6 theSun | FRIDAY JULY 31 2009

news without borders

Boon Hwa to give DNA

sample in two days
by Giam Say Khoon
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: Kajang municipal
councillor Tan Boon Hwa, who is one
of two men who failed to provide their
DNA samples for the Teoh Beng Hock
inquest on Wednesday, will do so
within two days, his lawyer Gobind
Singh Deo said.
In a press conference yesterday at
the DAP headquarters, Gobind, who
is also acting for Teoh’s family in the
inquest, reiterated that both Tan and
Lee Wye Wing, another witness in the
inquest who also yet to provide his
DNA sample, are willing to cooperate
fully with the authorities to uncover
the truth behind the political assist-
ant’s death.
Gobind said newspaper reports
that said the inquest was delayed
due to the unwillingness of the two
witnesses to cooperate with the police
by providing their DNA sample are
therefore incorrect.
He said when the matter came up
in court, he had informed the coroner,
Azmil Muntapha Abas, that the two
men who were not named in court
had not, in fact, refused to give their
DNA samples when requested.
“What had actually happened was
I received phone calls from Boon Hwa
and my colleague Lim Lip Eng and
was told that a police officer known
as ‘ASP Yong’ wanted to speak to me.
I tried to call ‘Yong’ but failed to reach
him.
Gobind, who is also Puchong MP,
said he advised Tan not to go to the
police station the next day as he had
to attend the inquest as a summoned
witness.
Asked how soon Tan will be
brought to the police station for his
DNA sample to be collected, Gobind
said it would be done once he got in
touch with the investigating officer. As
for Lee, Gobind said he is currently
overseas and will give his sample
once he returns home.
“Although we did not receive any
consent form for the witnesses to give
TEOH
BENG
HOCK
inquest Ayub
(centre)
shows
their DNA samples, this is a non-issue the seized
to me and we are prepared to go to Eramin
the police station and signed the form 5 pills at
any time.” a press
Teoh, who was an aide to Selangor conference
executive councillor Ean Yong Hian yesterday.
Wah, was found dead on July 16
at the fifth level of Plaza Masalam,
which houses the Selangor office of
the MACC on the 14th floor.
He had been questioned as witness
UK govt
‘Datuk’ among
over allegations of misappropriation
of state funds. Both Tan and Lee are
also witnesses in the MACC investiga-
warns 13 detained in
against
tions.
The inquest into Teoh’s death has release of RM20m drug haul
been postponed to Aug 5 following ‘torture’ GEORGE TOWN: Police seized a total of one million psy-
an application by Gobind for time to document chotropic pills worth about RM20 million and arrested 13
study the documents – including the people, including a “Datuk”, in Sungai Dua here on Tuesday
post-mortem, forensic, toxicology, pg 11 night in the biggest drug haul in the state this year.
chemist and DNA reports – which Acting on a tip-off, anti-narcotics officers from Bukit
were handed over by the government Aman and the state police contingent, who had been
on Wednesday morning. operating undercover for the last five months, raided a
warehouse in the area at about 11.30pm.
Police arrested five men, including a businessman with
H1N1 figures the “Datuk” title, who were in the midst of moving the

Docs to be hauled up for not

(as of 8am yesterday) Eramin 5 pills into a luxury car.
» New cases: 36 Eight other individuals – six men and two women – were
arrested later at several other locations in the state.

following H1N1 guidelines

by Husna Yusof
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: Doctors who fail to adhere to
government guidelines on treating suspected
influenza A(H1N1) cases will be hauled up by
the Health Ministry for an explanation.
Stressing it was not a punitive action,
Health director-general Tan Sri Ismail Meri-
can said yesterday a team from the disease
control division will be sent out to interview
the particular doctors to find out what actu-
ally transpired.
“We will send our team to interview the
doctors in case this happens – just to find
out more, not to punish them or whatever,
(but) try to understand why they were not
adhering to the guidelines,” he said.
Ismail cited the case of the first H1N1
death where a 30-year-old Indonesian stu-
dent in Kuala Lumpur died on July 21 after he
fainted at a private medical centre in Kam-
pung Baru while waiting for his medication.
“I want to ask the doctor if he examined
the patient. If so, why is it not recorded in
the OPD (outpatient department) card? How
can a patient collapse just like that?” he said
after opening the National Clinical Immunol-
ogy Symposium 2009 here.
INFLUENZA A(H1N1) HOTLINE
» 03-88810200/300
» 03-88834414/415
Ismail said this when asked about the ac-
tion to be taken against doctors who failed
to adhere to the guidelines on examining
those suspected of being infected with influ-
enza A (H1N1) as stipulated by the Meeting
of the Technical Committee on the Influenza
A (H1N1) on Wednesday.
The guidelines which, among other things,
stated that all severe cases of pneumonia
for which a throat swab was required to be
taken for influenza A (H1N1) tests and anti-
viral treatment given, were issued because
there were doctors who failed to detect the
ailment in the four fatal cases of Influenza A
(H1N1) recorded earlier.
Asked if the doctors in the previous four
H1N1-related death cases will be called up,
Ismail said they were waiting for further
developments.
Meanwhile, Malaysia recorded 36 new
influenza A (H1N1) cases yesterday – 32
from seven new clusters, three from an
» Imported cases: 0 terday seven of the 13 detainees are being investigated
» Local transmissions: 36
existing
cluster and
» Total no. of cases:1,302
another
sporadic
case. All of
them were local transmission, involving
Malaysians.
Altogether, there were 1,302 accumu-
lated cases of H1N1 including four deaths,
Ismail said in a statement.
The latest institution to be closed down
was the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
in Tanjung Malim, Perak involving 15,000
students and staff – 435 of them had influ-
enza-like illness and four were confirmed
positive for H1N1.
It was closed from yesterday until Aug
5.
The other clusters were in SM Khir Johari,
Beranang and SM Teknik, Sepang – both hav-
ing four positive H1N1 cases each – Sekolah
Seri Cahaya, Shah Alam and SK Serendah
– both having five positive H1N1 cases
each.
All four schools were closed down from
Wednesday until Aug 4.
Another school was SM Sri Jengka, Maran
with five positive H1N1 cases, and which has
been closed from Wednesday until Aug 5.
Penang police chief Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said yes-
under section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug
trafficking while the other six are being investigated under
section 3(1) of the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive
Measures) Act 1985.
300 stranded as outage
halts Penang Hill rail service
by Bernard Cheah
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: Power outage halted the Penang Hill
funicular railway service yesterday evening, leaving some
300 tourists stranded on the hill for some time.
Hill authorities despatched six jeeps and two buses to
ferry the tourists from the hilltop.
The disruption, which occurred at about 5.30pm, is believed
to have been caused by power failure at the top station.
Political secretary to the chief minister, Ng Wei Aik,
rushed to the scene to oversee the operation in bringing
stranded visitors down. No one was injured.
Some tourists who were stuck in the carriages walked
down while others were escorted down under the supervi-
sion of the railway’s workers.
Speaking to reporters at the site, Ng said all the visitors
had been brought down safely by 8pm.
TNB officials were called in to fix the fault at the top
station. Ng said he hoped repairs would be completed
by this morning for the railway service to be operational
again.