Pakatan leads protest outside MACC, 8 arrested incl 2 MPs


Eight people including Selangor MPs S Manikavasagam and Xavier Jayakumar were arrested for protesting the suspicious death of Teoh Beng Hock, the personal aide of DAP asssemblyman for Seri Kembangan Ean Yong.

The protest took place outside the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam around 10am this morning with more than 300 people, including Pakatan leaders, shouting siasat or investigate!

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim arrived shortly after. Top DAP leaders including Lim Kit Siang and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng were also there.

“Enough of the cruelty. We have seen a lot of it. We want an explanation from the MACC,” Anwar said in a short speech.

He added that a rally would be held at Kelana Jaya at 4.30pm on Sunday July 19 to raise public awareness of the tragedy and to push for reforms to prevent a recurrence.

Kit Siang said not only was the Pakatan concerned but the whole nation was wondering how Beng Hock could have ended up dead.

Guan Eng, who rushed over from Penang, called on the MACC to conduct all future interviews related to elected representatives at State Secretariat.

He was backed by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, who said he will no longer allow staff to be interviewed outside the state offices.

“The MACC’s image has been tarnished. People want to know what happened,” Khalid said.

Police violence end in scuffles, arrests

Police later moved in to break up the crowd when they raised the tempo of their chants for the graft-buster be investigated.

Their rough action resulted in several scuffles. One Pakatan worker fainted and many complained of injuries as a result of the attacks.

Beng Hock’s body was found sprawled in a pool of blood on a 5th floor rooftop of the adjoining building to the MACC headquarters.

He had gone in for questioning as a witness at 5pm on Wednesday but was released only at 3.45am Thursday.

The MACC said although he was free to go home, he asked to remain because he felt tired They said he slept on a couch in their office and an eyewitness saw him at 6am.

After that, the MACC did not know anything until his body was discovered at 1.30pm Thursday. But he was still in the same clothes he had worn the day before.

Due to get married today!

His boss Ean Yong has rubbished talk that Beng Hock had jumped. He also questioned why Beng Hock would choose to stay in the MACC office when he had transport to go home.

Ean also slammed the long hours of interrogation the MACC had put Beng Hock through.

Said Ean: “He was going to get married, why would he want to commit suicide. He looked calm. Before he went to the MACC office, Manoharan and myself talked to him about how to answer the questions.

“If there was any problems, I should be the one to face action. I don’t see any reason for him to commit suicide. Furthermore, there was no reason for him to linger after the interrogation because his car was here.”

SK
17/07/09

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