2009, Teoh Beng Hock (30 years old), aide to Selangor State Exco Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found death few hours after summoned by the MACC Selangor to assist into an investigation of misuse of State allocations fund.
Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah was among the seven Pakatan Rakyat (people’s Alliance, Selangor state ruling coalition) state assemblypersons investigated over the allegedly misused of their constituency funds by MACC (a federal agency under the purview of Barisan Nasional).
Teoh was taken to the MACC headquarters for questioning at 5.40pm on 15th July 2009. According to MACC investigation division director Shukri Abdul in a press conference, the interrogation completed at 345pm and Teoh was released immediately.
At around 1.30pm on 16th July 2009, his body was found at the rooftop of a building next to the towering block which houses the MACC headquarters. The death of Teoh is shrouded in mystery and a slew of unanswered questions.
On 17th July 2009, a crowd of 300 people including the opposition leaders, parliamentarians, assemblymen, their assistants and concerned citizens were gathering at Wisma Masalam at 10am to demand an answer from MACC over the mystery death of Teoh.
At 10.40am, the Selangor State Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar had given instruction to disperse the crowd. About 20 policemen in uniform, plain cloth and Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) barged into protesters and violently arrested several parliamentarian, state assemblymen and their aides.
We strongly condemn the act of Royal Malaysian Police, this incident of police violence is clearly a blatant disregard to the fundamentals of human rights in Malaysia as enshrined in Federal Constitution, which has guaranteed people’s freedom of expression and right to peaceful assembly. The Barisan Nasional government had abused of government machineries to oppress the political opponents.
We deeply regret that the government has not political will to bring reform into the police force, neither it implements the 125 recommendations by the Royal Commission in 2004. More importantly, this incident of police violence illustrates the abuse of power and misconduct of the police force had already reached a critical level.
Furthermore, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials spells out in Article 5 that no law enforcement official may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances, such as a threat to national security, to justify these actions.
We are also of concern over the continued arbitrary denial of right to assembly which is articulated in the Police Act 1967 Section 28. We demand the government to abolish the section immediately and unconditionly, this is unacceptable for a member state of United Nations which endorsed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and sit on the Human Rights Council of United Nations.
Below are descriptions how the victim were handled by the police:
