Media statement by Tony Pua Kiam Wee in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 14^th July 2011:

The IGP, the Health Minister and the MCA President must immediately issue a public apology to Tung Shin Hospital for violating its sanctity

11 doctors who were present at Tung Shin Hospital have bravely stepped forward to present their eye-witness accounts on the fact that the police force has violated the sanctity of the hospital and to express their disgust at the authorities for having "shamelessly denied publicly, the occurrence of these incidents..."

All three leaders, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Ismail Omar, Health Minister Dato' Seri Liow Tiong Lai and MCA President, Dato' Sri Dr Chua Soi Lek were extremely quick to deny the incidents where the police deployed tear gas and water cannons onto the hospital compounds and entered the hospital to arrest, sometimes violently, Bersih supporters who had sought refuge there.

They had defended the actions of the police despite the avalanche of visual evidence that the hospital was attacked with the most pathetic and incredulous of excuses, like the "wind" blowing the tear gas into the hospital compound or that the police "only brought in some injured demonstrators for medical treatment".

After being criticised heavily for his 'valiant' but futile attempt to defend the police, the Health Minister had attempted to salvage his reputation by pushing the blame to the Hospital board of directors instead and asked "everyone to wait for the results of police investigations into all reports on incidents that took place on Saturday."

While he was initially very quick to absolve the police from blame, Liow had the cheek to then ask "everyone to wait for the results of police investigations" after having seen the evidence otherwise. Worse, his party president, Dr Chua persisted in arguing that the videos and pictures were "unclear", proving that the former Health Minister is either physically blind or acting blind.

Now with 11 distinguished medical specialists testifying what Malaysians already know as the truth, are the IGP, Health Minister and MCA President going to procrastinate further by claiming that they need to send the video recordings and photographs to experts in the United States, this time to prove that the evidence have been, forgive the pun, 'doctored'?

The IGP and he BN Government should stop making fools of themselves to the entire watching world. The IGP must take responsibility for the infraction, and apologise immediately to the hospital for the "scant regard for the safety of patients, staff and the general public who were at the buildings that afternoon," to quote the good doctors.

The Health Minister must apologise to all Malaysians for failing to protect the hospitals under his charge by demanding accountability from the police force, and to the hospital on behalf of the federal government. He must also retract all the lamest exuses and lies he had provided to defend the actions of the police earlier, if he is sincere about respect for hospitals as a "place of convalescence", as he preached in his tweet yesterday.

Dr Chua Soi Lek, himself a practising doctor, should give voice to Malaysians who are disgusted with the actions of the police and prove that MCA is not without a backbone, remaining completely voiceless in Barisan Nasional and subsevient to Umno. He must apologise not only for MCA's failure to defend what is morally and ethically right, but also for becoming apologists for the BN state apparatus used to repress ordinary Malaysians defending their constitutional right.

* Tony Pua Kiam Wee, DAP National Publicity Secretary & MP for Petaling Jaya Utara