TEOH RCI: ON TRACK TO UNCOVER OR COVER THE TRUTH?

The Royal Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating the incidents and causes of Teoh Beng Hock's death has been meandering along. Although it was scheduled to conclude last month, it has now been extended to the 3rd week of June.

The true objective of the RCI is to find out the causes of Teoh's death and the events surrounding it. But at this point in time it does not seem to be too focused on that as it has taken a very wide angle in fulfilling its purpose.

In the past month, the RCI has only served to reveal the very unsavoury habits of the MACC officers in that they have been watching pornography in their course of duty. This certainly is a dereliction of duty and the MACC officers concerned must be severely reprimanded and even be suspended, but no such thing occured.

Besides that, a MACC security officer named Mohd Khairuddin Denan, aged 56 was "found out" when Bar Council lawyer Cheow Wee requested him to show the Commission a piece of paper that the former was constantly referring to. The piece of paper consisted of a set of hypothetical or anticipated questions that Mohd Khairuddin will be asked by the Bar Council lawyer or Commission panelists together with the furnished answers that Mohd Khairuddin should then give.

With the existence of the these scripted Q&As, it is a clear indication that Mohd Khairuddin has been coached in giving answers. And the fail-safe reply in case he does not know how to answer the questions posed was 'Yang Arif menyoal saya di luar bidang tugas saya. Saya pengawal keselamatan' (Your honour you are questioning me on something beyond my job scope. I am a security officer) written at the back of his 'reference' paper.

According to DAP's Seremban MP John Fernandez, it is acceptable for the witness to refer to a piece of paper when answering questions provided that it is done with the court's permission. A better move would be for the witness to put away the paper altogether.

"This shows that the credibility of the witness is in doubt and therefore not much weight will be given to his testimony," John, who is a lawyer by profession, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Deviated from objective

However in the past week, the line of questioning at the RCI seems to be focused on whether Teoh Beng Hock and his boss DAP's Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah were on the take in regards to the awarding of projects and contracts.

This line of questioning seems to imply that perhaps Teoh committed 'honourable suicide' to protect Ean Yong and DAP. Contractors who took on public service projects were grilled by the MACC Counsel but everything was revealed to be within confines of the law.

Be that as it may, the focus of the RCI is not to find out whether Teoh was on the take, but on how he died and the circumstances pertaining to it. For argument's sake, even if he was on the take, he should have been charged in court and not victimised by MACC but that is a moot point now as all the evidence so far has indicated that he is an innocent party.

"The Royal Commission of Inquiry must not divert from its purpose and that is to find out how and why Teoh Beng Hock died. As this is a case of public interest, MACC must fight against the negative perception surrounding it now and emerge once again as an institution to be respected by all as it goes about fulfilling its noble aims and duties," said the Seremban MP.

Political implications

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has promised the Teoh family that he will leave no stone unturned in the quest to uncover the truth and the rakyat (populace) demands it that he keeps his promise.

Moreover, till now MACC's Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are still shrouded in great secrecy. The public demands more transparency on the agency's basic procedures at the very least.

Political observers have noted that prior to Teoh's death, the MACC was launching a crackdown on Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen in Selangor and Ean Yong was one of them. The crackdown only stopped with the advent of Teoh's death.

Whatever the verdict of the RCI, it is going to be difficult. This will be a hot issue from the political point of view as Teoh was working for the DAP and this is an unavoidable fact.

MCA, which is DAP's arch rival, will do well to take note of this.

Sumber : DISINI