By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani - The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz today asked Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand to reveal who “forced” her to pull out from Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department explained that the government is not able to respond to the renowned pathologist without concrete information.
“Tell me who it is? Is it Datuk Seri Nazri or somebody else? We want to know because we do not know the truth then how can we help her? Anybody can say that they have been forced but we would like to know who has been forcing her,” he told reporters in parliament.
The Thai pathologist's reported pull-out from testifying in the Teoh inquest next week due to political interference has raised fears among the Teoh family and the DAP that the case is being tampered with at the highest level.
The Selangor government has confirmed the Thai pathologist is not returning when the inquest resumes on April 20 but they want the coroner to agree to testimony via video-conferencing.
Dr Pornthip, 54, the director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science, had reportedly pulled out from the ongoing case, claiming she was forced to do so because of “political pressure” from Putrajaya that could affect her work in southern Thailand.
However Nazri believes that Dr Pornthip is lying because she cannot defend her testimonial in the inquest.
“That is why I said that she is a liar. I do not believe that the Malaysian government and our officials would harass her and stop her from coming because we know that if she has been allowed to enter the first time then why should we stop her from entering the second time. The date was also delayed to allow her to come.
“In her earlier testimony, she has said something that was sensational. It would be obvious that the government is trying to hide something if a high level government official would try to block her entry. It is certain that we would get criticised by the international community if we would have stop her from entering the country the second time,” he said.
The flashy Thai pathologist had testified in court here that Teoh’s death was “80 per cent homicide”, contradicting Malaysian pathologists who say the political aide could have fallen to his death or suicide.
Her second testimony will be crucial to the inquest, and to prove allegations that there was foul play in Teoh’s death.
Nazri stressed that he would have known if it was a high government official that had forced her not to testify.
“If it was a high official then I would be the first to know but I do not know and never once has the Attorney-General met with me to discuss about this. I feel that she is scared that her testimony in the inquest is false and she cannot defend it now. Therefore she trying to find excuses for her not to attend the coming inquest,” he said.
He also ridiculed Gobind Singh Deo after the Puchong MP labelled his statement as “contemptuous”.
“Let him say it. Is he that smart? If he was really smart then he would have been ejected from parliament so many times. Nothing that he says is law. He may be practicing law but a lot of rubbish has been said by him,” he said.
Gobind has said that Nazri’s statement that Dr Dr Pornthip was a liar reflected his ignorance and arrogance and was “contemptuous” of the court process.
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz today asked Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand to reveal who “forced” her to pull out from Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department explained that the government is not able to respond to the renowned pathologist without concrete information.
“Tell me who it is? Is it Datuk Seri Nazri or somebody else? We want to know because we do not know the truth then how can we help her? Anybody can say that they have been forced but we would like to know who has been forcing her,” he told reporters in parliament.
The Thai pathologist's reported pull-out from testifying in the Teoh inquest next week due to political interference has raised fears among the Teoh family and the DAP that the case is being tampered with at the highest level.
The Selangor government has confirmed the Thai pathologist is not returning when the inquest resumes on April 20 but they want the coroner to agree to testimony via video-conferencing.
Dr Pornthip, 54, the director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science, had reportedly pulled out from the ongoing case, claiming she was forced to do so because of “political pressure” from Putrajaya that could affect her work in southern Thailand.
However Nazri believes that Dr Pornthip is lying because she cannot defend her testimonial in the inquest.
“That is why I said that she is a liar. I do not believe that the Malaysian government and our officials would harass her and stop her from coming because we know that if she has been allowed to enter the first time then why should we stop her from entering the second time. The date was also delayed to allow her to come.
“In her earlier testimony, she has said something that was sensational. It would be obvious that the government is trying to hide something if a high level government official would try to block her entry. It is certain that we would get criticised by the international community if we would have stop her from entering the country the second time,” he said.
The flashy Thai pathologist had testified in court here that Teoh’s death was “80 per cent homicide”, contradicting Malaysian pathologists who say the political aide could have fallen to his death or suicide.
Her second testimony will be crucial to the inquest, and to prove allegations that there was foul play in Teoh’s death.
Nazri stressed that he would have known if it was a high government official that had forced her not to testify.
“If it was a high official then I would be the first to know but I do not know and never once has the Attorney-General met with me to discuss about this. I feel that she is scared that her testimony in the inquest is false and she cannot defend it now. Therefore she trying to find excuses for her not to attend the coming inquest,” he said.
He also ridiculed Gobind Singh Deo after the Puchong MP labelled his statement as “contemptuous”.
“Let him say it. Is he that smart? If he was really smart then he would have been ejected from parliament so many times. Nothing that he says is law. He may be practicing law but a lot of rubbish has been said by him,” he said.
Gobind has said that Nazri’s statement that Dr Dr Pornthip was a liar reflected his ignorance and arrogance and was “contemptuous” of the court process.
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