Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 25, 11

‘Whether they committed suicide or not, MACC cannot be excused from the responsibility of having taken the lives of those two people.’

Teoh’s ‘suicide’ – fact or fantasy?

TKC: From the outset, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Teoh Beng Hock was compromised. The original terms of reference (TOF1) was only to inquire into the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) procedures, but after much pressure, they included the second TOF2 to ascertain the cause of Teoh Beng Hock’s death.

Had the scope been restricted to TOF1 only, it would have been rather easy for the RCI because it was glaringly obvious that MACC procedures were rotten to the core and would require an overhaul.

But TOF2 was much harder to handle. RCI could not, and should not, return a verdict of homicide because it would have been too controversial.

So, for many weeks we had to watch the circus of RCI clowns half-heartedly “interrogating” the MACC officers, ignored their blatant lying (perjury) and whenever the officers cried or had their back pushed against the wall by the Bar Council lawyers, RCI head James Foong relieved the pressure by changing subjects or calling for recess.

RCI, please do not take us for fools.

Kassim: I reject the royal commission of inquiry’s conclusion that Teoh Beng Hock’s death was a suicide. I do not buy the spin intended to cover up the puppet master in the shadows.

The panel skilfully sidestepped the question as to who gave the instruction to start investigations based on a mere belief, without facts or evidence.

Onyourtoes: Since everybody, including the royal commission of inquiry, Utusan Malaysia and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Aziz are full of opinions with few facts, I am also entitled to one.

I believe these three MACC officers, like many others in the inner sanctum of government agencies, are overzealous racists bent at bullying and torturing Chinese politicians and their aides.

They want confessions to wrongdoings that were not there. So they held him by his belt and put him out of the window and forced him to admit, just like sometimes we saw in movies. The belt snapped and Teoh Beng Hock fell to his death.

Was this murder? Perhaps not. Is this manslaughter? Of course.

But Nazri has said the MACC should be faulted for not following procedures. No, minister Nazri, it is more than that. MACC should be held accountable for bullying and extreme torture.

Kgen: Only one night of interrogation to drive a healthy, sane man to commit suicide – Hitler’s Gestapo would be shamed. And if the victim is a man who is looking forward to getting married the next day, Hitler’s Gestapo would be dying to learn how MACC accomplished it.

It’s obvious that the spineless RCI members were ordered to give the verdict of suicide. The order forgot to tell them to be gentle on MACC.

Anonymous: This looks like a cover-up for a botched interrogation/attempted coercion which went awry, and taken way beyond MACC’s charter and SOP (standard operating procedures) provisions.

Agree, RCI report conclusion is way off the mark. TBH (Teoh Beng Hock) did not have any plausible reasons to commit suicide. He simply had to die to cover up their tracks, but MACC’s ‘cleaner(s)’ unfortunately did not do a proper job.

Call it what you like, TBH’s blood is on MACC’s hands. Any attempt to justify MACC’s action, and attribute TBH’s death to a another party is pure conjecture and does not make sense at all.

Ipoh2: I work with people with mental health issues. This RCI report is not just fantasy and wild imagination but also hallucination, delusion, and close to schizophrenic.

Good men: This is by far the best response I have read so far relating to the recently revealed RCI conclusion.

The RCI report is another BN project, and a work of fantasy that only they themselves and the most unthinking person would believe.

One does not commit suicide so easily. However, when Pakatan Rakyat takes over the reins of government, there may well be many in Umno who might need to consider such an option before their misdeeds are all exposed.

RAW: Lately, within a very short span of time, two people who went to MACC did not come out alive. Whether they committed suicide or not, MACC cannot be excused from the responsibility of having taken the lives of those two people.

Something is terribly wrong at MACC.

DAP: MACC suspensions too little, too late

Multi Racial: Those MACC officers mentioned in the RCI report do not have any credibility left and it is best to remove them.

Those involved in the murder of Teoh, directly or indirectly, have to be prosecuted to the maximum of the law. If the attorney-general does not doing anything, maybe he too should be replaced with someone who is willing to act without fear or favour.

Democracy: The whole of MACC cannot be trusted. Dissolve the MACC rather than try to repair the irreparable. Then form a new MACC devoid of any of its former staff. Only then can we start a fresh.

Fairplayer: MACC should be dissolved. All MACC is capable of doing thus far is snuffing out lives. Does MACC stand for ‘Murder at Chief’s Command’?