Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 8^th January 2011: 

Cabinet next week must ensure that Teoh Beng Hock's death at MACC hqrs 18 months ago does not end up as "a heinous crime without criminals"

More than 25 years ago, the term “heinous crime without criminals” referred to the first biggest financial scandal in the country, the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal – when no one was held criminally responsible in the country for the financial malpractices, abuses of power and gross breach of criminal trust even though it claimed one innocent life, the cold-blooded murder of the young BMF Asst General Manager in Hong Kong, Jalil Ibrahim.

The Cabinet next week must ensure that Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death at Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissio (MACC) Hqrs in Shah Alam 18 months ago on July 16, 2009 does not end up as a “heinous crime without criminals” following Wednesday’s Open Verdict of the inquest into Teoh’s death.

MCA President Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Lek has expressed full support for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement on the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry, saying that the move showed that the Government was transparent and sensitive to the case.

This statement is testimony that the MCA President is completely insensitive to the sense of despair, outrage and consternation, felt not only by the bereaved and aggrieved members of the Teoh Beng Hock family that their 18-month agonizing wait for justice and closure had been in vain with the “Open Verdict” of the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, but that of the ordinary Malaysians as well.

Can Chua explain how the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry specifically excluded from investigating the cause of Teoh’s death but only confined to the investigation procedures of MACC could help in uncovering the cause of Teoh’s death – taking a further step in pursuing the inquest finding excluding suicide as the cause of Teoh’s death and the important finding of Teoh’s prefall neck injury?

The MCA and all other Ministers next Wednesday must ensure that the Royal Commission of Inquiry is not a farce, not only in terms of reference and scope of investigations but also in membership – a RCI that Malaysians want and not one which started off without credibility or public support whatsoever.

Will MCA Ministers agree if the Attorney-General’s objective is to seek a revision of the “Open Verdict” of the Teoh Beng Hock inquest to revise it to one of “death by suicide”?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor