OPINION It’s a common belief among the Chinese community that if a person died in an unnatural way, especially in a homicide, the spirit of the deceased would most likely wander about at the crime scene or a familiar place for a long time, until and unless justice is done to the deceased.

Take the case of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock for instance. I was recently told by a friend that Teoh’s spirit was reportedly seen by some people, especially those with what the Taoists called the ‘ying-yang eyes’ ie possessing the ability to see ghosts or spirits.

Among these individuals was an unidentified little girl (age unknown) who had not only seen Teoh’s spirit wandering about near his workplace but also reportedly became ‘acquainted’ with Teoh’s spirit after a few encounters.

Reported in Special Weekly

And what was even more interesting was that Teoh had during their purported ‘conversations’, confided what had actually transpired during his controversial ‘interview’ with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) officers, which was recently declared as illegal by the High Court . It was said that the details of the “paranormal episode” were subsequently related to Teoh’s former boss cum Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hiang Wah and a few other top brass of the DAP.

This was recently reported by Malaysia’s leading Chinese language political weekly, the Special Weekly in its 452nd’s issue, which focused on the issue of Teoh’s second autopsy following an application by the late Teoh’s family.

The little girl also purportedly told someone that Teoh’s spirit was unable to return to his residence in Malacca as there was a shrine of a Thai deity outside his house, which purportedly prevented Teoh’s spirit from entering the house.

It was mind-boggling when the tale by this young girl who had never known Teoh nor gone to his house in Malacca, was confirmed to be true upon checking by the weekly later.

The weekly also managed to track down the parents of this mysterious little girl but its attempt to interview them in order to verify what it had gathered earlier failed when the parents declined to speak, except for saying that they are non-believers.

There was also talk that Teoh had conveyed a message through a woman by appearing in her dream, requesting her to pass his message to his wife urging her to continue to pursue her studies after this. This particular subject matter concerning further studies was said to be privy to Teoh and his wife.

With Teoh’s second autopsy, this particular report by the weekly has now become a hot topic among the Chinese community in the country, especially those in Peninsular Malaysia.

They (the Chinese community) are anxiously waiting to see whether the second autopsy would yield some new evidence that would match and confirm the earlier statement by renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojansunand during the recent inquest on Teoh’s death that there is a 80 percent of it being homicide.

Many supporters and sympathizers of Teoh are also hoping that the information confided by Teoh’s spirit through the little girl, that is now known to a few top DAP brass including Hiang Wah, could somehow bring justice to Teoh and his family.

Spirits help to solve crimes

It is a known fact in some countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong (China) that the spirit of homicide victims had led the relevant authorities to solve crimes contributing to their homicide.

Whether its the MACC, the Judiciary, Election Commission, the Royal Malaysian Police, Attorney General Chambers etc, thinking Malaysians have lost faith in these institutions’ ability to act independently – without fear or favour.

To be fair and seen to be fair, all institutions of enforcement or law and justice should be truly independent. And for this to happen, there should be no politicians or political appointees involved in the administration, organisation and management of these agencies.

One way of doing this is to bring in the rulers council and Parliament to oversee and ensure fairness in these agencies. If all goes well, the Malaysian people will have a closer rapport with the rulers and this will lead to truer democracy and Malaysia will be on the way to greater heights.

But the golden catch-words would still be “true transparency” and “sincerity”.