Malaysiakini readers respond to Najib's announcement of a Royal Commission of Inquiry on MACC interrogation methods and a Court Inquest into the "sudden death" of Teoh Beng Hock...
What is the PM's role in this 'witch-hunt'?
July 24, 09 12:56pm
On Cabinet approves royal commission:
GH Kok: The cabinet has finally agreed to set up the royal commission of inquiry. However, as I have expected, the terms of reference of the commission falls far short of what is needed.
As reported in the media, the royal commission is to "look into the MACC's investigative procedures and to determine if there were any human rights violations when Teoh was being interrogated." Well, this is the very least that the royal commission should do but this is surely not enough!
We want to know who gave the instruction to the MACC to launch a witch-hunt against the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government that triggered a chain of events that led to the torture and death of Teoh Beng Hock.
We know that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission reports directly to Prime Minister Najib. We want to know what role the prime minister played in this witch-hunt.
We want the head of MACC to take the stand and answer these questions: who instructed him to start hounding the seven Pakatan Rakyat Aduns (state reps)? What instructions did they give him? What did they ask him to do? What did they ask him to find or fabricate as the case may be? What compelled him to order his officers to raid the Aduns service centres, take away files from the district offices, pull up mosque officials in Puchong for questioning, interrogate for eight hours a Kajang municipal councillor, interrogate an Adun's assistant for four hours, and finally cause the death of a courageous young man?
We, the people, want to know the truth. We want to hold the person, at the top of the chain of command, fully responsible for this entire witch-hunt. If it is necessary in order for us to get to the top person responsible, we should offer some immunity to those at the bottom who willingly provide us with the information.
The offer is open. It will not be over until it's over ... royal commission or not!
Richard Teo: Umno's exit from the seat of power has been expedited. This will be BN's last walk in the corridors of power. The events of the last few days have taken a pivotal turn and Najib could be the shortest-term Umno president to be the prime minister of Malaysia. Thanks to MACC which made all this possible. The groundswell of anger and bitterness at the institution which acted in a manner to topple the Pakatan Rakyat government was overwhelming.
People who have unwaveringly supported the BN government have now decided at last that we need a change in order to reform. It has become obvious that BN's 50 years of being in the government has corrupted all the institutions which form the pillars of a democratic nation.
Finally, the act that MACC did was an act that will finally nail the coffin of the BN. The only way BN can reform is to exit from the seat of power and to spend sometime to reflect on its past mistakes. And with some wisdom and past experience, maybe it can make a comeback at some later date. Farewell BN. We expected you to go after March 8, but we didn't expect it to be so soon.
A Concerned Malaysian: I think the people of Malaysia want JUSTICE to be done to be done for the late Teoh Beng Hock and not a mockery.
I seriously hope that the government will re-examine the royal commission's terms of reference. Although we may have not known Teoh but as a human person who has feelings, we feel very much for what has happened. People all around are very angry and unhappy with what is happening in Malaysia not just in Teoh's case but also in the case of Kugan where justice was not done.
The rakyat has lost faith in the BN. We hope that all those who have been responsible in the death of Teoh will be brought to justice.
JR Lee: Most Malaysians waited patiently for the cabinet to announce the setting up a royal commission to investigate, inter-alia, the death of Teoh Beng Hock. But we were shocked when the cabinet announced that the death of Teoh will not be investigated by the royal commission but only by an inquest headed by a magistrate, a very much lower authority.
Why the discrepancy? Why Teoh's death is not investigated by the royal commission? This is typical of a conspiracy to cover-up. It is definitely against the 1Malaysia principle of 'People First, Performance Now' promulgated by the PM.
It is blatantly clear that it is not 'People First' as Malaysians seeking for the truth wants Teoh's death investigated by the royal commission and the cabinet is also not performing what Malaysians expecting them to do.
The PM is not walking the talk, he is talking more of his walk and expect all Malaysian to believe him!
Bear in mind that Teoh was only a witness to an alleged crime and he lost his life in the hands of MACC. Just imagine if he was a suspect to an alleged crime.
Adcin: The royal commission announced by Najib may on the surface of it look like a smart move by our leader. It buys time for the government and it hopes that the public will move on and pass it all off as some unfortunate accident, when the anger subsides.
The experience of the royal commission on the Lingam tapes must have given heart to them. Except for some jokes at Lingam's expense and a ring tone composed in his honour, absolutely nothing of substance was ultimately achieved.
However they did not realise that they lost a lot of public confidence and in the end votes in the general election.
There will be no jokes this time for Teoh's commission, and the longer it drags on, the worse the effect will be on the government. There are no points that can be won or made for the MACC and their masters. The royal commission may buy some time and even protect some parties, but in reality it is a slow death for Najib and his BN.
We should be happy because all it needed was for Najib to cut to the chase, apprehend and castigate the offenders and revamp the MACC to be more accountable and transparent.