By Martin Jalleh
On 11 July he very confidently claimed that the police did not shoot tear gas and spray chemically-laced waterfrom cannons into the Tung Shin Hospital compound, in the crackdown on the recent Bersih 2.0 rally.
He added (in a press conference held in the hospital) he had confirmed with the hospital authorities that the claims circulating on the Internet are not true.
"The police shot the tear gas over the main road. Maybe the smoke was blown by the wind in this direction - that, we don't know, but they were not aiming at the hospital," he told reporters after meeting board members of the hospital this afternoon.
"As for the water cannon, they were shooting at 45 degrees onto the main road, maybe the edge of it may...(have spread to the hospital)."
The police have also denied shooting directly into the hospital compounds after protesters had sought refuge there.
Liow blamed the opposition for bringing in politics to the hospital, which he labelled as an irresponsible act.
Liow was strongly supported by his boss in the MCA (who was also a former Health Minister), Chua Soi Lek, who never lacks cheap excuses when the chips are down.
Chua charged that “the truth of the pictures and videos of alleged police brutality during the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally for clean and fair elections, should be viewed “in totality”, it “lies in the eye of the beholder”.
Two days later, a group of doctors (who “wish not to enter into the polemics of the Bersih 2.0”) said they were prepared to provide sworn affidavits to say that police had fired tear gas and chemical-laced water into the compounds of the Tung Shin and Chinese Maternity Hospitals during the Bersih rally (Malaysian Insider, 13.07.11).
In a signed statement, 11 doctors, including some who were at the scene, said they were outraged at the actions of the police in firing tear gas and water cannons without scant regard for the safety of patients and doctors.
“Hospitals are considered as safe sanctuaries for all, even during wartime, but these consecrated places of refuge and protection were violated by the defence forces that afternoon. Police even entered the buildings in search of some of these peaceful marchers.
“What was most frightening and witnessed by many was the unprovoked violent assault within the hospital compounds and the apprehension of several protesters who had merely run into the hospitals to seek shelter from the tear gas and the water cannons.
“It is repulsive that the authorities entrusted with policing the nation and protecting the weak and needy, have shamelessly denied publicly, the occurrence of these incidents in spite of countless photo/video and eyewitness accounts of what was evident to all independent observers,” they said.
It is very evident that Soi Lek has been “soiled” in his judgment of things and lacks wisdom. Are we expected to believe that 11 senior and reputable doctors suffered from “optical illusion” that day!
Chua has bit off more than he could chew!
As for Liow, how low can you go? Surely the Health Minister knows it is not healthy to lie!
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