Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai has been shown up to be a liar by the Bar Council, whose monitoring team at the July 9 Bersih rally for free and fair elections confirmed that police had fired tear gas and chemical-laced water into the Tung Shin Hospital.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee screened video footage showing water from the cannons hit the hospital compound. Eyewitness accounts also bear out allegations that tear gas canisters had landed in the hospital grounds.
Chee Wee also rebuked the police for using indiscriminate and excessive force against peaceful protesters. His monitoring team presented an observation report compiled by 100 staff deployed during the rally for free and fair elections.
Hot potato
Tung Shin became a hot potato for the Najib administration because it showed the police's disregard for the safety of patients. It also contravenes international convention, whereby hospital premises are sacrosanct.
"Liow is a sycophant and a stooge. It is international convention that hospitals and ambulances should not be attacked in times of war or peace. Hence, the police action is unacceptable and against convention," former Health minister and PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng had told Malaysia Chronicle.
"The Tung Shin staff had already said it happened and it is wrong of the minister and the hospital board to deny without a doing thorough probe. The first priority must always be the patients."
Jui Meng was referring to comments made by an ambitious Liow a day which had angered many Chinese, who have called on the hospital board to perform and independent probe and not lie just help Liow cover up for the police and score brownie points with Prime Minister Najib Razak.
"The board of the hospital also confirmed this. Don't cite whatever pictures or videos again. The most important thing is that the person in charge of the hospital has confirmed that the police did not shoot the tear gas or water cannon into the hospital compound,” Liow told reporters on Monday.
"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. As for the water cannon, they were shooting at 45 degrees onto the main road, maybe the edge of it."
At a press conference on Tuesday, Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee screened video footage showing water from the cannons hit the hospital compound. Eyewitness accounts also bear out allegations that tear gas canisters had landed in the hospital grounds.
Chee Wee also rebuked the police for using indiscriminate and excessive force against peaceful protesters. His monitoring team presented an observation report compiled by 100 staff deployed during the rally for free and fair elections.
Hot potato
Tung Shin became a hot potato for the Najib administration because it showed the police's disregard for the safety of patients. It also contravenes international convention, whereby hospital premises are sacrosanct.
"Liow is a sycophant and a stooge. It is international convention that hospitals and ambulances should not be attacked in times of war or peace. Hence, the police action is unacceptable and against convention," former Health minister and PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng had told Malaysia Chronicle.
"The Tung Shin staff had already said it happened and it is wrong of the minister and the hospital board to deny without a doing thorough probe. The first priority must always be the patients."
Jui Meng was referring to comments made by an ambitious Liow a day which had angered many Chinese, who have called on the hospital board to perform and independent probe and not lie just help Liow cover up for the police and score brownie points with Prime Minister Najib Razak.
"The board of the hospital also confirmed this. Don't cite whatever pictures or videos again. The most important thing is that the person in charge of the hospital has confirmed that the police did not shoot the tear gas or water cannon into the hospital compound,” Liow told reporters on Monday.
"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. As for the water cannon, they were shooting at 45 degrees onto the main road, maybe the edge of it."
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