SHAH ALAM, March 20 — The government should consider offering financial compensation to the families of people who died while in custody like former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock, the party’s outgoing secretary-general said today.

Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng said he welcomed the news that the government will be paying RM1.5 million to the family of deceased firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim who perished in the line of duty in 2018, and suggested that a similar compensation should be made to others killed while in the custody of law enforcers.

"We urge the government to punish those responsible for the murders of Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, Teoh Beng Hock and custodial deaths. 

"In welcoming the government compensation of RM1.5 million to the family of Muhammad Adib, a similar amount should be paid to Teoh Beng Hock’s family and the others,” he said in his opening speech at the 17th DAP annual congress here.

Adib was a member of the Emergency Medical Rescue Services with the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Station in Selangor. 

He died on December 17, 2018 after spending 21 days hospitalised at the National Heart Institute for multiple injuries sustained during a riot at a Hindu temple in Subang Jaya

No one has been charged in court to date.

Teoh was a former aide to Selangor assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah, who fell to death on July 16, 2009 while in the custody of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission at its then state headquarters in Shah Alam where he had been called for questioning as a witness.