theSun | TUESDAY JULY 21 2009 3

news without borders

Teoh died 4-5 hours

before body
found, say police
SHAH ALAM: Police said yes-
terday political aide Teoh Beng
Hock, who fell to his death
from the Selangor Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission
headquarters in Plaza Masalam,
Section 9 here on Thursday,
had died between four and five
hours before his body was found
by a janitor on the balcony of the
fifth floor.
Selangor police chief DCP
Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said
this was discovered in a post
mortem conducted at Tengku
Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in
Klang.
He said police have recorded
statements from 33 people,
including 22 MACC personnel.
Khalid said investigators are
almost certain Teoh had fallen
from MACC’s office on the 14th
floor as they had found parts of
a window next to Teoh’s body.
He said the parts were from a
window at the MACC office.
He also said Teoh’s hand-
and according to him, police will
also record conversations with
his family at an appropriate
time.
Police also want to record
conversations with Kajang
municipal council member Tan
Boon Wah as he had made a
police report against the MACC
last Saturday but refused to give
a statement, he said.
He said if Tan continued
to refuse to give a statement,
police will take further action
against him for making a false
report.
Besides that, he said, police
would call two people who were
with Tan and Teoh, who were
questioned by the MACC on the
same day.
Asked about the things taken
from the Selangor MACC office
yesterday, Khalid said his men
revisited the scene and gathered
what had been left on the first Anwar SHARIL AMIN/THESUN
day of the incident. (centre)
On Sunday evening, police leads PR

1,500 turn up for funeral

phone never went missing but
was handed over to police by an
MACC investigating officer a day
after the incident.
Bernama reported Khalid
as saying police will call Teoh’s
“boss” – state executive coun-
cillor Ean Yong Hian Wah – and
Kota Alam Shah assemblyman
M. Manoharan to record their
statements.
Khalid said Teoh was found to
have contacted Yong and Mano-
haran before he was questioned
took documents and a window
latch from the 14th floor for
investigation.
At noon yesterday, Inspec-
tor-General of Police Tan Sri
Musa Hassan, who turned up at
the Selangor contingent police
headquarters for a briefing,
told reporters the probe into
Teoh’s death was about 60%
complete.
He said police will keep the
media updated on the progress
of the investigations.
colleagues
in paying
their last
respects
to Teoh.
COLLEAGUES SAY THEY WILL DO EVERYTHING TO ENSURE
THAT JUSTICE IS SERVED
by Charles Ramendran “You will not be forgotten.There
newsdesk@thesundaily.com are no words to contain our sadness
and anger. All Malaysians grieve
ALOR GAJAH: The death of 30- your loss and we extend our con-
year-old political secretary Teoh dolences to your family, your ‘wife’

MCA spokesman says Beng Hock will not be in vain as

statement not his
by Giam Say Khoon
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: MCA spokes-
man Lee Wei Kiat lodged a
police report yesterday saying
a statement on the death of
Teoh Beng Hock, quoting him,
was not his.
The statement had quoted
him as saying Teoh, who was
found dead in a building hous-
ing the Selangor Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission
(MACC) headquarters on
Thursday, may have commit-
ted suicide because of his guilt
and that the MACC should not
be held responsible.
At a press conference after
lodging the report at the Kota
Damansara police station, Lee
regretted that his name was
used by unscrupulous parties
to destroy his and the party’s
reputation, and to add more
sorrow to Teoh’s family who
are grieving his death.
“Such a deed showed no
respect to Teoh and his family.
I had, on Saturday, represented
MCA to urge the police and
MACC to conduct a thorough
investigation, and the govern-
ment to set up a royal com-
mission, to find out the truth,”
he said.
A participant in a forum on
www.the freemedia.com had
quoted Lee as concluding that
Teoh had committed suicide
and his death had nothing to
do with the MACC. The state-
ment had also quoted him as
saying Teoh died because he
was guilty and there was no
need to sympathise with him.
The participant later asked
that the statement be removed
from the website because he
was not sure about its authen-
ticity, and apologised for any
inconvenience caused.
Lee, who is the MCA in-
formation chief and a central
committee member, said he
had never written the state-
ment and had never published
it on his blog (leeweikiat.
blogspot.com), as claimed by
the forum participant.
It was reported that Selan-
gor state executive councillor
Ean Yong Hian Wah, who had
engaged Teoh as a political
secretary, had demanded that
MCA state its stand on the
statement, and for MCA presi-
dent Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat
to resign if the statement was
true.
Lee said he could un-
derstand how Ean Yong felt
about Teoh’s death but his
act to criticise MCA based on
a “bogus” statement showed
the DAP leader was a careless
politician.
“I only issue MCA state-
ments to credible print and
electronic media as well as
uploading them on the MCA
website (www.mca.org.my)
and my blog. I have never
issued any statement to any
anonymous forum like thefree-
media,” he said.
Lee demanded an apology
from Ean Yong and thefree-
media, and hoped police will
track down the person who
produced the statement.
Grieving parents Teoh Liang Fai and Cheong Sui Hua
take a final look at Teoh’s body.
Soh
brought
tears to
the eyes Despicable, says Gerakan
of many
with her
KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan expressed
eulogy.
revulsion against those who turned
the death of Teoh Beng Hock into a
racial issue, decribing their acts as
“irresponsible” and “despicable”.
Gerakan vice-president Datuk Mah
Siew Keong said such racial-based
perspective is against any known trait
of human intelligence.
He said Teoh’s death should not be
his colleagues and Pakatan Rakyat
comrades vowed at his funeral
yesterday they will do all it takes to
ensure justice is served.
More than 1,500 people, includ-
ing leaders of Pakatan Rakyat,
turned up at Teoh’s house in Taman
Seri Kelemek here from 9am to pay
their last respects.
Teoh was the political secretary
to Seri Kembangan assemblyman
Ean Yong Hian Wah. He was also
a former journalist.
Banners and posters calling on
the authorities to get to the bottom
of the incident were hung on the
canopies, and badges were handed
out to those at the funeral.
The mood was sombre and
many were brought to tears when
Teoh’s fiancee, Soh Sher Wei, 28,
whom he was to marry this week,
read an eulogy.
When she finished, the grief-
striken school teacher, who is two
months pregnant, was helped to
her seat by several relatives.
The ceremony according to
Taoist rites went on for about 45
minutes before the casket was put
on a hearse at about 10.30am.
Seputeh MP Teresa Kok paid
tribute to Teoh in her speech,
praising him as someone whose
ambition and dreams were to see
a “better Malaysia”.
seen as an issue of racial prejudice, but
as an issue concerning the “independ-
ence, transparency and dependability
of our institutions of governance”.
“More than ever, what people want
now is the truth. Truth is the truth and
it does not carry the label of Malay,
Chinese or Indian. The outcry that
we see now is the outpouring of the
people’s feelings towards the nation’s
and your unborn child,” she said.
PR leader Datuk Seri Anwar
Ibrahim arrived with former health
minister Datuk Seri Chua Jui
Meng, who joined the coalition on
Saturday. Also present were DAP
chairman Karpal Singh, Penang
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, DAP
veteran Lim Kit Siang, PAS Youth
chief Salahuddin Ayub and other
PR assemblymen.
The procession accompanied
the hearse for about 1km before
Teoh’s body was taken to Nirvana
Memorial Park in Semenyih, Ka-
jang for burial.
Karpal said the DAP would file
a summons in court this week
against the MACC for a declaration
of the parameters in which it can
question witnesses.
He said Kajang municipal coun-
cillor Tan Boon Hwa, who was at
the Selangor MACC headquarters
in Shah Alam at the same time that
Teoh was there, will testify on what
he was put through by MACC offic-
ers during his questioning.
Kit Siang urged the government
to set up a Royal Commission to
investigate the incident and called
for the revamp of the MACC.
“The MACC is supposed to be
a independent body but they are
biased. We call on the prime min-
ister to take action for the commis-
sion to be revamped,” he said.
sacrosanct institutions, which is one
of doubt and loss of confidence,” he
said.
Mah was referring to a columnist
in a Bahasa Malaysia daily who wrote
that the people “should not call for the
demolition of our institutions and not
feed on the words of certain people
whose agenda was to question the
capabilities of Malays”.