MR TEH CHEANG WAN'S DRUG SUPPLY

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Home Affairs what attempts were made to find out how the late Minister for National Development Teh Cheang Wan obtained his supply of the drug with which he took his own life.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Wong Kan Seng): Sir, the late Mr Teh Cheang Wan died of an overdose of Amytal, a barbiturate.

The Police, in the course of their investigations, interviewed the doctors who had attended to the deceased's health problems, and the pharmacist who had dispensed drugs to him previously. None of them said that they had prescribed or sold Amytal to him.

Checks with the Ministry of Health revealed that it had stopped using the drug Amytal about a year before Mr Teh Cheang Wan's death. Mr Teh's wife and daughter also could not tell the police how and where he had obtained the drug.

Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, may I ask the Minister whether the stocks of all the suppliers of this drug were checked against their records?

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, I do not see that as a meaningful exercise and I do not think the Police did this, because they could go round checking all the pharmacies and what does it prove?

Mr Jeyaretnam: Is the Minister not aware that under the Poisons Act, a strict record has to be kept by all those who stock this poison, showing the amount of stock in their possession, how much was released and to whom? May this House know whether a thorough check was carried out on all suppliers?

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, this drug could be obtained anywhere in the world. It could have been obtained from outside Singapore. And if the Police were to be led, as Mr Jeyaretnam suggests, on a wild goose chase in checking all the drugstores, then it is really a waste of Police resources, unless Mr Jeyaretnam has information to show that indeed somebody actually prescribed him and gave him the drug that led to his suicide. Is he suggesting that?

Mr Jeyaretnam: Are we to understand from the Minister that no check was made on all the suppliers? May we also have an answer whether Mr Teh Cheang Wan returned to Singapore from abroad shortly before his death?

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, I am really puzzled by the sudden interest of Mr Jeyaretnam on this subject of how Mr Teh Cheang Wan got his drug more than 11 years ago. The Police had done all they could to determine how he got the drug by asking his doctors, his pharmacist and the people whom he could have obtained the drugs from. Unless the Member is able to give us some lead as to where the late Mr Teh got his drug, I am afraid that we will be on a wild goose chase, as Mr Chiam had led the House and the Commission of Inquiry on a wild goose chase many years ago. I do not know why Mr Jeyaretnam is interested in this question. I think nobody, other than the person who gave Mr Teh that drug or Mr Teh himself, would know where the drug came from. And even if that person who gave him the drug were to own up and say, "I am the one who gave", I do not think that can be corroborated because Mr Teh is already dead. So the only person who can really tell where Mr Teh got his drug from is Mr Teh. Maybe for those who are really interested in finding out where he got his drug from, I think that can be done one day when we leave this world. And if their path crosses that of Mr Teh Cheang Wan, ask him the question. Then their curiosity will be satisfied.

Mr Jeyaretnam: May I have another supplementary question, Sir?

Mr Speaker: All right, one last question.

Mr Jeyaretnam: All right, Sir. Thank you very much. Let us have an unequivocal answer. Are we to understand that the Government made no check on all the suppliers and the Government was not interested in finding out?

Mr Speaker: I think the question has been answered already. Mr Wong.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, I think Mr Jeyaretnam is really making it sound like there is something sinister and is insinuating that the Government is on a cover up for Mr Teh Cheang Wan. I think he would not have forgotten that many years ago when he made such a suggestion with his ill conceived remarks, he paid $260,000 for those remarks. Here, I have given him answers free of charge and he is still not satisfied.