A DAP parliamentarian wants a full probe on those responsible for withholding information on the primary cause of deaths of six revellers during the Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) concert last year.

"All those involved must face action,” said Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo in a statement today.

Quoting news reports, Gobind said they suggested the police were aware of the actual results of the post mortems but did nothing to correct their earlier statement that investigations revealed drug abuse as the cause of death.

Stressing that this was “totally unacceptable”, Gobind ( photo ) said this was clearly an abuse of power and was a reason why the public could not have any confidence in the police.

“I am of the view that the police failed the people here. They also failed the deceased, the victims, their families and the legal system. They did not do as the law required.

“This is a most serious violation of the trust placed upon them by the law and it cannot and must not be passed over lightly,” he said.

'Drugs did not cause deaths'

Although the public had been made to believe that the deaths were due to drug overdose, The Star Online had reported that post-mortem results issued two months after the incident showed the cause to be heatstroke, with drugs playing a negligible role.

Contradicting police statements that all the deaths were linked to drugs, the pathologist involved in the case said two out of the 16 revellers brought to hospital in critical condition had no trace of any illegal substance.

Despite this, the authorities did not make the results known and “drug overdose deaths” were used as grounds to cancel several concerts planned for Malaysia recently, besides one in Singapore.

However, although the pathologist involved in the case ruled that the deaths were caused by heatstroke, studies have shown

A majority of deaths from ecstasy have been due to heatstroke.

Also a majority of heatstroke cases occur at raves where people dance for hours in cramped conditions without sufficient water intake.

'Follow the law'

Meanwhile, urging the police to “follow the law”, Gobind pointed out how provisions which applied in cases like these were in the criminal procedure code and must be followed.

“Under the code, the police are duty bound to immediately seek a postmortem in cases like these and the results of that examination must stand as the official cause of death, until such time that there is a finding otherwise.

“If the police were unhappy with it (the post mortem results), they ought to have dealt with it in accordance with law including asking for an inquest at the said time.”

Gobind said the police had no right to let their “erroneous public statements” remain and ignore the truth, which had resulted in the most “severe of pain and hardship on the families of the victims”.

“There must be justice for the deceased, victims and their families in this case. Nothing less than that will suffice,” he said, stressing that no one, even a police officer, had the right to violate the law.

“Anyone who does just that must be dealt with most severely and punished without delay,” he declared.