Steve Oh's review on Tricia Yeoh's Rights of the Dead

Excerpt:

"Teoh Beng Hock was the man who died while in the custody of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam.
We read about him, we saw his photo in the news, and we remember the emotive images of his sobbing sister.
We knew him as a political worker.
He was law-abiding and trusting of the MACC, a government anti-corruption agency - the good guys who go after the bad guys.
It was Teoh's fatal mistake in trusting them.
He had gone to their office to help in their investigation over a minor expense, RM 2,400 to be exact, incurred by his boss, a state assemblyman who is a member of the Selangor exco (state executive committee).
We know the rest of the story..."

Timely exploration by an insider

"Tricia Yeoh in her award-winning documentary on Teoh Beng Hock titled Rights of the Dead, released late last year, has brought him closer to us.
It is a timely work because like so many who died in mysterious circumstances Teoh can easily slip out of the public psyche into history.
"I really wanted to show how the family suffered through it…" said Yeoh at a Freedom Filmfest gathering.
Her first-hand knowledge as a staffer of the Selangor government had given her an intimate knowledge of the "unresolved case."
The short film provides a succinct account of events before and after Teoh's death and leaves the viewer still with the nagging proverbial question - "Who did it?"
After watching Yeoh's documentary that won the Justin Louis Award FFF2012, I realised that more than feeling chagrin at the government for his death, we owe Teoh Beng Hock the moral obligation to finish what he had set out to do.
He wanted his country to be a better place.
I got to know more about the man who the public still think was murdered despite an official inquest and a royal commission of inquiry into his death that resulted in an open verdict..."

"But Teoh did not die in police custody because he was a suspected criminal.
He died in the custody of the government's anti-corruption agents whom he had gone to help.
Teoh's death sounded the warning bells that something is drastically remiss with the MACC modus operandi.
" It can happen to anyone including me," said Yeoh in an interview..."

"If there was a crucial missing piece, it is 'Why?' the nagging question.
Why take away the life of someone who did not play any pivotal role in politics? Why did Teoh Beng Hock have to die?
Because we know he would not have killed himself when he had so much to live for –an imminent wedding and new role as a husband, and the thought of having a son would be enough reason for any man to want to live..."

More:
http://english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2473:beng-hock-the-dead-brought-to-life-in-documentary-&catid=213:steve-oh&Itemid=193

The video:



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