Let the truth be told
By R. Nadeswaran (The Sun)
IT IS well past midnight. Terence Fernandez and I are holed up in a cubicle in central London which is costing us RM500 a night to rest our heads and he goes on a tirade: “We have to take some responsibility for this. We supported the MACC Bill arguing that something is better than nothing and look what has happened?”
Because of the time difference (seven hours) he had earlier filed his commentary on the state of affairs in the graft-busting exercise. His outburst was understandable. Hours earlier, our phones had been buzzing with calls and messages including one which touched my conscience: “The MACC has a dead body on its hands. What say you?”
Terence was given a gentle reminder that it would be a fallacy to pass judgment when you are some 13,000km away from the crime scene. Even if we were there, it would be an exercise in futility speculating how Teoh Beng Hock died. Anything said further on the circumstances leading to his death without evidence would just mean adding fuel to the fire.
That’s not the kind of journalism we practise. By coincidence, we were reminded on Friday morning at the Centre for Investigative Journalism at the City University in London by veteran financial journalist and investigator, Martin Tomlinson, that investigative journalism is based on facts – not comment, gossip or innuendo. The facts, he alluded, must speak for themselves.
Over the past few days, claims and counter-claims have been made by various parties including one on the interrogation techniques and methodology used by the MACC officers. Yet again, it would be wrong to take it as the gospel truth without collaboration or corroborative evidence.
And that is why, our minds wandered to the afternoon of June 10 when Terence and I were given a tour of the offices and operations of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in Hongkong (ICAC).
We were shown rooms where suspects and witnesses had their statements taken. They are equipped with video recording equipment and ICAC’s No. 2, Daniel Li was quick to explain the presence of a convex mirror in a corner of the room. “That mirror will show all the people present in the room and no one can make complaints that our officers were intimidating them while their statements were being recorded.”
At the end of the session, the interviewee is given a copy of the recording (which would help prepare his defence) while the investigating officer gets another and a third is sealed and deposited in the vault. “That’s because if the contents are disputed by the prosecution or the defence, the courts accept the sealed copy as authentic,” said Li.
Since the MACC has been flogging the name of the ICAC and flaunting its legislation as “taken from the ICAC”, one wonders why the methodologies have not been adopted.
While calls for a royal commission of inquiry will continue to be made, what about the various committees set up under the MACC’s auspices?
One death is one too many. Those appointed to the MACC oversight committees shouldn’t wait for another before they start moving. Yes, they can’t bring Teoh back to life or console his distraught parents or the woman he was to marry – but they may prevent more deaths.
They should discuss how statements should be recorded, look at recording all interrogations, look at ways to ensure no one moans and groans after a meeting with the MACC. Why are we taxpayers paying their allowances and for the “kopi and kuih-muih” at their meetings? What benefits have these committees brought since their inception in March?
While I was in the shower Friday morning (3pm Malaysian time), MACC advisory panel member Tan Sri Robert Phang called up Terence to say an emergency meeting is being held by the panel and follow-up action will be taken.
Subsequent events may show that MACC was not responsible for the tragedy, but will the public ever believe that? After all, Teoh for all intents and purposes, was in the care and custody of the MACC at the material time.
On a personal note, my condolences go out to Teoh’s family. I can relate to the grief and agony his loved ones are going through. The same question I asked almost five years ago – why my child? – will be repeated over and over again. From the bottom of my heart, I can only ask for one thing: the truth be told minus the frills and the legalese. That’s the least we could do for someone who lost his life on the eve of his marriage.
R. Nadeswaran stopped commenting on MACC since April after a series of disappointments over its inaction. But he has also met many MACC officers who are passionate about wiping out corruption. He can be reached at [email protected].
