By Patrick Lee
July 11, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai today slammed Bersih protesters for seeking refuge in the Tung Shin Maternity Hospital when the police charged them on Saturday.

He said that the protesters should have stayed away from the Jalan Pudu hospital, instead of “ambushing” it during the rally.

“We need to take care of our hospital. It must be protected. Even demonstrators should not ambush the hospital,” he told reporters at Tung Shin today.

Liow said this after having a nearly hour-long meeting with Tung Shin’s board of directors.

The minister added that the hospital, though meant for the public, should not have been a place of refuge for the demonstrators.

“We can’t just close the hospital. It is here for the public. The hospital is here to treat anybody that needs our help.”

“(But), it should be away from all kinds of problems. We don’t want demonstrators to create chaos in the hospital as well,” he said.

During Saturday’s rally, Bersih supporters were caught between two groups of police and Federal Reserve Units along Jalan Pudu.

Forced to retreat from the oncoming policemen and multiple tear gas canisters, many of the protesters sought a safe haven in the hospital.

What happened after that remains highly debatable with the protesters and several other eye-witnesses saying that the police had fired tear gas into the hospital to lure out the protesters. There are also photographic and video evidence to show this.

However the police have denied this, stating that they did not fire any tear gas into the hospital compound. Liow and the hospital’s directors today backed the police on this.

Wind brought in the smoke

Liow, the MCA deputy president, also offered his own explanation on how the tear gas and water cannon could have hit the hospital compound.

“It is confirmed that when they (police) sent the tear gas out, it’s not into the hospital. Maybe when the wind blew, the smoke (may have) gone in this direction. We won’t know,” he said.

“Even the water cannon they’re shooting at 45 degrees, at the main road, maybe at the edge of it (may have entered the hospital).”

Liow also slammed DAP leaders for their visit to the hospital yesterday, accusing them of trying to score political mileage.

“They are trying to implicate this hospital and shed a bad light on Malaysia to the world. They are trying to highlight that the police shot tear gas and water cannon into the hospital,” he said.

The minister blamed Pakatan Rakyat and Bersih supporters for the gathering, which he said, led to the hospital’s problems.

He also took a swipe at DAP’s Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching for claiming that the firing of tear gas into the hospital went against the Geneva Convention.

Liow that such a remark was “uncalled for”.

Hospital: No tear gas, a bit of water maybe

Tung Shin board chairman Ng Beh Tong was also adamant that no tear gas canisters reached the hospital area.

“There is no tear gas shot into our Tung Shin compound,” he said.

Ng however admitted that some water from the FRU cannons may have entered the hospital compound.

“As far as the water cannons are concerned, some water may have sprayed into our outside car park,” he said.

Some policemen, Ng conceded, may have entered the compound in their pursuit of the protesters.

Defending the police, Ng also said that police officers had later brought some of the injured rally-goers to the hospital for treatment.

More than 1,600 people were arrested in last Saturday’s rally, which saw over 15,000 Bersih supporters take to the streets of KL.