Although the 124-page report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock had been submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong just yesterday, the Bar Council has called for the report to be made public to ensure transparency.

Council chairperson Lim Chee Wee said that they also hope that whatever the recommendations proposed by the commission be implemented by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on its interrogation procedures probed by the RCI.

"Of course it (the report) should be made public. As this would ensure transperancy. The Bar Council which has participated actively in the RCI is one of the interested parties. From day one the RCI was open to the public.

"We feel the findings made by the commissioners should also be made public," he said at the press conference on the Bersih rally held by the Bar Council today.

NONE Lim was asked  to comment on the RCI report handed to the king yesterday at his palace.

The commissioners had a 30 -minute audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin when handing over the report.

Now the king must decide if the report is to be made public while panel head James Foong announced that the commission 's findings were arrived at unanimously.

Besides Foong, the others on the panel were former Federal Court judge Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, former Court of Appeal judge T Selventhiranathan, and Penang Hospital's senior consultant forensic pathologist Dr Bhupinder Singh and Cyberjaya University College of Medical Science's dean and consultant forensic psychiatrist Prof Dr Mohamed Hatta Shaharom.

Lim's vice-chairperson Christopher Leong was one of the representatives of the Bar Council at the inquest.

Coroner's court proposed

Lim has also proposed that the government establish a coroner's court modelled after Singapore's to handle cases of sudden death.

"The council had visited with the Chief Judge of Malaya (Arifin Zakaria) over the coroner's court system implemented there and he quite impressed. We hope a similar court could be implemented here," he said.

When asked what Singapore's was like, he said he would have to explain this later.

He also told reporters that the Bar Council will also hold a watching brief in the inquest of Customs Department senior assistant director, Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed who, like Teoh, had died while under MACC custody on April 6, under mysterious circumstances, fallling its Kuala Lumpur headquarters.

Ahmad Sarbani's inquest has been scheduled for the July 4 to 15 period at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court with Aizatul Akmal Maharani sitting as coroner.