Teo Beng Hock "Suicide"

Of suicides and other haunting pictures

The hottest issue in Malaysia today is Malaysia almost drawing with Man United Teo Beng Hock’s death at the MACC building. I believe that Mr Teo accidentally fell to his death when he leaned on one of the window. He was probably tired and groggy after an intense 10 hour grilling by the MACC personnel. He was seen napping and was probably trying to get some fresh air after waking up before accidentally falling to his death. Some of you probably prefer the more controversial route of him being murdered by the MACC goons. I just don’t see this as even a possibility. After the death of Kugan and numerous non Malays in Police custody the last thing the MACC wanted is their own “suspicious death” scandal. Plus he was interrogated for information regarding a member of parliament ,this would make him the star witness should he disgorged all the dirt (if any). Killing him will be counter productive as all the extracted “confessions” would no longer be admissible in court. I know some of you still clings to the stereotype that BN employs idiots and yes mans resulting in another FUBAR situation such as this. But certainly they can’t be that stupid.

Most of the vitriolic rage on the blogosphere these days centered around the fact that MACC didn’t question the Khir Tempe's corruption case first ( i wonder if Khir Tempe died instead of him will be hear a public outcry calling ofr MACC's head to roll? -HMMMM) . Their anger towards this perceived injustice caused them to jump (pun intended) into conclusion that MACC killed Mr Teo. How about the suicide theory? So far the evidence indicates that it might not be a suicide. The lack of a suicide note is an indication plus the fact that he is due to register his marriage on the day of his death. 70% of people who committed suicide left some sort note for their loved ones. Jumpers (people how jumps to their death) for instance, often left something behind for people to find. It might be their wedding band, watch or trinkets. This is especially true when they jump into a body of water (like a river) where their body might not be retrieved. They might not care about their own life but jumpers want their love one to know that they are dead. This is the real reason behind leaving something behind to mark the spot where they ended their life. Teo didn’t leave anything behind on the ledge where he fell (the police forensic dept haven’t told us much about what they found on the scene). This is why suicide might be ruled out.

Anyway when I saw him sprawled on the roof of the building I can’t help recalling two other famous images of people who fell to their death.

This picture is probably the most famous one due to its recentness. I saw this picture in the Time Magazine 911 commemorative issue. The image is unbelievably haunting because you can almost feel that he accepted his fate. In most suicides you can see the arms flailing or people jumping feet first. This guy seems relaxed and jumped head fist probably in hope that his death will be quick and painless.When I saw this picture I end up wondering what was going in his head just mere seconds from death. How does it feel to take your own life this way? Did he wrote a note and stash it in his pocket prior to jumping? If he did what was written in that note? Believe it or not I even go as far as thinking.

“Damn this sucks.. Now he will never be able to watch the Lord of The Ring trilogy!”

I dunno how I end up with that line of thinking. Just for a few minutes while staring at the picture I imagined myself in his shoes. As far as I know his body was never recovered. The body probably disintegrated after falling more than 60 stories to hard concrete below. I’ve seen some aftermath pictures of the WTC jumpers are they don’t look human to me. They look they melted into a pile of goo. Some of the jumper fell on the awnings and their shredded flesh hung on the broken glass roof. It really gory and luckily for you guys I couldn’t find the picture when I Googled for it while writing this blog entry.

This picture is another famous jumper. She died when she jumped from the empire state building. What I like most about this picture is how serene she looked. There was hardly any blood and her body remained intact. The crumpled roof almost looked like a crumpled bed sheet and she was only sleeping in it. It almost gave you the impression that she found finally peace in death.

While we are on the subject of suicide allow me to recommend a documentary for you guys. It’s called The Bridge and it’s about a guy who filmed the Golden Gate Bridge for a year and documenting all the suicide attempts that occurred in that time period.

He would then interview the family member of the dead in order to find a reason why their family member committed suicide. It could be a very depressing movie to watch since they showed actual footage of people jumping to their death but if you are interested in understanding the psyche of a jumper this is an excellent documentary for you.

You can watch the whole documentary on Youtube here. The owner didn't allow embedding

Here is the Trailer - be warned that this might be one of the most depressing movie you would see this year. LOL



p/s: Houston. We're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae a whole panel is blown out, right up. Right up to our heat shield.

PICTURE CREDIT

• Don Burleson
• Esquire Magazine
• The Bridge Documentary Website
• Zorro Unmasked