Teoh's death continues to rankle

Although it's been seven days since the tragic death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock, public outrage has not abated as demonstrated at a gathering in Kuala Lumpur last night.

About 3,000 people, mostly clad in black, thronged the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, in a show of solidarity for Teoh, who died mysteriously at the Malaysian Anti-Comission Corruption (MACC) building in Shah Alam last week.

DAP's Lim Kit Siang, DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah and PAS parliamentarian Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, were among those who part in the gathering which lasted three hours.

Stalks of white chrysanthemums lined the stage, placed there by those attended the event in remembrance of Teoh. His pregnant fiancee, Shoh Sher Wei was given a rousing and spontaneous standing ovation as she walked into the hall which was bedecked with Teoh's photos.

Banners reading ‘Don't let Beng Hock die in vain' that bore the crowd's signatures, were also put up on the walls.

Teoh, who was Seri Kembangan assemblyperson Ean Yong Hian Wah's political secretary, was found dead in the corridor on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, last Thursday.

The 30-year-old was believed to have fallen from the MACC office located on the 14th floor.

He was being interrogated as a witness into allegations of misappropriation of Selangor state funds.

Teoh was buried last Monday in Semenyih. Police said that almost 60 percent of the probe into his sudden death was completed.

Speakers take a swipe at royal commission

All the speakers who took to the stage lashed out against the royal commission set up by the government, saying that it missed the point by not investigating Teoh's cause of death.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said that only an inquest will determine his cause of death, but the royal commission confined to get to the bottom of MACC interrogation procedures to determine if Teoh's human rights were violated.

"They (government) said Teoh's human rights might have been violated. But he has died! This is ridiculous. When a person dies, we want to know what were the causes!" said a furious Guan Eng.

"We want to know who the culprits were, who were the witnesses? In any murder case, police investigations will focus catching the person responsible for the death.

"But up until today, has any MACC officer who interrogated him (Teoh) been arrested? No!," said Guan Eng, to thunderous cheers from the crowd.

Robert Phang ( right ), who is on MACC advisory panel, expressed shock and anger towards the commission for failing to come up with a clear explanation.

"I'm a 70-year-old man and I never expected this to happen. What the hell is happening? We have 42 advisory panels in MACC board, and you MACC owe us an explanation," he said.

Being on advisory panel himself, Phang was unable to shed light on the matter although the board had met for four days and four nights trying to find out what went wrong.

"And what is the truth? I too, have no idea...but no worries Shor Wer, you have the people's support," he said, looking at Teoh's fiancee who was sitting in front of the stage.

MACC violated l ock up rules

According to PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly, MACC violated lock-up rules when they interrogated Teoh until the wee hours of the morning.

"Lock-up rules say that authorities should stop investigating witnesses or suspects at 6.30pm and must only resume their interrogation the next day at 6.30am. It is obvious the MACC does not know the rules!" said Dzulkefly.

Kit Siang slammed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nazri Abdul Aziz for having accused Lim of turning Teoh's death into a racial issue as reported in the NST

"They said I regarded MACC as a Malay-controlled institution. But they did not know that when I criticised them, I referred to it as a Malaysian institution. Shame on you NST!

"If Nazri says I'm racist, why did the demonstration that took place in Ampang several days ago only involved Umno people?

"Why weren't they not joined by MCA, MIC or Gerakan to show how ‘1Malaysia' they are?" he asked.

The highly-charged atmosphere of the night was diffused when Teoh fiancee took to the stage with a simple message that brought back to mind that the loss is a still personal one.

"There is nothing else I can do for him. Thank you all, I promise I would take care of our child," she said holding back her tears.

The gathering also collected donations amounting to RM22,000, which is to be put into ‘Teoh's trust fund' set up by the DAP.