Malaysia announces royal commission on political death
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Malaysia announced Friday a royal commission into the mysterious case of an opposition political aide who died last year, but the limited scope of the inquiry attracted immediate criticism.
An inquest into the death of Teoh Beng Hock, who fell from the offices of the anti-corruption agency, recorded an open verdict Wednesday with the coroner saying there was not enough evidence to prove either suicide or homicide.
Under pressure from Teoh's family and a suspicious public, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a fully fledged probe into the case but said the royal commission would not look into the cause of death.
The inquiry will study the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) procedures and "determine whether there has been a violation of human rights of Teoh Beng Hock during the investigation," the Premier said.
Mr Teoh had been questioned into the small hours by the MACC as part of a probe into the government of Selangor, Malaysia's richest state and a key prize that the opposition won in landmark 2008 elections.
His family has criticised the verdict and insisted that the 30-year-old, who was due to marry his pregnant fiancee the next day and was not under suspicion of any crime himself, did not kill himself.
Mr Najib said that questions over the cause of death would be addressed by an application to revise the inquest verdict that would be lodged by the government's chief lawyer, the attorney-general.
"Obviously the AG is not happy with the verdict and wants it to be referred to a higher court to review the verdict, so we have to go through the process," Mr Najib told reporters.
"But we want to establish the royal commission of inquiry to ensure there is no abuse of power or abuse of human rights and to look at the procedures relating to the investigation done by the MACC."
Gobind Singh, an opposition figure and the lawyer representing Teoh's family at the inquest, said he was "disturbed" and disappointed at the narrow scope of the inquiry.
"Why hold a royal commission now to look into the investigation procedures by the MACC? That aspect should have been looked into long ago. At the end of the day everybody wants to know how Teoh Beng Hock died," he told AFP.
"I think the AG should tell us why is he filing a revision, what is he unhappy about with the verdict?"
Malaysia's Bar Council also said the terms of the inquiry were too limited.
"If it does not look into the cause of the death then I don't think there will be any closure," Malaysian Bar President Ragunath Kesavan told AFP.
"He died while in custody of the MACC, so they have a responsibility to respond and explain how the death occurred."
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