Seeking justice - The Nut Graph

When asked whether she was pleased with the turnout, the CRC’s Ngeow Chow Ying said, “I think we got our message across. Hopefully it will reach others.”

These were stuck to a glass wall in the KLSCAH — with some effort, as the adhesive refused to take to the glass surface, and the notes kept falling off. With only about a 150 attendees, it was unclear as to whether the evening’s very relevant reminder would reach the wider public.

After the candles, attendees were invited to write messages on Post-It notes to the families of the deceased.

The ceremony was also mindful to note that Teoh was death No.1,804 — the most recent being R Gunasegaran, who is believed to have died on 16 July 2009.

A five-minute silence for the 1,805 dead. Attendance at the memorial was multicultural.

Justice getting lit. The memorial came with a call to action, urging attendees to speak out against deaths and abuse in custody. “We don’t want to ‘sin’ by omission,” Wong later said. “We didn’t speak up against the abuse of (Maran Umno committee member) Halimi Kamaruzzaman. Perhaps, by our silence, [the] MACC was emboldened.”

…only stopping for names, such as Kannan Kanthan, who died on 28 Feb 2003.

As the years were counted backwards, even the slides were summarised…

Co-organiser Tai Jien Sing, who also manages the “Justice for Beng Hock” Facebook group. “This government-sponsored neglect is something that affects all of us,” he said. He explained that the slow reading of every case would drive home the problem’s enormity. “When I read about deaths in custody in the newspapers, it was just a number. I couldn’t comprehend the severity.”

The slides and candle-lighting continued. The cases were read in reverse chronological order. Even this sequence was presumed: “Most dates of the deaths are unknown. We calculated them on mathematical averages,” Wong said.

…while individual death-in-custody cases were read out, one by one. “Out of the 1,805, there are less than 70 cases where we have the names [of the deceased],” Tan said.

Part of the night’s proceedings had attendees light candles, one by one…

A PowerPoint slide, explaining that the total number of death-in-custody cases, sourced from Parliamentary replies and Suaram records, only goes back to 2003. “There are so many unknowns, so much uncertainty,” said the CRC’s Tan Hui Chun, who prepared the presentation.

“[Teoh] was the first ‘political death’ in a generation’s time. But he was not the first to die in custody,” Wong pointed out. In that context, Teoh’s death becomes a symbol of institutional neglect and unaccountability, regardless of political affiliation. “[Teoh] is about us, all of us.”

Institut Kajian Dasar director Khalid Jaafar, reading a poem. While he is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat supreme council member, he did not identify himself as such.

The modest event was held in a hall on the first floor of the KLSCAH. Early to arrive was influential blogger Bernard Khoo, seen here sporting a PAS baseball cap. Political insignias were incidental.

The KLSCAH’s nonpartisan “May He Be the Last … A Memorial For Teoh Beng Hock”, on the evening of 29 July. Here, candles spell out the aspirations of many Malaysians for Teoh following his tragedy.

THE death of Selangor government aide Teoh Beng Hock on 16 July 2009 quickly turned into political capital.

Memorials organised by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have the air of a partisan roadshow, where attendees are urged to overthrow the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election. Attempting to control perception, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has promised Teoh’s parents — and, presumably, voters — that “no stone will be left unturned in finding out the real cause of death.”

Meanwhile, the BN-controlled Malay-language press has racialised the issue. A blog of dubious credentials, Truth for Teoh Beng Hock, is hitting out at Selangor DAP elected representatives for alleged corruption.

Amid this carnival, the Civil Rights Committee (CRC) of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) organised a memorial of its own.

Supported by the Justice for Comrade Beng Hock and 1BLACKMalaysia Facebook groups, the 29 July 2009 gathering was billed as a “time of humane reflection” where there would be “no religious ceremony” and “no political speech”.

It placed Teoh’s death in the context of deaths in custody: as one out of 1,805 tragedies that have happened in police lock-ups, prisons, and detention camps since 2003. This translates into 23 deaths every month, or three custodial deaths every four days — making Teoh’s death just one of many troubling incidents that have gone mostly unnoticed.

“Some of us were not particularly impressed by the way political parties were handling the memorials [for Teoh],” political scientist and activist Wong Chin Huat, one of the event organisers, told The Nut Graph. “What we see here is a human issue, beyond partisan politics.

“Teoh was almost a model citizen. But even if someone is a car thief, no one deserves such death.”

Comments

Ditesh says

July 31, 2009 at 12:16 am

The statistics are rather frightening. Is there a source/reference for the statistics?
Zedeck says

August 3, 2009 at 4:43 pm

Hello Ditesh:

According to Wong Chin Huat, one of the memorial’s organisers, the 1,805-death figure is sourced from Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram)’s records of deaths in detention.

Suaram’s Tah Moon Hui was kind enough to furnish us with the breakdown of the numbers:

On 8 July 2008, Deputy Home Minister Wan Fairuz Wan Salleh told Parliament that 1,531 custodial deaths were recorded between 2003 and 2007.

and

“According to official government statistics cited in Suaram’s report, there were 13 cases of deaths in police custody in 2008, while 255 deaths were recorded in prisons in the same year,” as per a Suaram press release detailing its 2008 Human Rights Report.

and

Yet another six cases this year, which Suaram has been tracking through news reports.

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