Lawyers for Liberty today called on the police and the Defence Ministry to expedite investigations into the death of a navy cadet at the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) base in Lumut, Perak.

LFL advisor N Surendran told a press conference that the victim, Soosaimanicckam Joseph, 27, died on May 19, just a week after he was enlisted, and began his training at the base.

According to Surendran, a post-mortem on the deceased shows that he had died from excess fluid in his lungs.

However, there have been no further explanations regarding Soosai's death despite two police reports lodged by his family, as well as an internal inquiry conducted by TLDM.

“Until today, there has been no satisfactory explanation given by the navy as to why this young man died.

“We understand they did some internal inquiry, but the family was not called for the inquiry, so it does not seem like a serious inquiry at all,” the lawyer said.

Surendran also read out to reporters, a WhatsApp message sent by Soosai to his brother the day after he was enrolled into the naval base, in which he had alleged torture.

"We all tortured until 4am. Sleep only give one hour, but I did not sleep the one hour given, noisy (sic)," the message read.

Such allegations raised questions as to what was really going on at the naval base, noted Surendran.

"What sort of training is being done there? What sort of regiment is being carried out there? How can a perfectly healthy young man drop dead after only being there for seven days?

"What I find remarkable is that this (issue) has remained quiet and the navy is not able to give any kind of explanation to the family. I mean, they just lost a young man with his future ahead of him,” Surendran said, adding that Soosai was a recent electrical engineering graduate.

Soosai's eldest brother Charles Joseph told reporters the deceased held a high-paying engineering job, but had wanted to get into the navy for the past five years, as he has always wanted to serve the country.

With no answers and no signs of closure, Surendran urged the navy, the police, as well as the Defence Ministry, to conduct an immediate probe into the issue.

“They must immediately step in and find out what’s happening in this navy base because this is a matter of life and death. We don’t want this to happen to anyone else.

“What has happened to Soosaimanicckam, there is no guarantee that it cannot happen to other trainees,” he said, reminding reporters of the two other seamen who died in the same navy base last September, both due to bleeding of the lungs.