As death in custody cases continue to take place in the country five years after the death of Teoh Beng Hock, the anger of the rakyat has not put pressure on the government to force it to reform the system, opines political analyst Wong Chin Huat.

Wong said according to a reply in Parliament, there were 1,805 cases of custodial deaths before Beng Hock’s case and most of them were not noticed by the people and nobody was going to bear any responsibility.

After Beng Hock’s tragic death, he said, such cases continued to occur, and Wong cited the death of Customs officer Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed in the compound of the Federal Territory office of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as an example.

“Why? Because our society is not angry enough to stop such cruelty,” Wong ( right ) said at a memorial event for Teoh Beng Hock at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) yesterday.

He said Beng Hock was a victim of “two kinds” under the system, for he was the victim of political persecution as well as victim of death in custody.

He pointed out that the setting up of the trust fund , the “Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy” by the ‘Malaysians for Beng Hock’ support group, was aimed to eliminate such deaths from recurring.

'Beng Hock's case has opened our eyes'

“We want to tell our society that we will not allow such injustice to continue to happen. We want the family members of such custodial death victims to understand that they are not alone.

“If we pretended to see nothing before Beng Hock’s case, his case has opened our eyes and has made us willing to support the families of other victims.

“I think that the pain suffered by his family will make us become a member of Beng Hock’s family, in the broader sense.

“Let us fulfil the wishes of (Teoh) Lee Lan and the Teoh family, let Beng Hock’s tragedy end all such tragedies,” added Wong, who also one of the board members of the trust fund.

Other speakers at the event were Beng Hock younger sister Lee Lan, Parti Sosialis Malaysia president Dr Nasir Hashim and KLSCAH president Tan Yew Sin.

Beng Hock, 30, who was political aide to a Selangor state executive councillor, was found dead on the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009.

Prior to this, he was interrogated at the Selangor headquarters of the MACC on the 14th floor of the same building.

The coroner’s inquest and the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into Beng Hock’s death, which respectively ruled “open verdict” and “suicide”, were both rejected by his family, who believe that criminal elements were involved in the death.

However, MACC confirmed that it would not take any disciplinary actions against the three officers, who were named by the RCI for allegedly causing the suicide of Beng Hock.

Yesterday’s memorial  event also saw the launch of a novel titled Surat Dari Syurga (Letters from Heaven), written by book publisher Faisal Mustaffa.

Faisal, who is also the director of a play titled ‘Beng Hock’, wrote this book from a first-person perspective of the late Beng Hock.

His book tells the whole episode of the tragedy and includes communication from Beng Hock’s fiancée Sor Cher Wei, his former boss Selangor exco member Ean Yong Hian Wah, Lee Lan and others.

Lee Lan told the audience that she would not able to forget that her brother died with both fists clenched.

As the MACC found the three of its officers cleared of indiscipline, she said, ironically, “that after five years of trial, I find that an unjust case can be orchestrated to perfection”.