Veteran opposition politician Lim Kit Siang was in his element at Parliament House this morning, but it was not to re-live the memory of his heyday in the Dewan Rakyat.

He had been invited to brief members of Parliament to show that the Health Ministry has been "manipulating" statistics to hide the gravity of the dengue situation since 1998, when the last pandemic occurred.

The DAP national chairperson built his case around statistics revealed by Health Minister Chua Jui Meng during a Dewan Rakyat session last Tuesday.

Chua's press secretary, Woon Yong Teai, recapitulated the speech in a letter sent to malaysiakini , to which data had been added. This was published as a letter to the editor o­n Monday.

Chua and Woon could not be reached for comment today.

Campaign of disinformation

Lim, once member of Parliament for Tanjong, claimed that lives could have been saved over the past year if the ministry had acted swiftly to put out a national alert.

Instead, he said Chua had o­nly revealed full statistics in a nine-page reply to the Dewan Rakyat last week. It included reference to 11,394 confirmed serology cases and 57 deaths last year.

Lim had earlier insisted that 32,289 cases and 57 deaths had been reported up to Dec 28 last year, based o­n information received from government officials and media reports.

But Chua told the media last Tuesday that he did not know where the DAP had obtained the figure and that it could refer to "suspected cases".

"Chua also revealed for the first time that there were 11 dengue-related deaths this year up to Feb 22, which I believe to err seriously o­n the low side," Lim said.

"Why didn't he give the most up-to-date figures until the first week of March? Is this because there have been more dengue deaths since then, including two in Perak after Feb 22, o­ne o­n Feb 27 and another o­ne o­n March 1?"

Lim also noted that the country has become "so numbed by a prolonged campaign of disinformation by the ministry" that such a shocking revelation was virtually ignored by the mainstream media.

Deaths in 1998

He further cited World Health Organisation (WHO) literature which used the figure of 27,379 reported dengue cases and 58 deaths in 1998. Even the Health Indicators on the ministry's website states the same number of fatalities.

Chua's response in the Dewan Rakyat listed 13,742 confirmed cases in 1998 without providing details of fatalities. This was, however, included in Woon's letter to malaysiakini , where he cited 82 deaths in 1998.

According to Lim, this has "inadvertently confirmed" widespread suspicion that the Health Ministry has been "manipulating" dengue data.

"For five long years, the nation and the world, especially WHO, have been misled into believing that there were o­nly 58 dengue deaths in 1998 when there were actually 82," Lim said. "How could anyone trust the facts and figures furnished (in future) by the ministry?"

Semantics explained

Lim also took Chua to task for repeatedly saying the dengue situation was under control last year.

He said Chua was incorrect to have dismissed the number of reported cases in compiling statistics, especially when the WHO itself takes reported cases into account when issuing a health alert.

Doctors and health practitioners notify the health authorities of suspected dengue cases after conducting tests, Lim said, as required by law.

"There are medical practitioners who hold that easily 80 to 90 percent of reported cases are actual dengue cases," he claimed.

Elaborating, he said 'reported' cases refer to those clinically diagnosed by doctors, while 'confirmed' cases mean those verified through laboratory tests.

"In the case of dengue, it is the clinical diagnosis which is more important in life-and-death terms," Lim said.

"Although a high percentage of clinically-diagnosed cases, including fatalities, cannot be laboratory-confirmed because of technical and practical constraints, the number of 'reported' cases are a more accurate measure of the gravity of the situation."

Call for courage

Lim's briefing found resonance among opposition MPs including Pokok Sena member Mahfuz Omar, who is also PAS Youth chief.

Mahfuz said Chua and Local Government and Housing Minister o­ng Ka Ting ( photo ) should both be "brave to face the seriousness of the dengue epidemic".

"They should not just point fingers at o­ne another and blame the people for not having initiative or for lacking awareness in fighting dengue. The government hasn't taken the lead by launching a nationwide campaign, so people don't have a clear picture of the situation. This is not the people's fault," he said.

"(Ong and Chua) are from the government and should bear this responsibility. Otherwise, they should resign."

DAP secretary-general and Kota Melaka MP Kerk Kim Hock urged Chua to turn up at the winding-up session of the debate o­n the Royal Address - scheduled to be held tomorrow or o­n Monday - and reply in detail to the issues raised o­n dengue.

If the minister fails to do so, DAP MPs plan to stage a protest, which may include a walkout, Kerk told malaysiakini .

Last Monday, DAP MP for Bukit Bintang Fong Kui Lun submitted an emergency motion to debate the dengue issue. However, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Dr Mohamed Zahir Ismail rejected it so that another motion o­n the US-led war against Iraq could be debated.