One Better Msia

One Better Malaysia Tribute to TeohBeng Hock & Yasmin Ahmad

MAY HE BE THE LAST A Memorial for Teoh Beng Hock…. and Beyond

Why Are We Here? Why are we here tonight? Why can’t we forget about Teoh Beng Hock? We saw the tears. We heard the tributes. We were at the funeral. We were watching from a distance.

“You left me…” “You left me without saying any last words. You said we still have a lot of things to accomplish together, that we have not been to many places before. You said you will always walk this life together with me.” - Beng Hock’s Fiancée, Cher Wei

The Pain… The Anger… Our hearts broke. Beng Hock is gone. The pain is real. The anger cannot be ignored.

Let Us Not Forget… Most of us never knew him when he was alive. Some were fortunate to be friends. Others were fellow colleagues. A few might have remembered his articles in the papers. Let us not forget the loved ones he left behind. Especially the one who is yet to be born.

The Sadness Will Stay Now, we all know him in his death. Our hearts are aching. Beng Hock’s life was cut short. The sadness will stay for a while – a long while.

All The Talk. The Promises. A lot has been said. Some promises made. MACC. DAP. Royal Commission. Inquest. Politicians. Police. Papers. Blogs.

Nothing Has Changed We may sit comfortably and compare theories on what could have happened. And then, we move on to another topic. Nothing has changed. We might even say nothing will.

But There Must Be Change But there must be change. Because Teoh Beng Hock is about “us”. All of us. Chinese, Malay, Indian, OrangAsli, OrangAsal - “dan lain lain” - All of “Us” - Malaysians.

He Was One Of Us More than that – “Beng Hock” was a son, a husband, a father … one of us – a young man with dreams and aspirations.

First Political Death He was the first “political death”. But he was not the first to die in custody. 1,805 died in custody from 2003 to July 2009. It’s not just a number. These numbers have names. Here are some:

Custodial Deaths § A Kugan § SamiyatiIndrayaniZulkarnain Putra § Francis Udayappan § Dr Tai Eng Teck § V Vikines

Custodial Deaths § TharmaRajan § M Ragupathy § SyedFadzilSyed Ibrahim § HasrizalHamzah § Prakash Moses

Custodial Deaths § KannanKanthan § Ahmad Salleh § UlaganathanMuniandy But we don’t have all the names too. God knows who they are! The families sure know …

He Wasn’t The Last We entitled tonight “May He be the last”, hoping Beng Hock was indeed the last one to die in the custody of the authorities. But he wasn’t. R. Gunasegaran, 31, was next. It was reported he was a drug addict. Drug Addicts are still human. A human who could have had second chance. We will never know.

This Must Stop All these deaths in custody must STOP. Someone is responsible for all these deaths in custody. Who will take responsibility? Who must be accountable? Who will at least tell us the truth?

It Could Be You Today it is Teoh Beng Hock. Tomorrow, it could be you . . . me . . . my son … your daughter … anyone.

We Need To Speak Less Tonight A lot has been said thus far. There is so much more to be done. Before the next step, we need to speak less tonight. In fact, we need to get away from the noise for a short while. For tonight’s memorial to have meaning, the choice is ours to go deeper.

A Silence As we enter quiet moments together to pause, to remember, to pray and to ponder on what all this means for us. We enter a silence where we the people can find strength and guidance to do what is right. A silence where we can decide to take up our responsibility as a human being with a conscience and conviction for the good of ALL.

Speak Out So friends, when we leave this place. We will choose to speak out. Not just speak out against the abuse of authority and power, but speak for the victims those whose voices can not be heard. After tonight, if we mean what we say – “May He be the Last” - we can no longer be silent.

First They Came… “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me”. - Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

In Memory In Memory of TeohBeng Hock And the 1804 others who died in custody from 2003 until now

TRIBUTE TO THE CUSTODIAL DEATH VICTIMS SINCE 2003哀悼2003年起在扣留期间去世的受害者

We do not have the figure since the inception of Malaya or Malaysia 我们没有自大马成立以来的正确死亡数目

1805 custodial death victims since 2003 只知道自2003年起，已有1805个死亡个案

23deaths every month 3deaths every four days 每个月有23个死亡个案每四天就有3人死亡

When we read out a name, kindly light-up the candle of the person standing on your left / right as per the sequence / flow (1 Candle represent 1 name) 当司仪读出受害人的名字后，请你传递并点燃你左或右邻的蜡烛。 (一支蜡烛代表一名受害者）

1805 R GUNASEGARAN (31) 16/7/09

1804 TEOH BENG HOCK 赵明福 (30) 16/7/09

1802 A Ghana Pragasam A/L Anthony (53) 14/06/09

1790 Kugan Ananthan (23) 20/01/2009

1768 Suria Ramesh (29) 22/11/2008

1739 Burhanuddin Sulaiman (57) 1/09/2008

1738-1650 Unknown 无名氏 2008

1649 Kamarul Ariffin (24) 13/07/2008

1648-1632 Unknown 无名氏 2008

1631 Chai Hong Yik (35) 3/6/2008

1630-1617 Unknown 无名氏 2008

1618 Kee Lian Kok (29) 19/05/2008

1617 Uthayachandran a/l Chandran (23) 18/05/2008

1616-1545 Unknown 无名氏 2008

1544 Ong Chee Leong (29) 18/01/2008

1543-1534 Unknown 无名氏 2008

1533 Letchumanan Kathan (30) 18/12/2007

1532-1481 Unknown 无名氏 2007

1482 Fong Kok Seng (32) 19/09/2007

1483-1476 Unknown 无名氏 2007

1474-1428 Unknown 无名氏 2007

1427 Lai Yick King (31) 12/06/2007

1426-1406 Unknown 无名氏 2007

1404-1361 Unknown 无名氏 2007

1360 Mohamad Arrifin 07/02/2007

1359-1331 Unknown 无名氏 2007

1330 Liziana binti Mohd Kamal 30/12/2006

1329-1299 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1297-1275 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1274 Suresh Kunasekaran 27/10/2006

1273-1250 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1249 Unknown 无名氏 3 October 2006

1249-1238 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1237 Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra 12/9/2006

1236-1129 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1127-1049 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1047 Sarawanan Meyalagan 20/03/2006

1046-1045 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1044 Mohamad Hafizal Hanafi 17/03/2006

1043-1021 Unknown 无名氏 2006

1019-981 Unknown 无名氏 2006

978 Kasirajah A/L Rajoo 29/12/2005

929 Ravindran Alaigiry 19/11/2005

808 Nor Haziman Mansor Jun 2005

781 Jiwa Ramamorthy 18/05/2005

755 Rastam Bin Talib (19) 06/03/2005

754 S.Manimaran (33) 03/03/2005

671 Unknown 无名氏 Jan 2005

498 Francis Udayapan 24/05/2004

497 Subramanian Manikam 22/5/2004

489 Tan Chor Liang / Philip Tan 13/5/2004

448 Nadarajah A/L M.Krishnappan 8/4/2004

368 Yoges Rao A/L Letchmiah 11/12/2003

342 Veerasamy Gopal 28/11/2003

218 Ulagathan Muniandy 21/07/2003

72 Subramaniam A/L Arumugam 20/3/2003

6 Syed Fadzil Syed Hamzah 09/01/2003

What is your dream for Malaysia? What is one thing you will do to make it happen?

Disturb us, Lord, whenWe are too well pleased with ourselves,When our dreams have come trueBecause we have dreamed too little,When we arrived safelyBecause we sailed too close to the shore

Disturb us, Lord, whenWith the abundance of things we possessWe have lost our thirstFor the waters of life;Having fallen in love with life,We have ceased to dream of eternityAnd in our efforts to build a new earth,We have allowed our visionOf the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,To venture on wider seasWhere storms will show your mastery;Where losing sight of land,We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push backThe horizons of our hopes;And to push into the futureIn strength, courage, hope, and love.

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