Nation shocked by death plunge
The food court was filling up in the late evening coolness of Cheras on Thursday. People from the tables around me were doing what I had just done, sauntering over to the newspapers vendor and picking up the evening edition of the next day's China Daily News.
They would return to the table and glanced at the front page, inevitably letting out a cry of shock, “Ean Yong Ian Wah's secretary died at MACC!” Everyone around the table would stare in disbelief, confusion, and anxiety. The newspaper was passed around the table. A whispered discussion then followed.
I imagined the scene repeating itself at dinner tables all around the country, with Malaysians sharing their silent explosion of outrage. Thinking about the ill-fated young man's parents, siblings and his grieving fiancée, I suddenly felt very sad and depressed.
Early the next morning, the rage and shock were boiling over on the Internet. On the blog 'Hornbill Unleashed', Pak Bui was associating the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock, 30, with that of A Kugan and Adi Anwar. Comments on many blogs expressed a universal condemnation of the MACC.
The first natural reaction would be: did Teoh commit suicide because he could not handle the heat of the intense investigation?
The possibility of suicide is nil. This young man was to have his marriage with his long-time girlfriend registered the next day. He was called in for questioning as a witness, and not as a suspect.
The alleged crime is too minor for any offender to contemplate suicide, even if he were to be charged. Besides, you can fault DAP leaders and members for many things, but you cannot fault them for cowardice.
How then did he fall to his death from the 14th floor? All kinds of theories flourish on the Internet. The most imaginative one has to be from controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin. Prejudiced speculations will spread like wild fire in the days ahead throughout the country.
