Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 12, 11

‘Liow, were you there? Definitely no. Were the Tong Shin Hospital board members there? No. Why don’t you ask the people who rallied on that day?’

Tung Shin Hospital ‘not hit’ in rally crackdown

Anti-Fascist: Again the administration of PM Najib Razak wants to change a truth to a lie. No ethics, no morals, no principles. Unbelievable.

So the photos and videos were lying? And the many eyewitness accounts were wrong? Were any of the board of directors at the hospital at that time?

CH Kiew: How typical of the arrogant powers-that-be. There is no need to investigate the video and photographic proof just because you have “got” the hospital to confirm what you “asked” them to confirmed?

Dear Minister, as an ordinary rakyat, I beg you to lead by example – investigate all complaints thoroughly and fairly before jumping to conclusions. We can never improve unless we recognise our mistakes and shortcomings.

Josephine: There are videos aplenty to show that the hospital compound was gassed, but reporters were told not to bring up the issue of the videos.

If using the same logic, why was BN bugging Anwar Ibrahim about the sex video? Hasn’t he already said he was not the actor? In any case, would anyone believe that the hospital management is speaking the truth?

Go4change: Another lying minister talking rubbish. We ask Liow Tiong Lai: were you there? Definitely no – you were in your comfortable house. Were the Tong Shin Hospital board members there? No.

Why don’t you ask the people who rallied on that day?

Flabbergasted: Liow Tiong Lai said maybe the tear gas smoke was blown by the wind in the direction of the hospital. If he had been to a proper school, he would have known that wind never blows from ground upwards. The picture clearly shows the concentration of smoke was on the ground.

Confused: The video footage speaks for itself. Why can’t the reporters show the photos or videos to counter the claim by the health minister? Are the rakyat so stupid that they cannot judge for themselves by watching the photos or videos and have to listen to the minister?

Sabahan: Liow Tiong Lai lied and hospital board chairperson Ng Beh Tong obediently agreed. It is leaders like these two that have allowed Malaysia to degenerate into a near dictatorship by Umno.

For once, Liow and Ng, think of those courageous Malaysians who had to face police intimidation, tear gas and chemical-laced water canons for the sake of their children and the future of Malaysia.

Anonymous_3de1: ‘Maybe’ and ‘we don’t know’ do not make much of certainty and assertiveness, Mr Health Minister. It is damage control time to salvage whether shred of credibility left of your political master, isn’t it?

Try as you may until the cows come home, it will not convince those who were eyewitnesses. As for the hospital administrator Ng, was he offered a carrot or a big stick? To quote you, “We don’t know. Maybe.”

One Hand Cover The Sky: Dear Health Minster, do not try to hoodwink the rakyat. Why are you so scared to talk about the videos recordings? So many thousands of eyes saw them, but you still want to deny it. Even the staff working there admit that the hospital was hit by tear gas and chemical-laced water.

Douglas Tan 25b2: Goodbye, MCA. If you are still there to defend the indefensible, and refute thousands of videos, eyewitness accounts and photographs, you are at the end of your political rope, just like PM Najib and Umno.

Anak Pinang: So we have finally become a failed nation where, instead of conducting an investigation into wrongful abuse, the government refuses to be accountable for its decisions, even when there is a mountain of evidence.

Let’s just sweep everything under the carpet and pretend that nothing happened, shall we? Denial, obfuscation, deception and more lies.

DannyLoHH: Liow Tiong Lai still has a long way to go before he could successfully counter the video and photographic evidence, that the police did, in fact, shoot water and tear-gas canisters into the compound of Tung Shin Hospital.

He could have used/abused the authority and power as health minister to browbeat the board of Tung Shin Hospital to toe the official line. But he needs to speak many thousands more words before he could even come close to convince some that “it never happened”.

Moontime: There are clear evidence via pictures, photos and videos to support the claim, and yet the minister denies that the hospital was hit by tear gas and chemically-laced water. Just look at the picture accompanying the Malaysiakini report.

Dear minister, are you blind? Or is this the damage control attempt by the government? So go ahead, lie some more, your days are clearly numbered, BN. The more you deny, the more support Bersih will get from the fence sitters, thus signalling your humiliating defeat in the polls.

Bert: Liow told reporters not to show photos or videos to counter his claims. You are scared of the truth, are you? Don’t you have a conscience?

Tuah PJ: Good God, you have no shame, Mr Minister. The pictures tell a thousand words, and my colleague was at Tung Shin Hospital when he was nearly hit by the gas canister. I believe my friend more than you.

Phra Ong Chao: There photographs of gas canisters landing well inside the hospital compound. Or did the wind blow the canisters into the compound, too?