Media statement by Teo Nie Ching in Parliament on Wednesday, 22^nd June 2011:

Taxpayers' money was used to set up the RCI hence its 124-page report into the death of Teoh Beng Hock should be made public

DAP calls on the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Razak to give a commitment that the entire report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the death of Teoh Beng Hock will be made public in the nearest future and that his Government will make the best effort to adopt the recommendations made to the MACC.

When the coroner's inquest returned an "open verdict" in January 2011 ruling out both suicide and homicide some 18 months after Teoh's death, the Government was forced to establish a Royal Commission of Enquiry (RCI) with two terms of reference: to probe how Teoh plunged to his death and to look into MACC's investigative methods.

The RCI started gathering evidence from 14 Feb 2011 and proceedings ended on 18 May 2011. A total of 70 witnesses testified and 19,200 notes of proceedings were recorded.

When an additional budget of RM13.2 billion was tabled in Parliament last week, the Prime Minister's Department requested for RM1 million as the cost of setting up the RCI.

Public expectation of the report's findings is extremely high. Concerned Malaysians want to know why a witness who was taken to the Selangor MACC office to assist in investigations was found dead the next day, on the fifth floor service corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.

At least RM1 million of taxpayers' money was spent on the RCI. It will be futile if the final report and findings of the RCI is not accessible to the public. The rakyat has the right to read the final report as their hard-earned money has been spent in establishing the RCI.

In the past, RCIs have been established for different purposes. Among which, the reports and findings of both the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police in 2005 and Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V.K. Lingam video clip in late 2007 were made public by the Cabinet.

There is no reason why the full report of the RCI into the death of Teoh Beng Hock cannot be made public in the same manner. With today's technology, Najib's Cabinet can make the full report public in the wink of an eye, with the click of a mouse.

DAP calls on the BN Government to upload the full report on the Internet as soon as it is available so that the general public can download it for free.

In 24 days, it will be the 2nd anniversary of Teoh Beng Hock's passing. Will the full report of RCI be made public before 16 July 2011? Will the family of Teoh Beng Hock and all Malaysians be satisfied with the RCI's findings? Will the truth prevail?

* Teo Nie Ching, DAP Assistant National Publicity Secretary & MP for Serdang