The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia today urged the Health Ministry to be responsible and committed in handling the dengue epidemic.

Commissioner Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan said the ministry's cooperation is a must and this includes releasing related information and figure of cases or deaths to the public.

"It is urgent. The public has the right to be informed. When they know, they can take appropriate and preventive steps. If not, they may lose their lives," he said when met at the commission's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The commissioner had earlier met DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang and other party leaders who lodged their second report with the commission o­n the outbreak.

Hamdan also disagreed with the ministry's director-general Mohamad Taha Ariff , who was quoted in The Sun last Thursday as saying, "The public do not have the right to know the seriousness of the dengue outbreak."

Essential information

The commissioner was also saddened by Suhakam's inability to obtain the related statistics from the ministry following the first complaint lodged by DAP two weeks ago.

"Our officials have spoken to the ministry and tried to check o­n the statistics, but it proved to be futile. We will call them up again and I hope they will be more cooperative," he said.

The commissioner noted that the ministry should learn from the haze incident between 1997 and 1999.

During the haze incident, which enveloped several cities in the country intermittently, the ministry was condemned for its slow reaction.

The haze resulted from forest fires raging in neighbouring Indonesia.

Hamdan said the ministry should initiate a massive campaign and disseminate essential information about the dengue outbreak.

On whether Suhakam will release any official statements o­n this call, he said the commission will visit hospitals and obtain further information first.

Media blackout

Meanwhile, Lim claimed that o­ne of the major reasons behind the lack of awareness among the public was because the media had been instructed to downplay the issue.

"This is press control and censorship at its worst, when it has nothing to do with party politics whatsoever but entirely about life-and-death issues for the people in Malaysia," he said.

Asked to elaborate, the veteran politician cited the coverage in Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau as an example.

"I remember in December that they had put the dengue issue o­n their front-page, but suddenly now the (news reports o­n the) issue has disappeared.

"It is an outbreak but why o­nly place the news at a small corner? Doesn't this mean a blackout?" he asked.

Lim said Suhakam should pursue for the information related to his complaint, and if they fail to obtain it, he is prepared to provide his "resources" to aid the commission.

Information policy

He also called for a new information policy to keep up with a knowledge economy and information society.

"This is to inform, enlighten and educate the people instead of current government practices to obstruct, obscure and obfuscate the free flow of information as in the virulent killer dengue epidemic," he said.

Agreeing with Lim, Hamdan said the commission's stand was clear that the media should be allowed to report the truth, even if it concerned a critical issue.

Lim's first report to the commission contained a compilation of the Health Ministry figures o­n the outbreak, which was carried in Sin Chew Daily.

According to the figures, there were 32,289 confirmed dengue cases last year and a total of 57 deaths nationwide.

However, Lim claimed that this tally did not correspond with those provided by the various state health officials and others.

Dengue is caused by the aedes mosquito and those infected suffer from pain in their joints, fever and rashes.

Last September, the World Health Organisation issued an alert to tropical countries, including Malaysia, to prepare for an increase in the number of dengue cases in view of the unusually wet weather conditions.