Unless you've been living under a rock, you would know today's headlines screams "POLITICAL SECRETARY FOUND DEAD AT MACC'S OFFICE".
The body of Teoh Hock Beng, 30, was found dead on the 5th floor of the MACC office building. As of 9pm yesterday, his body was still in the same position and on the same floor with police swarming around it. God only knows why nobody removed the body which had been discovered since 1.30pm.
Of course everybody (who cared enough to wonder about our stinky political scene) speculated that this was not a simple case of Teoh being under pressure after being questioned by the MACC on the probe into allegations of misuse of allocations by several state assemblymen, thereby taking his own life. He was taken into questioning since Wednesday evening and was only released (only to be told to come back the next day with documents) at 3.45am. (I didn't know Government/Government controlled officers worked past 4.30pm)
How can this man, who was to be married the next day to his fiancee, and described by many colleagues and ex colleagues as a man with "faith in life" and one who was "strong", could have possibly taken his own life and over this issue which the MACC has alleged "did not involved him, but he was merely a witness to it."?
Many questions are left unanswered.
Some things that pop up in my head:-
1. Ean Yong, the Seri Kembangan state assemblyman, and also employer of Teoh, was not allowed to speak to him when he went to MACC at around midnight and was also not informed of his death.
2. Teoh apparently loitered around the building after he was released from questioning. In the first place, why would MACC officers allow a person brought in for questioning loiter around their office? And at 3.45am in the morning?
3. How can the MACC building not have any CCTVs?The court complex has it. Even apartments have it. Small mini markets have it. Hotels have it. Most government offices have it. But MACC does not? Weird.
And I find it really amusing that Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said police would conduct a thorough investigation into Teoh’s death and pledged “no cover-up.”
They actually have to pledge that there will be no cover up. It makes me wonder about the faith that we have in our authorities on their professionalism. The police have to make a pledge that there will be no cover up because the majority of us already know/feel that there will/may be some form of cover up. After all, this involves a member of the opposition party. Not the government in power.
I wouldn't be surprise if the initial classification of "sudden death" remains. And now that Teoh has passed, nobody outside of the MACC will ever know what he had to say about this whole fiasco. For me, its not even about whodunnit. Because I do not want to speculate. However I wonder why a man aged 30, would kill himself (if he had done so) on the eve of his marriage registration? What happened in the MACC office during questioning? What happened between the hours of 345am to 6am (last seen alive) to make this man want to take his life? Or for someone else to take away his life? What type of political filth are we currently dealing with that a man had to resort to killing himself/be killed? I tremble at the thought.
So many questions we hope we will get answers too. Because a dead man cannot speak. We can only cross our fingers that those who are tasked to find evidence to speak on his behalf, will be honest, truthful and have a conscience to ensure justice is done.
However today I am comforted by the fact that perhaps, DSAI would actually have a fair trial before Justice Zabidin Mohd Diah. Finally, a judge who recognises that under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Accused is allowed access to witness statements. For years, us defence lawyers have been fighting for access to these statements. Simply because a man on trial, who is entitled to a fair trial, should know what these people have said AGAINST him or FOR him. But all these while, the prosecution had reserved the element of surprise. If there is something against the Accused, the use it in FULL FORCE, if there is anything FOR the Accused, its classified "privileged".
I say it is about time Malaysia buck up. We are so far behind in the development of the law we should all be ashamed.
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