Singapore Democratic Party's secretary general, Dr Chee Soon Juan was admitted to Changi General Hospital on 3 December 2006 whilst in prison.
The medical doctor at the Queenstown Remand Prison had found traces of blood in Dr Chee's urine. He had suffered from abdominal pains and his blood pressure was also extremely low that evening.
His family was allowed to visit him on Monday morning at about 10.30am. Dr Chee informed his sister, Ms Chee Siok Chin that he had not eaten since Sunday 26 November. This was due to the fact that he would feel ill and throw up after his meals.
The doctor in charge of the prison ward of the hospital told his family that there was tenderness in Dr Chee's abdomen, but he could not ascertain the reason for that. Dr Chee is also suffering from dehydration.
Dr Chee looked tired and had lost weight. The prison authorities said that he had lost approximately five kilograms.
Ms Chee and Mrs Chee were met at the hospital by the Superintendent of the Queenstown Remand and another senior officer who were extremely concerned that he was not eating.
During the brief visit, Dr Chee had asked if his family could buy food from the hospital canteen. The Superintendent, however, turned down the request as "cooked food", other than that served in prison, is not allowed to be brought to prisoners. They however, allowed the family to buy him packets of bread, biscuits and beverages.
Although Dr Chee is amenable to consuming hospital food, he said that he will not eat food served to him in prison.
Ms Chee told the prison authorities that she would bring him "non-cooked" food and packet beverages and would hand it personally to Dr Chee when he goes back to Queenstown Remand. This request is being considered by the prisons.
Dr Chee also said that he will respond to the Ministry of Home Affairs' statement that the SDP press release, dated 28 November, "contains grave falsehoods and serious allegations attacking the integrity of the Singapore Prison Service."
Dr Chee Soon Juan is serving a five-week sentence for flouting Singapore's stringent law of speaking in public without a permit.
4 Dec 2006
Dr Chee Soon Juan admitted to hospital
04 Dec 06
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8 comments:
It's time the world knows what goes on in the prisons of the PAP regime. This is not the first time that drugs were administered to political opponents in questionable ways - Devan Nair, Lim Chin Siong...
In the name of God, what must it takes for the PAP regime to stop all the injustices to political opponents. Justice or laws that have been amemded and added by the regime to suit their purposes for the past 40 years.
Is Mr Chap Zhe Chew Jai (12 fingers) behind the drugging.
Ordinarily, this is how it works. The kitchen prepares the food, the workers transport the food to the halls, and 4 plates (assuming Dr Chee has three cell-mates) is left outside each cell. Unless Dr Chee is bunked with Muslims, the food Dr Chee takes cannot be singled and manipulated, unless the cell-mates is in on the act.
The only way for Dr Chee to be sure is to observe the behaviour of the cell-mates during yard time. These makeshift spies cannot keep their act 24 hours, and since Dr Chee is a neuro-psychologist, he should have no problem confirming skulduggery, that is, if he is not sick on the bed.
And by the way, usually only remandees are allowed biscuits and other stuff.
He shouldn't be taking the valium.
Stopping the MRT has increasingly become the more popular form of social expression in Singapore. Hip-hop is passe.
There is no justice in Singapore because the people is not the boss of the government. We do not have a government but a ruler. As such, how could we have justice in a society?
wonder why there are no sci-fi writers in singapore? all of you have good imaginations!
Dr Chee (Dr?? haha... i am beginning to look down on all the doctors) irks me.
Another disingenuous TODAY report on Dr Chee
Chee Siok Chin
07 Dec 06
The report Why Chee is in hospital that appeared in Today newspaper dated 6 December 2006 is another disingenuous piece of reporting by the local press.
Perhaps the writer of the article Loh Chee Kong should have checked with the SDP before he blindly reported all that he was told by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). But then, what can one expect from a a newspaper that is controlled by the government?
The reporter wrote that the SDP "had hinted on its website that Chee had been ill-treated, singled out and even drugged". He seemed to suggest that Dr. Chee was physically mistreated and punished. The SDP would thank Loh for pointing out which part of the statement "hints" this.
Loh also reported that "MHA pointed out that his three cell mates and all other prisoners ate the same food without incident". The same food may have been served to all prisoners, but do they all eat out of the same servings or the same trays of food? Surely, a journalist who has had any kind of basic journalistic training or integrity would have asked this question.
Today also said that "Chee refused to eat the hospital meals .... But, a day later, Chee changed his mind and decided to eat the dinner he had selected from the hospital menu." What the reporter had conveniently omitted was the the SDP statement that said "Dr Chee is amenable to consuming hospital food". That was why he ate the hospital meal the next day.
Loh also reported "another food saga erupted" at the hospital, giving readers the impression that an incident had occurred. He writes as if he was at the scene. The fact is that he wasn't. I was. There was no saga. Dr Chee had declined to choose a packet of food and that was accepted by all present in the room, including the prison authorities.
The statement that "Chee declared he would only eat home-cooked meals by his wife" is untruthful. When the prison authorities told him that cooked-food is not to be brought in to prison or the hospital, Dr Chee had said that he would be happy to consume packet biscuits and beverages as long as they handed to him by a family member, not through prison wardens. He would also added that he would be happy to have all his packet food inspected by them in his presence.
Dr Chee has not refused all medical treatment. Perhaps the MHA should have told Mr Low that Dr Chee had done a chest X-ray, a CT scan and urine test. The doctor had also examined his abdomen and had told us that he was suffering from abdominal tenderness.
The MHA also said that Chee had "demanded to be treated differently from other inmates...He has sought for more yard time, for more visits from his family than is entitled to other prisoners ... "
Dr Chee had requested to be given an extra half an hour of yard time. He did not demand it, as the MHA would like the public to believe.
It is public knowledge that Dr Chee and I have been sued by MM Lee Kuan Yew and his son, PM Lee Hsien Loong. We did not have any legal counsel. Thus I had to see him in prison to discuss this matter as there are deadlines to meet in December. I had impressed it upon the prison authorities as had Dr Chee, that this is not a family visit. Dr Chee's immediate family will be seeing him only on their next visit assigned by the prison. However, the MHA has again, chosen to distort this visit and the Today reporter had chosen not to clarify this or any of MHA's claims with the SDP.
Unfortunately, slants and the untruths such as those in Loh Chee Kong's report will continue to be a plague in local reporting unless the media is freed from the shackles that binds its reporters and editors.
Loh chee kong is not a trained journalist from a european point of view. Like most of the so called hacks who write or TODAY, and the Straits times are told by government vetters what to write.
Journalism is not a career in singapore. Like their masters, the Government, average Mr Singaporeiws scared stiff of a free press allowed to report the truth and digging up a few nasty skeletons, and a bit of hidden graft.
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