PETALING JAYA, July 30 — Putrajaya has rejected the appeal for hospital treatment for P. Uthayakumar, saying the jailed Hindraf leader would only receive medical treatment in accordance with standard prison procedures.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, responding to claims that Uthayakumar (picture) has been mistreated at the Kajang prison, told detractors not to demand “special treatment” for the Indian rights activist as he receives the same facilities as the other prisoners.
“I assure you that the facilities being accorded to Uthayakumar are the same as those made accessible to other prisoners.
“We do not increase or decrease in the way we treat the prisoners, so don’t ask for special treatment for anyone.
“If he is ill, medical treatment will be given according to the standard operating procedure of the Prisons Department,” he was quoted as saying in The Star Online.
On Saturday, Uthayakumar’s wife S. Indra Devi urged hospital treatment for her husband next month and threatened to haunt the jail daily in protest if her request is not fulfilled.
She said Uthayakumar was scheduled for a specialist check-up at the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) on August 1 over his prolapsed disc condition.
“On 1st of August, he needs to be taken to hospital... If they don’t, I think I’ll be sitting in front of Penjara Kajang and I’ll be sitting until they say ‘I’m taking your husband today’. I think that’s the best thing I can do,” Indra told a press conference.
In what appeared to be a pre-emptive move against any possible denial of Uthayakumar being sent to the hospital, she said other supporters would be present at the Kajang prison as well.
Uthayakumar, the leader of Hindraf, reportedly suffers from prolapsed disc, a degenerative disc disease of the spinal lumbar which causes severe back pains.
Hindraf secretary-general S. Thiagarajan also said the rights group plans to hold a demonstration if Uthayakumar is not sent to the hospital for his appointment.
“I believe the prison authorities and government will never push us to that extent,” said Thiagarajan, who was also present at the press conference.
Indra said prison authorities had provided Uthayakumar with a pillow and a chair this week, following her press conference last Saturday to highlight her 51-year-old husband’s plight.
She alleged that the Kajang prison authorities had on Wednesday shortened the duration of her weekly phone call to her husband from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.
But she claimed that Uthayakumar told her that prison authorities are now “threatening” to put him in a dark cell and cut off the couple’s phone calls if he continued to reveal his prison life.
Indra said she had advised Uthayakumar from taking the painkillers that the prison doctor was purportedly offering, saying that she feared it would cause damage to her diabetic husband’s kidneys.
Uthayakumar was slapped a 2½-year jail sentence on June 5 this year for penning seditious remarks in a 2007 letter to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee’s jail sentence was meted just hours after his brother and fellow Indian rights activist P. Waythamoorthy was sworn in as a senator in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government following the May 5 general election.
