Thousands petition for royal inquiry at Teoh memorial rally
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, The Malaysian Insider
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders today rallied thousands of their supporters today with fiery rhetoric and demanded the government establish a royal inquiry into the death of Teoh Beng Hock.
Led by DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, they laid the blame for Teoh’s death on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Teoh, political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 outside the MACC office in Shah Alam. The 30-year-old was earlier questioned over alleged abuse of public funds by his boss.
The crowd began slowly to stream in for the Teoh Beng Hock memorial at Stadium Kelana Jaya here at 4pm.
The situation was calm with no visible police presence and people brought their families to show support for Teoh.
White carnations were distributed to the crowd while most present signed a petition urging MACC and Barisan National (BN) take responsibility for Teoh’s death, and to call for a royal commission of inquiry.
The memorial began with the crowd observing a moment of silence.
The normally soft-spoken DAP vice president Tunku Aziz did not mince his words in attacking Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“Forget Najib’s 1 Malaysia, we have 1 black Malaysia. We will die for a better Malaysia where there is equal opportunity for all,” he told the crowd. “We should tell the government that we do not trust them anymore.”
The people listen as Pakatan Rakyat leaders harangued the government over its complicity in Teoh Beng Hock's tragics death. – Picture by Jack Ooi
Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar also attacked Najib and wanted him to explain to Malaysians what happened to Teoh.
“We want Najib Razak to answer to Selangor people, Teoh’s parents, Malaysians … what the hell is going on?” he thundered.
Datuk Husam Musa, a member of PAS’s central working committee, was also present to show support and told the crowd that Teoh’s life was as valuable as any Malay, in an apparent reference to a story in Umno-controlled Berita Harian today which equated criticism against MACC as an attack on Malay institutions.
