Report: Police breached SOP in Tung Shin incident

A Health Ministry probe has confirmed that the police had breached standard operating procedures (SOP) when dispersing Bersih 2.0 rally participants at the Tung Shin Hospital.

In a statement late this evening, Home Ministry chief secretary Mahmood Adam said based on the Health Ministry report, errant police personnel would be referred to the police's disciplinary committee.

“The investigation results concluded that there were unethical actions which were beyond the SOP of the Royal Malaysian Police when enforcement was performed on rally participants who were wrongly using the hospital premises,” said Mahmood.

The Health Ministry report, released today, confirms that the police water cannon was fired at demonstrators who were converging at the hospital multi-storey carpark and main gate.

“However, this action (was taken) solely to disperse groups of protesters who were gathering at the hospital area,” said Mahmood, quoting from the Health Ministry report.

Smoke bombs

It was also confirmed that tear gas canisters were fired from the Waz Lian Enterprise Sdn Bhd building in the direction of a carpark outside the hospital compound.

“However, allegations that there was tear gas fired inside the hospital compound are not true because it happened at a public carpark outside the hospital compound,” said Mahmood.

The report also states that 'smoke bombs' were thrown by police personnel towards protesters who were converging at the Chinese Maternity Hospital (CMH) carpark.

“Referring to the smoke bomb incident, investigations found that this did not happen inside the Tung Shin Hospital compound, but at the CMH compound, which in terms of administration, is separate from Tung Shin.

“CMH had ceased operations since September 2006 because of major renovations which will take place in December 2011,” said Mahmood.

Initial denial

He stressed that the decision to refer errant police personnel for disciplinary proceedings shows that the Home Ministry was serious in ensuring that its staff follow procedures.

“(The Home Ministry) will not compromise on disciplinary action if it is found that there are (staff) who are proven to have violated operational guidelines,” he said.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai had initially deniedclaims that riot-control weapons were fired into the Tung Shin Hospital compound during the July 9 rally.

However, pictures which were widely distributed on the Internet suggested the contrary, leading Liow to announce the formation of a “high-level committee of enquiry” to probe the claims.