The DAP today offered four witnesses who saw the tear-gassing of the Tung Shin Hospital compound last Saturday, saying they are ready to give their accounts to the special committee the Health Ministry has proposed to probe the incident.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua slammed Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai for deciding to "abdicate" his responsibilities to a committee, but stressed their willingness to participate in the proceedings to make sure the committee does its intended job.

bersih rally 090711 police shooting into tung shin hospital front image "I hereby announce that the MPs for Serdang and Bukit Bendera - Teo Nie Ching and Liew Ching Tong, the political secretary to Lim Guan Eng, Zairil Khir Johari, and myself, who were present at the site when the hospital compound was assaulted - will provide eye-witness testimonies, backed with videos and pictures," Pua said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Liow announced that a high-level committee, led by his ministry's secretary-general Kamarul Zaman Md Isa, would investigate claims that tear gas and a water cannon were fired into the compound of the private hospital during the Bersih 2.0 rally last Saturday.

Bernama quoted him as saying that the aim of the probe was to "clear the contradictions in various statements made by different parties over the last few days".

NONE Liow had previously said that the hospital's board denied tear gas or water cannons were fired directly into the compound of the hospital during the police crackdown on the Bersih 2.0 protesters.

Pua ( right ) said the decision to form the special committee is a "huge disappointment", as it would simply prolong the agony for all Malaysians, instead of settling the issue with a quick admission and apology in the face of mounting evidence supporting the tear gas and water cannon attack claims.

It was "sickening", he said, that Liow refused to take responsibility for declaring earlier that the police had not fired tear gas and water cannons into the hospital compound, despite later admitting that he had "seen and heard the videos and stories" posted by eyewitnesses on social networking sites.

"Why was Liow so quick to publicly accept ‘positive' reports made by the police and certain individuals not present on the day despite the avalanche of allegations, but when faced with clear cut visual evidence, he is doing all he can to delay the inevitable admission of misdeeds by the police force?"

Pua remained sceptical about what the committee could achieve, pointing out that the findings of numerous "high-powered" committees set up in the past - such as those created to probe the PKFZ scandal - ended up getting swept under the rug.

"What demonstrates the lack of seriousness by the health minister on the issue was that the announcement of the committee was made without any details, such as its composition, date of commencement and deadline for the report to be completed," he said.