Media statement (3) by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 12^th July 2011: 

No justification for Cabinet to sit on Teoh Beng Hock RCI report for three weeks – calls for immediate release before second death anniversary on 16th July

The Cabinet has been sitting on the Royal Commission of Inquiry report into the death of Teoh Beng Hock for three weeks since it was first submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on June 22, 2011.

This is most inconsiderate to the Teoh Beng Hock family members as well as inefficient, as in developed democracies which fully upholds the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance, Royal Commission of Inquiry reports are invariably made public at the same time they are submitted to the heads of states.

There is no need for the government of the day to study the Royal Commission of Inquiry reports concerned as to whether they are in agreement or otherwise, as the RCI reports are commissioned in the name of the people and country.

If the government has any views and decisions pertaining to findings or recommendations of Royal Commissions of Inquiry, they could be made public subsequently.

As in another four days it will be the second anniversary of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious and unusual death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, the Cabinet should not sit on the Teoh Beng Hock RCI report any further but must act responsibly by releasing it immediately to the public tomorrow itself in line with the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance and in time for Teoh Beng Hock’s second death anniversary.

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