JULY 24 — The announcement of instituting two separate inquiries into the death of Teoh Beng Hock has indeed make a huge mockery of the public outrage, despondency and quest for justice, accountability and transparency.
The decision of the Cabinet for two separate bodies, namely a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to investigate the MACC’s standard operating procedure (SOP) on interrogation-cum-investigation and the inquest to determine the cause of Teoh’s death, is at best puzzling and at worst smacks of bad faith.
Given the already very dented image of the judiciary, any attempt at delegating responsibility to the magistrate (especially if he/she is a junior one, as is usually the case in an inquest) who, while acting as a coroner, has to be assisted by the deputy public prosecutor from the A-G’s office is surely very much unwelcomed by the discerning public.
To make it worse, they have to rely on the investigation of the police, an enforcement agency currently very much wanting in integrity and transparency. Going by the many inquest proceedings of the recent past of deaths in custody, no police officials have been found culpable. Most deaths inevitably were classified “natural causes” or “sudden deaths”. So, will the rakyat be again shortchanged?
It should have dawned on Premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak by now that gone are the days when the rakyat is easily mesmerised by big slogans and rhetoric. It was over with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pak Lah. As for now it is sensible for Najib to understand that if he still insists and bent on shouting slogans, he has just got to live up to them immediately. The rakyat wants to see it in Teoh’s tragic death investigation.
Wouldn’t it be in the best interest of “1 Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” that the Cabinet orders the immediate establishment of a royal commission of inquiry to comprehensively undertake the entire investigation of the SOP of the MACC and the cause of Teoh’s death as the two are, for all intents and purposes, related?
The public not only questions the wisdom or the lack of it in separating the two procedures with their separate terms of reference, but more importantly of the intention to separate the two probes.
Wouldn’t it be in the best interest of “Performance Now” and especially prudent use of taxpayers’ money that the Cabinet orders only one credible and independent RCI of experienced distinguished personalities be instituted as to undertake the comprehensive investigation and everything that surrounded Teoh’s death?
Wouldn’t it also be pertinent in the spirit of “People First” that the Cabinet empathises with the psychological trauma and suffering of the late Teoh’s fiancée and his loved ones as not to subject them to unnecessary further investigation save that of the RCI? Already there were the MACC, PDRM, now perhaps the inquest and finally the RCI. Is that Najib’s style of the mantra “People First”?
Incidentally, you don’t even have to summon a Cabinet meeting to have an inquest in place as it is well provided for by way of provisions in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Are we to conclude that Najib is even weaker and, worse still, more inept than his immediate predecessor? That may spell further doom for this nation.
Many would recall that Pak Lah once had a royal commission in place without having to resort to the Cabinet.
Let it be known to Najib that the rakyat, the citizenry, is less concern of whatever that 1 Malaysia may mean to him and his Cabinet. The real issue now is whether we have what it takes to bring this nation out of the various unending crises and impasse.
The bone of contention now is about strengthening our various “divides” and forge a politically functional administration that upholds the rule of law, democratic values and traditions that manage constructive dissent and differences to propel us into a competitive and viable nation.
The real issue now is not about who can string more big slogans to the already fatigue rakyat, but simply who can inject and attain trust and confidence of the people in reviving all our critical institutions through honesty, integrity and accountability. As BN is still the elected government of the day, it would be wise and pertinent to listen to the voice, resentment, expectation and hopes of the people.
It’s truly not about the vagaries of Najib’s 1 Malaysia, as the tragic death of the Teoh Beng Hock has in fact united the nation into searching our souls of wanting a better Malaysia. That remains the abiding dream of the wira Teoh Beng Hock when he decided to be part of the New Politics of a New Malaysia!
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So, UMNO keep up your propaganda as it will only lead to your self-destruction. Only time will tell.......