Guan Eng is now suffering multiple ailments in the  Kajang Prison as its conditions do not meet minimum  international standards

(Kuala Lumpur, Friday): DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng, is now suffering multiple ailments in the Kajang Prison as its conditions do not meet minimum international standards, whether in terms of food, prison cell, imprisonment conditions or medical attention.

A very healthy and young Member of Parliament went into Kajang Prison on August 25 and very soon, he suffered severe back aches as a result of having to sleep on the cold and hard cement floor, without any bedsheet whatsoever.

Guan Eng never had migraine but is now having splitting headaches. He is also suffering from inflammation of his nose.  All these ailments ensure that Guan Eng cannot have proper sleep.

In his five months in Kajang Prison, Guan Eng has lost 22 pounds -  just like the former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim.

Guan Eng should receive specialist care and treatment and should be hospitalised either at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital or the Universiti Hospital, but specialist attention has been denied him by  the authorities.

For more than five months, the three young children of Guan Eng have not been able to touch and embrace their father.  This surely is not the mark of a caring society.

There is an urgent need for prison reforms for even prisoners have the right to be treated as human beings.

Guan Eng is going through very hard times in Kajang Prison, but his spirits are as strong as ever in his determination to stand up for justice, freedom and truth.

As Guan Eng recently told his wife, Betty Chew,  recently in  Kajang Prison:
 

"Despite the much I have lost for the little I have done, I would still do it all over again. (Hopefully, my young children will in due time understand the suffering they have to bear for what their father had done)

"I have no regrets because the Government and the Attorney General’s  handling of that infamous rape of the underaged girl is simply wrong and unjust.

"There is something inherently and intrinsically wrong when  a rape victim can be detained for almost three  years whilst her rapists need not serve a single day in jail. Similarly, it is completely and absolutely unjust for  the AG to expose the rape victim to public humiliation by callously disclosing her sexual background, and prosecuting me after I had criticised him for failing to uphold the law.

"Somehow the Government and the AG did not find it perverse nor a travesty of justice to punish the rape victim and me. Can the public then be blamed for perceiving that the rape victim was detained because she had the misfortune to be raped by the ‘wrong’ personalities?

"At the risk of stating the obvious, punishing the rape victim instead of her rapists is wrong. If this is not wrong, then nothing else is wrong!"

I want on behalf of Guan Eng and my family to thank all Malaysians who have continued to support Guan Eng and the cause of justice for all Malaysians.  I also want to thank all humane and justice-loving people all over the world who have expressed their support, sympathy and solidarity with Guan Eng.

Malaysians must rally behind the DAP’s nation-wide "Justice For All" campaign to ensure that all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, gender or age, are entitled to justice, freedom, democracy and good governance in our country.

(29/1/99)