The tension between Health Minister Chua Jui Meng and DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang over the dengue epidemic reached a feverish height today with the latter challenging the minister to a "tell all and clear all session".

"If Chua is not prepared to accept my challenge, I am prepared to go to Parliament early next week to give a full briefing to the members about Chua's irresponsible mishandling of the dengue epidemic," said Lim when contacted.

"I am giving Chua up to the end of this week to agree to a o­ne-to-one session to establish the real truth about the dengue epidemic," he added.

At the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, the minister accused the veteran opposition politician of lying about the World Health Organisation (WHO) dengue alert.

Lim had repeatedly alleged that the Health Ministry ignored the alert from the international organisation last July warning all tropical countries including Malaysia to be prepared for an increase in the number of dengue cases in view of the unusually wet weather condition.

However, Chua said his ministry received a written admission - dated Feb 24 - from the organisation's representative in Kuala Lumpur which explained that WHO never issued such a warning

Media reports

In his statement, Lim said there were two media reports that could prove his claim - o­ne in local daily Utusan Malaysia and the other in the US-based Environmental News Network (ENN) published o­n July 29 and 30 last year respectively.

According to him, the reports respectively quoted WHO Department of Communicable Diseases based in Geneva and WHO disease control specialist Dr Mike Nathan as issuing the warning.

"The Health Ministry may be forgiven for not accessing the ENN item, but can it be so information technology-literate and media-backward that it does not access local media coverage when it reported the WHO warning last July of a possible dengue pandemic in the region, including Malaysia?"

"The killer Aedes mosquito do not wait for 'black and white' authority before they bite, spread dengue and kill lives. Why should Chua demand 'black and white' warning from the WHO office in Kuala Lumpur before heeding the WHO dengue alert issued by Geneva last July?" he said.

Contradictory figures

Lim also noted the contradiction in figures related to the disease which was released by the minister during the question and answer session in Parliament yesterday.

Chua said there were 11,394 confirmed serology cases and 57 deaths in 2002 and for this year up to Feb 22 there were 3,410 confirmed serology cases and 11 deaths.

Lim claimed this was a "direct contradiction" with the figures revealed by Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo in an e-mail communique to him o­n Feb 24.

Responding to the numerous e-mails sent to him by Lim o­n the outbreak, Mohd Khir stated that there were more than 15,500 confirmed cases reported in the state and the Federal Territory last year.

The DAP chief said two months ago Selangor exco member in charge of health Tang See Hang also released a nationwide data and state-by-state incidence of dengue cases and dengue fatalities last year as of Dec 14 which recorded 29,615 confirmed cases and 53 deaths. ( chart )

He added that the figures released by Chua also contradicted with another compilation by Sin Chew Daily based o­n information from ministry officials and media reports that there were 32,289 confirmed cases and 57 deaths as of Dec 28 last year.

"With the great difference in figures of 32,289 reported dengue cases last year and Chua's figure of 11,394 cases given in Parliament yesterday, Malaysians must ask why Chua is again engaged in another major cover-up after the previous Nipah virus and Coxsackie epidemic cover-ups, which also caused enormous suffering and great human toll," said Lim.

Unworthy allegation

On the minister's claim that he was laying a "political trap" by consistently highlighting the issue to shame the nation during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur last month, Lim said it was an "unworthy and preposterous" allegation.

The DAP chief, who accused the government of covering up the issue due to the NAM summit, demanded a withdrawal and apology from Chua.

On Monday, DAP MP for Bukit Bintang Fong Kui Lun submitted an emergency motion to debate o­n the dengue issue. However, the motion was rejected by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohd Zahir Ismail so that another motion by a backbencher o­n the war against Iraq could be debated.