PKR want justice for Bill Kayong

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 – A protest by three PKR MPs from Sarawak outside the Parliament building yesterday drew attention to the murder of their former party colleague, Bill Kayong, who was murdered in 2016.

Miri MP Dr Michael Teo, Saratok MP Ali Biju, Puncak Borneo MP Willie Mongin and several other individuals staged the 30-minute demo calling for justice for the late Bill, who was a land rights activist, former PKR Miri branch secretary and also Dr Teo’s former personal assistant, The Borneo Post reported.

They had demanded for Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to re-open the case.

“The niggling issue of the mastermind behind the murder remains unanswered, and I have written to the Attorney-General on this. I will also be writing to the prime minister.

“The poser of 21 witnesses summoned but not called to give evidence has to be answered. There are also other points of contention that warrants the case to be re-opened by the authorities,” Dr Teo was quoted as saying by the Sarawak-based daily.

Sarawak PKR says Bill Kayong’s family deserve justice

Ali and Willie also called for the relevant authorities, including the Home Ministry, to re-investigate the case as Bill’s family deserved justice.

Bill Kayong, 43, was shot dead in his vehicle at the traffic light intersection near E-Mart supermarket in Tudan on the morning of June 21, 2016.

The popular theory is that he was murdered over his role as a native land rights activist.

In June 2017, the Miri High Court freed three of the four accused – businessman Datuk Stephen Lee Chee Kiang, Chin Wui Ching and Lie Chang Loon – from the charge of abetting in Bill’s murder.

The same court then found the fourth accused, Mohamad Fitri Pauzi, guilty as charged on August 10 this year, and he was sentenced to death. This death sentence will be commuted and he will serve at least 30 years in jail if the government’s bill to abolish the death penalty is passed by Parliament in the current session.

This case, just adds to the other murder cases that some lawmakers want reopened, including that of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Teoh Beng Hock death still not reopened

However, what is most surprising is the lack of similar action from any of the 42 DAP MPs for the case of Teoh Beng Hock’s death while being interrogated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at its Selangor headquarters in 2009 to be reopened.

Where is the call for justice to be served on the MACC officers alleged to have been directly involved, and are culpable over this tragic end to the life of a young man who under the circumstances would likely have been standing proud as an elected representative at the state or federal level in post-GE14 Malaysia.

Teoh, who was 30 years old at the time, was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after giving a statement at the Selangor MACC’s office on the 14th floor of the building.

Teoh, who was an aide to Selangor assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah, fell to his death after he was taken in for questioning over a corruption probe.

Magistrate cum coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas had given an “open verdict” on January 5, 2011, that the death of the political aide was neither a suicide nor was it a homicide.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report concluded in July 2011 that Teoh was driven to commit suicide and blamed intensive interrogation by three MACC officers.

However, in September 2014, the Court of Appeal ruled that the “open verdict” was wrong.

IGP, AG directed to reopen case

The panel held that he died to the fall, which it said was caused “as a result of, or accelerated by, acts by persons unknown, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers involved in his arrest and the investigation”.

It had also directed the Inspector-General of Police and Attorney-General’s Chambers to reopen the investigation into Teoh’s death.

Unfortunately, nothing was done at the time with both being under the authority of the the then Barisan Nasional administration.

MACC officers transferred out

It is not the case anymore. DAP lawmakers, led by veteran parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Transport Minister Anthony Loke and Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh, who is also a laywer, must do more then just talk about referring the case to the AG as they did last June.

A young man died for the sake of the party and the only action taken was to transfer the MACC officers allegedly responsible to another state.

MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull’s tears at a press conference following his return to the agency in May is nothing to compared with the tears shed by Teoh’s family for the past nine years.

Lim Kit Siang last wrote about Teoh in MalaysiaKini on 9 Oct asking for Najib’s administration to be held responsible.

“Najib did not kill Teoh, but the Najib administration must be held responsible for Teoh’s death.” Lim wrote.

The perpetrators who caused Teoh’s death should already be identified by now and called to justice.

– NMT