Shoddy treatment of Teoh’s family shows MCA’s fear of Umno
By Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
Pakatan Rakyat leaders condemned the police and the MCA for bad faith in arresting Teoh Lee Lan, the sister of the late Beng Hock, for distributing pamphlets in Galas containing information about the high number of suspicious and unexplained deaths under government remand.
The MCA or Malaysian Chinese Association is part of the ruling BN coalition and has often been accused of betraying the community it says it represents for the sake of retaining favor with Umno, which is Prime Minister Najib Razak’s party.
“This is clear manifestation of the desperation felt by Umno. We have reason to believe that they and their BN running dogs instigated the police to arrest Beng Hock’s sister,” Bukit Gantang MP and PAS central committee member Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.
“The Chinese support for BN is fast dwindling and if there anyone left who still thinks the MCA can stand up for Malaysian Chinese, they must be hallucinating. Not only has the MCA shut the door on the injustice suffered by Beng Hock, no one even seems surprised that they can report his sister to the police. Imagine, just a day before that, MCA supporters even assaulted his brother in law!”
MCA terrified of Umno
A by-election is taking place in Galas, where PAS contestant Dr Dzulkefli Mohamad is pitted in a straight fight against Umno’s Abdul Aziz Yusof. It is a small constituency of some 10,330 voters, of which 22.3 percent are Chinese, 65 percent Malay, 11 percent Orang Asli and about 2 percent Indian.
Although the state seat is part of Gua Musang, an Umno stronghold, a swing in Chinese and Malay sentiment helped PAS win the seat in the 2008 general election with a slim 646-vote margin. With balloting due on Thursday, Nov 4, there is enormous pressure on MCA to swing the Chinese vote back to the BN camp.
“Leafleting or even campaigning is not illegal. Why can’t the BN leaders hear what Lee Lan and her group wish to say? What is the MCA so afraid of? This is just a group of youths who want to highlight the injustice done to Beng Hock,” PKR information chief Latheefa Koya told Malaysia Chronicle.
“But the truth is the MCA is terrified of Umno. It dares not to speak out. It doesn’t even dare to be seen as sympathizing with Beng Hock’s family, what more the issue of high remand deaths.”
Leafleting, even campaigning is not illegal
Beng Hock was a 30-year old Selangor political officer when he died in suspicious circumstances in 2009 after overnight interrogation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. His family believes he was tortured and died as a result of rough interrogation by the MACC, which was trying to hang a string of corruption allegations on top Pakatan Rakyat leaders in Selangor. Umno has been accused of hatching the plot and instigating the MACC probe in a bid to topple the Pakatan Selangor state government.
