DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr.Lim Kit Siang, today issued the following statement (28.8.1973):
DAP Malacca calls on the Minister of Health to order that all records and documents related to the recent Malacca General Hospital deaths be preserved and protected from any tampering
Since my press conference on August 22 a week ago calling for a Public Commission of Inquiry into the unusual number of deaths recently in the Malacca General Hospital, and the announcement by the Minister of Health, Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew, ordering a department inquiry, I have received further information from people of Malacca whose relatives or friends have died in the Malacca General Hospital recently.
I have invited all those in Malacca who have any information relating to the unusual number of deaths in the Malacca General Hospital during the time that the hospital’s autoclave (sterilisation plant) broke down to contact me or my colleagues at the DAP Malacca Office at 33A Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Malacca.
Meanwhile, I call on the Minister of Health, Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew, to issue orders to ensure that all relevant documents are preserved and protected, and that there should be no attempt to tamper with documents.
In America, to further the interests of the American President, documents were stolen, destroyed and falsified in utter disregard of the interest of public. I am not suggesting that there is going to be a Watergate in Malaysia, but it is the axiom in public conduct that one must not only be fair, must be seen to be fair. Similarly, it is essential to the task of restoring public confidence in the hospital service that everything is done openly and before the scrutiny of the public gaze – so that there can be no doubt or suspicion that there is anything hanky-panky or hush-up attempt going on.
I will be meeting the Minister of Health, Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew, on Thursday, and I will stress to him the necessity and importance of holding a public commission inquiry into the Malacca Hospital deaths, and why a closed-door internal inquiry cannot be satisfactory.