Gerakan: Get to the truth in Teoh’s death
Written by Yong Min Wei, The Edge
Gerakan has urged the government to have a thorough and deeper investigation into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock following the testimony of renowned Thai forensic pathologist Dr Porntip Rojanasunan at the inquest on Wednesday.
Its vice-president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said the testimony by Pornthip that there was an 80% probability that Teoh’s death was a homicide was very disturbing, adding the real cause of death must be ascertained and the public must be informed.
He pointed out that the government must seriously consider Porntip’s expert opinion and extend to her its full cooperation, stressing that the government should tap her experience and expertise for the case.
“As this case is being watched by the whole country, justice must not only be done but must seen to be done in a transparent way,” Mah said in statement yesterday.
Porntip, the director-general of the Thai Ministry of Justice’s Central Institute of Forensic Science, had also told the inquest that the wounds around Teoh’s anal region were likely caused by penetration rather than post-impact bone protrusions.
Meanwhile, Gerakan Youth chief Lim Si Pin when contacted said the party would consider if there was a need to request for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate Teoh’s death only after the verdict of the inquest has been delivered.
“Our stand now is that we still need more transparency in finding out the cause of death,” he told The Edge Financial Daily.
Lim said although Porntip’s expert testimony might not be “conclusive evidence”, it had nevertheless cast doubts on suicide as the cause of death and had contradicted the testimony of two local senior consultant pathologists that Teoh might have deliberately jumped from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Shah Alam.
On the possible exhumation of Teoh’s remains for another post-mortem, he said this should only be done if the Thai pathologist could convince the inquiry that it was absolutely necessary to study the body and adduce such evidence to determine the cause of death.
“Exhumation will be painful to the family members who have come to terms with his death,” said Lim, adding that such a move might bring more discomfort and reopen wounds.
It was reported that Teoh’s family members would study the implications of Pornthip’s evidence before deciding if they would apply for the political aide’s body to be exhumed.
Teoh, the political aide to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the fifth floor landing of Shah Alam’s Plaza Masalam, which houses the MACC office on the 14th floor.
He was held overnight by the MACC for questioning in relation to alleged abuse of state allocations by several Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen.
