MACC not the bad guy, says Nazri

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz has blamed the Chinese media for portraying the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as the bad guy in the Teoh Beng Hock case.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said MACC was a body set up to fight corruption; it was not the enemy. He was speaking at the Media Appreciation and MACC 2010 Jingle Launch at The Legend Hotel.


“The way it was reported in the media was as if MACC was the enemy because it has caused Teoh Beng Hock’s death,” Nazri said. That was the impression now imprinted among the Chinese community.
He said even some members of the Bar Council — of Chinese descent — had publicly spoken out against the MACC.“I’d like to clarify that MACC’s job is not to murder,” he said. “Teoh Beng Hock is a witness  . . .  we would have taken good care of him, feed him medicine should he even cough, make sure he is in good health because he is our key witness . . . is important for us to charge the accused.

“But the reports portrayed MACC as the society’s enemy, especially by the Chinese press. The media should give MACC the benefit of the doubt.”Teoh, 30, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16 last year after he was interrogated overnight by the MACC in connection with suspected abuse of state funds by Selangor lawmakers.  The Selangor MACC headquarters was then located on the 14th floor of the building.

Teoh, then political secretary to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, had been interrogated from July 15 evening to July 16 morning, on allegations that his boss had misused state funds.
The ongoing inquest into his death has grabbed national headlines and has been a hot topic on online social networks. Video clips of DPP Datuk Abdul Razak Musa demonstrating the act of self-strangulation have gone viral, with the rock-star look spotted by Thai forensic expert Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand and her witty remarks in court, and new evidence turning up.Nazri said corruption was the enemy, not the MACC, and the agency would need the help of the media to curb corruption. He said the media should not only focus on those who were bribed, for example, government servants, but also the “businessmen” who offered the bribes.

Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/macc-not-the-bad-guy-says-nazri/