(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): I am very worried about the health of DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng, in view of the refusal of the government to give him specialist treatment for his multiple ailments which he developed in Kajang Prison in the past five months.
Guan Eng was healthy before he was imprisoned but he has now a very bad backache, migraine and inflammation of the nose which did not allow him proper sleep. He has also lost 10 kg after five months in prison, a fact which the Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Abdul Kadir Sheik Fadzir is denying strenuously but yet unprepared to produce Guan Eng publicly for everyone to see with their own eyes who is telling the truth.
I am shocked that the Deputy Home Minister could dismiss Guan Eng�s back ache claiming that it was not due to sleeping on the cold, hard cement floor but because it was a common problem resulting from ageing.
Let Abdul Kadir sleep on the cold hard cement floor for a week and let us say whether he would say such an outrageous thing again!
Is Abdul Kadir aware that Guan Eng started having his back pains by the third day of his imprisonment in Kajang Prison as a result of having to sleep on the cold hard cement floor without any bed or mattress whastsoever?
Guan Eng started his jail sentence in Kajang Prison on Tuesday, August 25, 1998 and by Thursday, his back pain was getting excruciating and by Friday, August 28, his back was hurting so badly that he could hardly sleep that night, tossing and turning around the whole night. But he could not go to the prison clinic the next day because it was a Saturday and the clinic doctor was off, and as Monday was August 31 and National Day, he had to wait three days until Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1999 for his first visit to the hospital doctor.
His first visit to the prison clinic was memorable. He was checked by the hospital assistant, and Guan Eng slightly winced with pain when the hospital assistant touched his backbone, and when he went to the part which hurt most, Guan Eng jerked in pain.
Abdul Kadir could have checked all this from the prison authorities.
The Prison Director-General, Datuk Omar Mohamad Dan should explain why the prison authorities had denied specialist treatment and care to the Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka in the past five months. If the Prisons Department is short of funds, I am sure it could get reimbursement for all expenses incurred by the Prison Department for any specialist treatment for Guan Eng from Parliament.
This is because Guan Eng is still legally Member of Parliament until his petition for pardon to the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Malacca State Government have been dismissed.
Alternatively, the Prison Authorities should allow Guan Eng to get private specialist treatment and care without incurring expenses to the Prison Department!
(6/2/99)