DEAR Beng Hock,

It would be nice to hear from you after 15 years. Please know that you are still in our memories, we have not given up on seeking truth and justice for you.

Thank you for that last call to my office 15 years ago to warn us in Elizabeth Wong’s state exco team about the impending MACC investigation. We were prepared for the investigation but not for your demise.

We had successfully defended the first-term Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state government and stopped the federal government’s threat to advance, but you paid the heaviest price.

I know you must have known what went through you that led to the tragedy, we are pushing hard to uncover that, surely someone must be responsible for your death!

Fifteen years is a long time, especially in politics. I wonder how you would feel, your political party was twice elected and installed as part of the ruling coalition party in the federal government, including the current one where Anwar Ibrahim is the sitting prime minister!

Yes, political truth can be stranger than fiction! Fifteen years ago, you and I would never have imagined that a politician so tainted with the authoritarian past of the BN regime, Mahathir Mohamad, would one day lead your party to its first breakthrough in Putrajaya, albeit a short stint of 22 months in power.

They said time was short, later they were betrayed by the man who brought them to Putrajaya, hence they failed to solve your case.

You would not believe what happened next – your party is now working with Umno for the second term of the federal government!

Even the candidate in the recent by-election wore a jacket with both Pakatan Harapan and BN logos on it. The party we fought so hard against is now our “friend”!

The prime suspect in the plot to overthrow the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state government, which we defended with all our might, is still in jail.

Eighteen months into this current supermajority coalition government called the Madani government, your family has not been able to see Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

They only recently got the appointment for the meeting, if not for the incident that happened to the Walk for Justice rally on July 15, organised by the Teoh Beng Hock Association for Democratic Advancement (TBH-ADA), the organisation under your name that has been the main driver for your justice and other victims of political violence.

You must be wondering why this is so difficult when your party should be firmly in the driver’s seat of the federal government with 40 MPs, 14 more than Umno! Don’t ask me, I don’t know.

It is true, many in the government, from your party and those in Pakatan Harapan, vowed to fight for your justice when they were in opposition, now many of them seem to be silent on the issue.

Even your party secretary-general Anthony Loke, who was very vocal on your behalf 15 years ago when he was the DAPSY leader, failed to see your family during the Chinese New Year visit arranged by TBH-ADA.

There must be some “political inconvenience” or lack of political will for your party to continue to fight for you.

They may want you to see that they are working hard behind the scenes, but I am sorry to tell you that no progress has been made in the past 18 months if it were not for us in civil society who continue to fight for you!

Dear Beng Hock, don’t be too disheartened by the so-called political reality. I guess as a politician, you could understand your party comrades better.

I am not a politician, perhaps I lack understanding of what compromise your party should make to uphold justice for you.

I can only offer you my continuous support, standing by my principle and promise, please be assured that I will get to the bottom of your case, the culprits and the masterminds of those involved directly and indirectly in your death would have to face justice one day.

I am also working with other civil society partners to reform the MACC to make it more independent and to distance it from the public perception that it serves the interests of its political masters.

The chants of “reformasi” that you and I were so used to, you can hardly hear them now during Pakatan Harapan’s political campaigns.

You know, reformasi has not achieved much – not during the 22 months of the PH 1.0 government, not even now with the Anwar-led Madani government.

Would you be surprised again? I don’t know, even after the PH 1.0 government, I had adjusted my expectations to a much lower level, but I didn’t expect the Anwar-PH-led government to fall so far short of my expectations. To be honest, 15 years ago, neither of us would have believed in this political outcome.

Anyway, please continue to have faith in us, my friend. Don’t worry, unlike some politicians in the ruling parties, we will never forget you and we will continue to fight for you, okay? There are still many of us in civil society who are with you.

Yours sincerely,

Chee Han. – July 22, 2024.

* Lim Chee Han is a founding member of Agora Society and a policy researcher. He holds a PhD in infection biology from Hannover Medical School, Germany, and an MSc in immunology and BSc in biotechnology from Imperial College London. Health and socioeconomic policies are his concerns. He believes a nation can advance significantly if policymaking and research are taken seriously.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.