LIES!

Normally I wouldn't opt for such a strong title, but after hearing the comments made my our nation's leaders since Saturday, it is horrendous that they continue validate their political positions, skew facts and deceive the country and the world at the expense of the rakyat.

Typically, we are well aware that our mainstream media has an obvious partisan bias towards the BN government as most of the newspapers are owned by BN component parties. However, the content that had been published over the past few days are nothing short of blatant lies meant to deceive the public.

With the presence of thousands of cameras, local and foreign press, tourists and eye witnesses, how can the government reasonably be expected to get away with it all?

The person who got the ball rolling, was the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ismail Omar, who fronted the press in a suit (for goodness sake, as the top policeman in this country, wear your uniform), he declared that only 5000-6000 people attended the rally and alleged that the police were forced to use tear gas and chemical-laced water to disperse the crowd. I personally can bear witness that both statements simply not true. I saw police fire upon a peaceful crowd without provocation, and thousands of others, including the media caught in the middle can back up this account.

Furthermore, the IGP also said that no tear gas was fired at KL Sentral when asked to comment on Anwar's injuries. He said, “He (Anwar) was not at Pudu. That is the only place that had tear gas (fired). It is not true.” The Malaysiakini report showed that Anwar was clearly hurt the same time the IGP denied it.

As for the tear gas, I had a good lungful of those noxious fumes in that very KL Sentral tunnel, and even after 4pm, anyone going into the station would have walked into a shroud of the tear gas residue. I am inclined to believe my own lungs constricting rather than the IGP's words.

I cannot make a comment on police brutality as I was fortunate to be at the Stadium where I did not witness any arrests, but from all the video evidence, it is a disgrace the IGP, Home Minister and Prime Minister can claim that 'minimal force' was used, and that there was 'no physical contact' between the police and the crowd, despite Channel News Asia and Al Jazeera showing otherwise.

The IGP was the first to bring up the issue of Tung Shin Hospital, and the controversy behind it. The sad part is that everyone else jumped onto the bandwagon, including the Prime Minister, Hishamuddin, our Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai and today, MCA President Chua Soi Lek.

Max Koh of the Edge Financial Daily and Marina Mahatir both were very clear tear gas and chemical laced water were shot into the compound of Tung Shin Hospital, amongst hundreds of witnesses, hospital staff, bar council observers and media. The sheer recalcitrance our Health Minister showed to the press by refusing to entertain anything but his own version of event has effectively signed his own death warrant on his political career. Similarly for Chua Soi Lek, who is joining the descent of his deputy into the political abyss.

Barisan Nasional has disgraced our press integrity, disgraced their parties, disgraced the rakyat, and has made our country a laughing stock amongst all ASEAN countries. By standing and trying to crush the call to change, Malaysians have showed solidarity. The domino effect shall take place, when those who marched for freedom and fairness return to their kampungs to report what they saw.

Unrepentant, unashamed and unwavering in their stubborness, they shall have to answer to God and to the Rakyat come the next General Elections.

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DOUGLAS TAN bore witness to the events on Saturday and answers to Almighty God.