i have been informed that Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been ordered to surrender himself at the Jalan Duta magistrate’s court at 9.30 am tomorrow to be charged with sedition.
I have not been able to contact RPK to get confirmation.
Al-Fatihah and a letter to the Home Minister and all Parliamentarians
by Dr. Azly Rahman
Sad sad day.
Today is an extremely sad day for me. It concerns my beloved former English teacher, Puan Rahmah Sahamid. I had just read a Malaysia-Today entry on the passing of her beloved sister Habnah.
Let me reproduce a letter she wrote to Malaysia-Today and I am asking this issue which concerns perhaps millions of Malaysians as well to be brought to Parliament. I am asking both elected representatives from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to deal with this in a bi-partisan manner.
Below is Puan Rahmah’s story and her urgent appeal, reproduced in full: Continue reading “Al-Fatihah and a letter to the Home Minister and all Parliamentarians”
2007 Malaysian Population = 27.17 million
Estimated Population in Malaysia for2007 – 27.17 million (93% citizens; 7% non-citizens)
Malaysian citizens comprise
Bumiputera – 66.4%
Chinese – 24.9%
Indians – 7.5%
Others – 1.3%
“All states register the same trend, i.e. bumiputera being the biggest group except for Penang with bumiputera and Chinese almost at par i.e. 44.2 per cent and 44.8 respectively .
Selangor registers the highest population, i.e. 4.96 million (18.3%) followed by Johore 3.24 million (11.9%) and Sabah 3.06 million (11.3%). States with less than one million population are Negri Sembilan (0.98 million), Malacca (0.74 million), Perlis (0.23 million) and Federal Territory Labuan (0.09 million).
(From Parliament Q & A)
Doctors Prescribe, Pharmacists Dispense, Patients Suffer
Real Life Scenario
Madam Ong is a 52-year-old lady with a twelve-year-history of hypertension and diabetes. She complained of generalised lethargy, lower limb weakness, swelling and pain. She brought along her cocktail of medications for my scrutiny. Her regular medications included the oral antidiabetics metformin and glicazide and the antihypertensives amlodipine and irbesatan. Madam Ong also had a few episodes of joint pains three months ago for which she had seen two other different doctors. The first doctor suspected rheumatoid arthritis and started her on a short course of the potent steroid prednisolone. Thereafter, she developed increasing lower limb swelling for which a third doctor prescribed the powerful diuretic frusemide.
Madam Ong was not on regular follow-up for hypertension and diabetes. Additionally, she has been re-filling her supply of steroids and diuretics at a pharmacy nearby with the purpose of saving up on the consultation charges.
I took a more complete medical history and performed a thorough physical examination. I concluded that this lady’s health was in a complete mess.
She was under sound management by the family physician until the day she defaulted follow up and was started on prednisolone by a doctor who was unaware she was diabetic. The steroid probably helped in relieving her arthritic pains though the suspicion of rheumatoid arthritis was never proven serologically.
However, it also worsened her sugar and blood pressure control and weakened her immune system.
Her legs swelled up because of the fluid retentive properties of the steroids. In addition, early signs of cellulitis were showing up around her legs due to a weakened immune function. The diuretic prescribed by the third doctor helped a little with the swollen limbs but she became weak from the side effects of diuretics.
Madam Ong’s problems escalated when she decided to forgo her doctors’ opinion altogether and decided to self-medicate simply by collecting all her medications from the pharmacist who supplied them indiscriminately. Unknowingly, the pharmacist had added to the lady’s problems in spite of the wealth of knowledge the pharmacist must have possessed.
The above scenario is a fairly common scene in the Malaysian healthcare. We see here an anthology of errors initiated by doctors, propagated by the patient’s health seeking behavior and perpetuated by a pharmacist. Continue reading “Doctors Prescribe, Pharmacists Dispense, Patients Suffer”
Time for press freedom reform – although 8 years late
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, should embrace press freedom reform to ensure that the reform measures he has announced on the judiciary and anti-corruption are meaningful and sustainable.
Without a fair and independent media, no reform measures whether to restore public confidence in the independence, impartiality and quality of the judiciary or an all-out battle against corruption can succeed.
When Abdullah first became Home Minister eight years ago, he was presented with a memorandum by Malaysian journalists calling for press freedom reform. He had at that time promised to study the memorandum but nothing has come out of it so far.
The March 8 political tsunami should be a salutary lesson to the Prime Minister that it is time that he embrace press freedom reform although it is eight years late.
The latest press ranking for Malaysia being placed at 141 in the Freedom House survey report on Global Media is another adverse international verdict on the state of the media in Malaysia. Abdullah should use the World Press Freedom Day this year to announce bold measures on press freedom reform especially an end to the annual newspaper licensing requirement as well as the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act.
Lee Hwa Beng to investigate RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal?
Letters
by Albert Lim
I refer to YB blog posting dated April 11 regarding abovementioned.
I strongly believe and fear that YB predictions may come true with the appointment of former Subang Jaya state assemblyman, Lee Hwa Beng as Port Klang Chairman, reported today by China Press.
With Lee’s appointment, the transport minister gives an immediate instruction for him to appoint independent auditor to look into PKFZ scandal. Obviously, the transport minister’s instruction is a step in the wrong direction, a step towards a 3rd minister to be marred and tarred.
Again, BN minister has underrated the intelligence of all Malaysians, a lesson not learnt in the aftermath of March 8 political tsunami.
I hope YB Lim will look into the issue again, raise it in Parliament. A very simple action to show Ong Tee Keat’s sincerity in exposing this scandal is by appointing credible persons in the investigation,not Lee Hwa Beng known as ally to former transport minister Ling Liong Sik.
Ning Baizura’s encounter with Penang CM
My attention was drawn to the blog on Malaysian songstress Ning Baizura’s encounter with the Penang Chief Minister, “Have you seen a Chief Minister sit in Economy Class? I have”.
It was independent blogger Zainol Abideen who drew attention to the blog of Guan Eng’s meeting with Ning and her manager, Vernon Kedit Jolly at the KLIA on Wednesday in his blog Mahaguru58.
Liow Tiong Lai, the PHFSA …and warrior mosquitoes
Letters
by Suka Jaga Tepi Kain
Thus far the new health minister, Liow Tiong Lai has made two statements regarding the notorious PHFSA (Private Healthcare, Facilities and Services Act). One is that doctors should not own too many clinics as they will not be able to focus on seeing patients (that is if they are still seeing patients) and the other is that of private hospitals overcharging. In today’s Star, the DG, Ismail Merican wrote a letter about how the Ministry used its enforcement resources to track down a “bogus Burmese doctor” who worked with a private hospital following a complaint. Hopefully this complaint was genuine and not borne out of professional jealousy.
This doctor was apparently employed previously by the DG’s own alma mater, University Malaya but became “bogus” when he left their employment. Presumably he or she had MMC registration previously. Could this not have been solved by a simple phone call to the hospital asking them to make certain the doctor renews his registration? Or was this created by the MMC themselves by dilly dallying his registration or worse still being obstructive in not renewing his registration? Or perhaps, what is deemed proper by the University Malaya, is not being deemed proper by the MMC or the MOH?
It is no secret that a great many of the Ministry’s own doctors are treating patients without registration. But the DG has seen it fit to apply Section 31(1) (c) of Act 586 of the PHFSA fastidiously in going after a single doctor who apparently is a bona fide one but is now technically not because his registration was not renewed or perhaps pending renewal. Mercifully no one was prosecuted. Apparently three cases have been prosecuted. Two are awaiting trial and one pleaded guilty. And we all know what happened to that one doctor who pleaded guilty don’t we? Liow should ask this DG, who obviously is still obsessed with this Act, as to what happened to all the promised amendments that he and Chua Soi Lek agreed to? Another broken promise? Tak Tau? Not within his powers? Ask the AG? You see. This is why you lose elections. The MCA just cannot keep its promises simply because it has no control over the pathetic civil service that attempts to run this Ministry. You want to know more. Just ask Chua Jui Meng. Continue reading “Liow Tiong Lai, the PHFSA …and warrior mosquitoes”
Police after RPK again
Police going after Raja Petra Kamarudin again.
His computer was confiscated during a police search of his house in Sungai Buloh this morning connected to his recent posting on the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder case in his blog, “Let’s send the Altantunya murderers to hell”.
Malaysiakini has reported DSP Victor Sanjos of the cybercrimes division as saying that the police are investigating Raja Petra under the Sedition Act 1948 for incitement and also because he “commented on a case before the court made its decision”.
Any offence in the latter category would fall under “contempt of court” to be dealt with by the presiding judge for the Altantunya case. When did it become an offence under the Sedition Act?
The police action, coming immediately after the denial by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak through his press secretary of having anything to do with the murder of Altantunya Shaariibuu, smacks of an orchestrated response to Raja Petra’s blog – and must be deplored in the strongest possible terms.
Abdullah could only think of seven priority reform measures…
Yesterday, my parliamentary question (No. 5 on the Order Paper) asking the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi “to outline the top ten priority reform measures which his government will implement in the next 12 months to demonstrate that he has heard the voices of the people in the March 8, 2008 ‘political tsunami'” was not answered as only three got replied.
From the answer Abdullah would have given (reproduced below), the Prime Minister could only think of seven priority reform measures (many of which are quite unsatisfactory) although he had promised Malaysians wide-ranging reforms since he took over from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mahathir more than four years ago.
May be you can outline more reform measures which deserve Abdullah’s top priority in the next 12 months.
Abdullah’s answer: Continue reading “Abdullah could only think of seven priority reform measures…”