Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai got an earful for being unable to produce a report on whether the police had fired tear gas and acid-water into the Tung Shin Hospital grounds during the July 9 Bersih march for free and fair elections.
DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua called Liow a "cop out" and a "very poor health minister" for his mishandling of the issue. Liow had rushed to defend the police, when they denied they had bombarded the hospital with toxic materials in direct contravention of international norms.
However, the MCA deputy president U-turned when an angry public hurled thousands of photo-clips, You Tube videos and scores of eyewitness accounts at him and his boss, MCA president Chua Soi Lek. Soi Lek had raised the mercury even more when he tried to brush off the visual evidence as "camera angle".
Blowing in the wind
Unable to stem the public anger, Liow then set up a Health ministry probe in mid-July, promising a probe 'without-fear-or-favour'. But after more than a month and the issuance of independent reports from NGOs such as Tenaganita, Liow still has nothing to show for it.
“Four weeks later, we have heard absolutely nothing from the minister. I think it’s a total cop out. He doesn’t dare admit the truth, he has no courage to admonish the police, and I think he makes a very poor health minister as a result," Tony told a press conference on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, police continue to insist that it was the wind that blew the tear gas into the hospital compound.
A group of doctors on duty at the time have issued a joint statement confirming that both tear gas and water cannons were fired into the hospital grounds. They have offered to give an affidavit to the court if need be.
- Malaysia Chronicle
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