TEOH BENG HOCK. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE!

Two days ago, I did not know Teoh Beng Hock existed.

But when a young man in the full flower of youth dies suddenly under mysterious and suspicious circumstances, you have to care. More so, when he was last seen in the custody of officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and he was planning to register his marriage today!

I have already posted in several blogs about the various gaps, contradictions and plain lack of logic in statements made by the MACC leading to the authorities classifying this case, for the moment, as "sudden death" (whether of natural causes or foul, remains to be seen) and possible suicide.

Some issues however need to be ventilated:-

1. Teoh was called up by the MACC to provide information on their investigations into Pakatan Aduns' usage of budget allocations for community projects. He was not a suspect in any wrong doings. So, why was he interrogated continuously from 6 p.m. til 3.45 a.m.?

2. How logical is that after being released from interrogation he would want to "sleep" on a couch in the 11th Floor lobby of MACC HQ at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam from 3.45 a.m. till 6.30 a.m.? A normal person would have immediately phoned his fiance, buddy, brother, father, mother or lawyer to take him home, pronto! And, his own car was still parked at Plaza Masalam! Did the MACC release Teoh's handphone to him?

3. Again, a guy who is due to register his wedding the next day would not exactly hang around the pantry at the MACC if he had been released from interrogation at 3.45 a.m. would he? I mean it's not as though that pantry and office are architectural extravaganzas constituting the 8th Wonder of the World that Teoh would have wanted a free unguided tour of MACC's office premises, would he? What would anyone's urgency be when due to wed the next day? To run to be in the arms of one's fiance or loiter in the offices of one's interrogators? The explanation by MACC of events between 3.45 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. does not gel!!

4. The MACC has offered no explanation as to what happened to Teoh between 6.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. when his dead body was discovered on the roof of the 5-storeyed buiding adjacent to PLaza Masalam, by a cleaner.

This is a crucial gap in Teoh's movements. Is it remotely conceivable that Teoh got up at say, 6.31 a.m., and then wondered around Plaza Masalam without anyone from MACC or other offices, noticing his movements? I mean this was a normal working day and Plaza Masalam is a shopping mall which also houses a branch of the National Registration Department. By 9 a.m., scores of people would have been milling about the Plaza, having breakfast in MacDonalds and in the coffee shops in the commercial areas surrounding Plaza Masalam. Not a soul noticed anything in broad daylight?

4. Photos of the corpse show a torn pants back pocket. I believe this is a very important clue as to what happened. Tears at the back of a dead person's pants do not normally occur unless ripped off from behind by someone; ripped off when a struggle takes place. It's unlikely there were chairs or tables with protruding nails, screws or hooks in the MACC interrogation room to to cause such a tear in Teoh's pants that he decided to throw himself out the windows of the room, in abject shame!

5. There also appears to be no blood on the floor where Teoh's body was found. It normally takes several hours for the blood to pool to the lower parts of a dead body and cause the familiar purplish red discolouration (post mortem lividity) and for rigor mortis (body stiffening) to set in. Thus no blood at the scene of the death suggests the Teoh may have passed away several hours earlier at some other location!

When all is said and done, PM Najib cannot distance himself from this death and leave it to the bumbling and bungling Nazri's and Muhyudin; not if he really believes in his own clarion call for 1 Malaysia. The PEOPLE's confidence in the relevant authorities is now at an all time low and they do not believe that either the TRUTH will emerge or justice prevail if left to 'normal' procedures!

Thus the only way out for the PM will be to set up a truly independent Royal Commission of Inquiry into this death of a truly innocent child of God. But then again, in recent years we have had 2 Royal Commissions of Inquiry, one on the setting up of a Police Complaints Commission and another on corruption in the Judiciary. No action has been taken to-date on the findings and recommendations of these 2 RCI's which is a slap in the face for our King! So, whither Justice?

So, I dedicate this to a young man I never knew and whose death shall not be in vain:

Journey of Hearts A Healing Place in CyberSpace

by Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS

I find an old photograph
and see your smile.
As I feel your presence anew,
I am filled with warmth
and my heart remembers love.

I remember who you used to be
the laughter we shared
and wonder what you have become.
Where are you now,
Where did you go,
When the body is left behind
and the spirit is released to fly?

Perhaps you are the morning bird
singing joyfully at sunrise,
or the butterfly that dances
so carelessly on the breeze
or the rainbow of colors
that brightens a stormy sky
or the fingers of afternoon mist
delicately reaching over the mountains
or the final few rays of the setting sun
lighting up the skies
edging the clouds with a magical glow.

I miss your being
but I feel your presence,
In whatever form you choose to take,
however you now choose to be.
Your spirit has become for me
a guardian angel on high
guiding, advising, and watching over me.
I remember you.
You are with me
and I am not afraid.

dpp