Opening Speech by the Deputy Chair of Teoh Beng Hock Association for Democratic Advancement Kenneth Cheng at the 15th anniversary memorial night of Teoh Beng Hock on 16 July 2024 at KLSCAH.
赵明福民主促进会署理主席郑至健于2024年7月16日假隆雪华堂举行的赵明福逝世15周年追思会上的致词全文。
A very good evening to everyone who took the time to attend the 15 years of injustice : Remembering Beng Hock Memorial Night. On behalf of the Teoh Beng Hock Association of Democratic Advancement, I would like to thank each one of you who came and sent solidarity to the Teoh Beng Hock movement.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those who attend this event and have persistently supported the pursuit of justice for Teoh Beng Hock. So, my thanks to YB Ramkarpal Singh, YB Hassan Karim, YB Ng Sze Han, Arul and Dato Ambiga. TBHADA would also like to express our gratitude to our supporters who contributed in many ways. Also, We are extremely grateful for any amount of donation and we promise that the struggle will continue to uncover the truth behind the death of Teo Beng Hock.
And any movement would not be successful if not for the tiring and often thankless task of organizing both the walk of justice and today’s memorial night. The organizing committee deserves the highest appreciation of your work and may I invite everyone here to give a huge round of applause to the organizing committee.
What is more heartening is this young and vibrant organizing committee does not have any personal relations with the late Teoh Beng Hock and his family. From the brief interaction I had with them in the walk, and the many interviews they have attended on behalf of TBHADA, they were ideal versions of the public citizens who were motivated by the strong sense of justice and equality and believing in doing good to society. Most of all, they are unwavered in their sense of principle that no one, and I mean no one, should be dying in custody without the protection and rights that they are granted under the constitution.
Though Teoh Beng Hock may have left us 15 years ago, his legacy will inadvertently outlast his death and the good young people who took up the responsibility of ensuring his pursuit of justice and truth are the best testament to that fact.
Despite numerous changes of government and Prime Ministers. We are still no less further from the truth of what happened surrounding the death of Teoh Beng Hock. What we have known so far is the Court of Appeal has indeed delivered a verdict that MACC officers were in fact culpable of Beng Hock’s death and while the Royal Commission of Inquiry is conservative in its inquiry and has stopped short of accusing MACC officers of murder, nevertheless they are also in complete agreement that there were foul play and concluded that aggressive interrogation method were used to coerce and disorient Teoh Beng Hock.
These are indisputable facts that have been laid on the table of the government and yet after 15 years Teoh Beng Hock’s family was still being denied the justice that they have sought and fought for so long. No apologies were given nor any punitive actions were taken against the perpetrator.
This is why we have chosen to walk from Plaza Masalam, where Teoh met his demise, to Parliament to remind the powers to be that justice has not been restored and nothing has been fixed yet, Yet, Lee Lan and the young people of TBHADA who has bring hope and energy to this walk of justice was resisted by the police with force. Lee Lan was manhandled by the police and was injured and one activist’s neck was bruised because of excessive force. And their supposed crime was to merely walk to Parliament to deliver a memorandum to the Prime Minister.
I condemned the police use of excessive force yesterday and TBHADA will continue pursuing this matter by holding the home minister accountable and seeking compensation from the government.
It brings me great sadness that this ugly scene happened under a government that is currently held by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his PH government. This is the same Prime Minister who was previously beaten by police in 1998 and this extends to the numerous PH MPs that have suffered for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly under the supposedly dark days of BN rule.
It is ironic that something similar happened in Galas by election back in 2010, when supporters of the Teoh Beng Hock movement were also manhandled by MCA supporters at that time.
Since Anwar Ibrahim has been appointed as PM, the TBHADA demand to reopen the police investigation has largely been ignored, we have even visited the Prime Minister office, DAP headquarter and even the Kuala Kubu Bahru byelection but there are no positive developments or small victories to boast about.
We are heartened that privately the PH coalition is still largely supportive of this movement and we acknowledge the private support that you have given to us but we all are aware this is not enough especially with all the promises you have made towards the Teoh’s family and activists.
And allow me to say this in the most polite manner. Private talks, private apologies are indeed cheap after 15 years and especially when PH is now wielding the levers of executive power.
We in TBHADA could not afford to wait another 15 more years nevermind Teoh Beng Hock’s family who has been struggling to move on after 15 gruesome years of injustice.
It is never our intention to speak ill for our only principle is to defend human rights and bring back justice to the case of Teoh Beng Hock. We want the government to do better and rest assured we will continue to speak out, organize and disrupt so long our demands are not met. So to the PH coalition, we can only say don’t be sorry, be better.
Lastly, I would also want to take a few minutes to make a personal appeal to the Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Dear Prime Minister,
The TBHADA is grateful that you have since agreed to meet us and we look forward to a constructive dialogue with the Prime Minister on how we can advance the case of Teoh Beng Hock. Even though this is a hard earned struggle that took Lee Lan and a group of young activists walking under an unforgiving heat of more than 40 km from Shah Alam to Parliament and getting a rough treatment from the police by the end for you to hear our plea. Still, we appreciate it and we are looking forward to our meeting.
We want to stress again that the three demands were a reinvestigation of all MACC officers that were involved in Teoh’s interrogation, bring charges to those who assaulted Teoh under section 302 or 304 of the penal code and finally a reform of the MACC act to ensure the rights of the detainees.
While I do sincerely hope you Prime Minister would succeed in reviving our ailing economy, your promise to seek justice for Teoh Beng Hock previously does not cost a single cent to the government coffers. And the nature of promise is immune to changing circumstances. And that applies to your cabinet colleagues from PH where our demands could easily been achieved at a stroke of pen since you are the government now.
If any past and present Prime Ministers of this country could empathize with Teoh Beng Hock and his family for what they had gone through, it will be none other than our tenth Prime Minister who has previously been beaten, detained, jailed and humiliated by the enforcement officials for what he believes in.
Teoh Beng Hock walked into the MACC office on the 15th of July also with the belief that Malaysia can be better. and after 15 years, we have made some progress democratically which Teoh Beng Hock could not be present because he gave his life for his ideals. The least you could, dear Prime Minister, is to honor his family wish and grant them justice and truth.
Thank you everyone!