By Neville Spykerman
SHAH ALAM, April 12 — Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today urged Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz “to be careful” with his remarks after he called Thai pathologist Dr.Pornthip Rojanasunand a liar for claiming she was pressured to abandon the Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
Nazri, who is the de facto law minister, made the comments yesterday when reacting to Dr. Pornthip’s claims that she had to choose her work in the southern Thailand insurgency over the inquest due to “political pressure” from Malaysia.
“Diplomatically it’s not a good idea to call those outside our country liars,” the Selangor mentri besar said in response to Nazri’s comments.
The Khalid administration had hired the renowned Thai pathologist as an independent expert to ascertain the cause of Teoh’s mysterious death last July 16. She had concluded it was “80 per cent homicide” contradicting official reports that claim the political aide might have committed suicide.
“He (Nazri) has to be careful. She deals with dead bodies,” quipped Khalid, referring to Dr. Pornthip’s work to identify the dead in the 2004 Asian tsunami.
Khalid added he hoped Dr Pornthip’s allegations were not true because it was not in the best interest of any government to hide the truth surrounding Teoh’s death after overnight questioning at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Selangor office.
In the event Dr Pornthip is unable or unwilling to attend the inquest, Khalid reiterated the state’s stand that she be allowed to testify and be crossed examined on her findings via video-conferencing.
“We want to ensure that the truth prevails,” he said.
The 54-year-old director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science reportedly pulled out from the ongoing case, claiming she was forced to do so because of pressure from the Malaysian Government that could affect her work in southern Thailand.
The inquest resumes on April 20 but the state wants the coroner to agree to testimony via video-conferencing.
Her reluctance to attend the inquest has raised fears among the Teoh family and the DAP that the case is being tampered with at the highest level.
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