(Kuching, Monday): The Prison
authorities should give DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for
Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng, immediate specialist treatment and care
before he gets life-long back pains as a result of having to sleep on cement
floor in Kajang Prisons since starting his 18-month-long jail sentence
three weeks ago.
Guan Eng had tried to conceal his acute back pains from the family for fear of causing worry but the pain has persisted.
I fully agree with my daughter-in-law Betty Chew who yesterday called l on the prison authorities to immediately give Guan Eng specialist treatment and care for his acute back pain, to allow him a mattress so as not to permanently damage Guan eng's health, half-an-hour exercise each morning and evening, and unlimited reading material in keeping with the national policy of promoting a knowledge society.
However severe the prison rules and regulations, they should not damage a prisoner's health, whether he be a Member of Parliament like Guan Eng or any other person, regardless of the offences he had committed.
The very fact that Guan can lose six pounds in his first 18 days in Kajang Prisons shows that there is a need to review the prison conditions for all prisoners.
I propose to meet with the relevant authorities about Guan Eng's health in Kajang Prisons when I return to Kuala Lumpur later today.
(14/9/98)