By CT Wong | 19 August 2011
CPIAsia

Extracts from Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Enquiry:

Decision on the second term of reference:

[119] Having considered all the evidence in its entirety, we found that TBH was driven to commit suicide by the aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation to which he was subjected by certain officers of the MACC who were in the ongoing operation by the Selangor MACC on the night of the 15th and into the morning of the 16th.

– Forensic psychiatric aspects

[233] Tormented by this predicament, TBH experienced a change in his state of mind. And in a matter of hours, this change transformed him from being in the low-risk group for suicide into the high-risk group. The doubts, extreme emotional conflict and the immense feeling of guilt were all intolerable. Finally, precipitating the irreversible crisis that happened to him between 3.30am and 7.00am on the 16th, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Finding no viable strategies to surmount the hurdle of accusations levelled, he found himself unable to escape from the suffocating quagmire in which he was trapped. TBH would have felt trapped and have succumbed to despair. Since the window on the 14th floor was either open or could be easily opened and it was conspicuous and easily accessible near where he was on the sofa outside Nasdzri’s room, TBH would have found that the only way for escape from the torment he was undergoing was by jumping out of the window, even though it meant taking his own life….”

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A great flaw of the Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report is its failure to affix responsibility for Beng Hock’s death on the MACC although there were evidence galore before the RCI proceedings.

It was not just persons, namely various MACC officers led by Hishammuddin Hashim the then Selangor MACC Deputy Director and the “mastermind” of the illegal and massive 33-officer MACC “operation”, who must bear responsibility for Beng Hock’s death but also the institution of MACC as well.

The RCI report only made oblique references to the MACC’s role and responsibility for Beng Hock’s death without going for the jugular to pinpoint directly to MACC’s liability and responsibility.

This is most unsatisfactory and an abdication of responsibility of the TBH RCI on its specific term of reference “to enquire into the death of Teoh Beng Hock and the circumstances surrounding and contributing to his death”. Read the rest of this entry »

The James Foong Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the death of Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) that “TBH was driven to commit suicide by the aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation by certain officers of the MACC”(Para 119) is not acceptable as it is mere speculation and not backed up by evidence.

There are however six reasons from the RCI report why a high-level special investigation squad should be formed to break the conspiracy of “blue wall of silence” (RCI Report) of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers to pinpoint and to bring to book Beng Hock’s killers.

1.The TBH RCI was most scathing in its indictment of the character and testimony of the MACC officers especially from Selangor at the RCI. Apart from two brave and truthful souls from Selangor MACC, i.e. Azeem Hafeez Jamaluddin and Azlan (Para 176), the TBH RCI virtually dismissed the rest as a pack of liars led by Hishamuddin Hashim (HH), the “mastermind” of the massive and unjustified operation which resulted in TBH’s death. Read the rest of this entry »

By CPI | 27 July 2011

What is most telling about the Royal Commission report on Teoh Beng Hock is its total neglect of the two major structural factors accounting for the tragedy – the Umno and MACC agenda convergence, and the racist character of the civil service.

These ingredients together created a scenario where it is difficult to escape the implications that our independent public institutions, like the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, are neither independent nor public.

It is unsettling to see the MACC operate as a tool of the state. It could be even more unsettling if there was perversion in the MACC’s function such that it resembles the interrogation unit of the secret police as found in some autocracies.

A deconstruction of events leading and consequent to the deadly outcome is necessary to assess the repercussions of Teoh’s tragedy.
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By Marcus van Geyzel (loyarburok.com) | July 25, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 25 — As the news filtered in on Thursday that the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Death of Teoh Beng Hock (“the TBH RCI”) had issued its findings, the conclusions seemed simple enough. The TBH RCI concluded that Teoh Beng Hock had been driven to commit suicide due to interrogation by 3 MACC officers in a manner that was “aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous”. It seemed straightforward.

The newspaper reports of the findings were simple — after considering the evidence (70 witnesses, 750 pages of written submission, 19,200 pages of written testimonies, and 256 exhibits) before them, these learned members of the TBH RCI had come to this clear conclusion.
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