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The Medical CTOs

by ZK

Criminalization of doctors under Chua Soi Lek and Ismail Merican even after the PHFSA (Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act) appears unabated. The Malaysian Medical Council, without prior notice, recently instituted its own form of CTOS, the database company that displayed financial data publicly without updating them. The MMC is now making available to the public particulars of all doctors in Malaysia including complaints hurled at them – PROVEN OR NOT. Running down people and establishments is now a favorite Malaysian past-time but the MMC appear to have further refined this into a fine art form. This new CTOS (Complaints Tip Off Service) is yet another example of the convoluted thinking that exists in this Ministry.

The website itself appears rather slow and unstable but what is more alarming is it appears out of date. A recent prominent case is listed as still being processed and government doctors who have had complaints against them including the pediatrician responsible for the loss of the little baby’s arm at Klang are not listed. More disturbing is, complaints against MMC Council members given prominence in our local newspapers and complaints against MMC secretariat members are mysteriously excluded. If this sort of selective persecution and non–updating of this database is going to exist, why implement it in the first place? It will just create another CTOS furore. An ambition for first world infrastructure matched only by a third world mentality is always a recipe for disaster which has been proven time and again in Malaysia.

Now who could have been responsible for this and did the Minister know about this new implementation? The Malaysian Medical Council appears to be broadly divisioned into Council members and a general secretariat which instead of being neutral is mainly comprised of seconded MOH staff. The Council itself has only 9 members from the private sector out of 21, the rest being from the government sector. Continue reading “The Medical CTOs”

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Amendment to Employment Act

by Raymond Lim
Petaling Jaya

I refer to the recent statement by the Minister for Human Resources, Dato’ Dr. Chan Fong Onn that the back-dated wages will be limited to 24 months in cases of wrongful dismissal by employers under the proposed
amendments to the Employment Act.

The Minister justified the proposed amendment by referring to Practice Note No. 1/1987 which was introduced by the Industrial Court on the said 24 months limitation. Practice Note No.1/1987 on 24 months cap on backdated wages created some confusion. Several Industrial Court decisions applied the 24 months limitation. However, many did not do so on the basis that it is merely a practice note but not legally binding and by doing so, they sought to give more protection to employees from unscrupulous employers.

It is instructive for Members of Parliament to note that the Federal Court, in one of its landmark decisions, had ruled that the “right to live” under the Federal Constitution included the “right to livelihood”. For this reason, many decisions in the Industrial Court took judicial notice of this ruling in their decisions and declined to follow Practice Note No. 1/1987 when dealing with wrongful dismissal cases involving breach of natural justice, mala fide, victimization or unfair labour practice. Put in a nutshell, Practice Note No.1/1987 will not achieve the said ruling of the said Federal Court, the highest Court in the land. As a matter of fact, Practice Note No.1/1987 should be withdrawn by the Industrial Court.

In this letter, I will submit that it is extremely unwise for our Government to approve the said amendment to the Employment Act.

By way of introduction, in the case of wrongful dismissal by an employer, the Industrial Court will order a reinstatement of the employee and payment of back-dated wages from the date of wrongful dismissal to the date of judgment. Since the hearing at the Industrial Court may take place 3-5 years later or even longer, the amount of back-dated wages can be a substantial amount. If the employer-employee relationship is such that it is no longer possible to be continued, the Industrial Court will order the employer to pay one month’s salary for every year of service in lieu of reinstatement.

As a lawyer for close to 20 years, I have encountered countless cases wherein employers were extremely high handed when handling the dismissal of employees. Such high-handedness borders on total disregard to the livelihood of employees, especially employees who have been loyal to their organizations and had given the best years of their lives to their employers. Most wronglful dismissals arose because many unconscionable employers simply have no respect for employees as human beings or have scant regard for the due process of natural justice. In many cases, employees were transferred to branches far away merely to make them resign or subjected to other forms of victimization or unfair labour practice. Against this background, it is therefore not surprising that the industrial relations law and the industrial courts are protecting the welfare of employees, much to the chagrin of employers. Continue reading “Amendment to Employment Act”

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Malaysian consulate service a letdown

by Disappointed Malaysian

I am writing from Melbourne, Australia as I am frustrated with the services and support provided by the Malaysian Consulate in Canberra, Australia. My family have had the unfortunate incident of having our house burglarised and all (the entire family’s) our documents ie, Malaysian passports, birth certificates, Malaysian driving licences, our MyKads, marriage certificates have all been stolen.

We immediately reported the incident to the Malaysian Consulate in Canberra and was passed on to the person in-charge, a Mr Haa Doan. He must be the most unpleasant person we have come across and encountered during our stay in Australia so far. We told him our circumstances and asked him for the procedure to apply for a replacement travel document and he advised that he will immediately send us the necessary application forms.

We supplied him with our correspondence address and contact details. He then reprimanded us for the way we kept our documents at home which was uncalled for. He kept insisting that we have to fly back to Malaysia to reapply for all our documents but how could we when we have just lost our passports?

The documents came only four weeks later and we sent off our completed forms and the necessary certified documents. On Sept 13, we decided to check with the Malaysian Consulate on the status of our application. My husband who called was told that Haa was on leave. My husband was not happy and called again, and this time was told that Haa was not on leave and the call was passed to him.

He was very annoyed with my husband and irritated when asked about the status of our applications. He said it is still with him in his office which meant that the applications have been sitting at the consulate for more than a month. He said he was sick and that he just returned from back to work. The question is does the consulate stop functioning because Haa is on sick leave? Is there no one to take over his responsibility when he is away from the office?

When my husband asked why wasn’t it sent off to the Immigration Department in Kuala Lumpur, he said that they do not do daily postings to Malaysia and that it was done only once a month! Asked how long will the whole process take, Haa said that he was not sure, maybe it would be six months or more and that it was entirely up to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Office.

These kind of answers are definitely not reassuring for a whole family who is at their wits end at having lost all their critical documents. The passports are required to fly back to Malaysia to reapply for the other documents and looks like we are at a loss as to when we will get our passports approved or when they finally make their way back to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Office. Is Australia so distant that there is only one mail service a month? Continue reading “Malaysian consulate service a letdown”

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Selayang Municipal Council Dog Hunt Competition

Spate of outraged emails over Selayang Municipal Council’s insensitive competition, like this one from Grey: “This is an outrage! When the Americans all over the US and the world are condemming Michael Vicks for promoting animal cruelty by having dog fights, the Selayang council is actually giving cash prize up to RM15,000 to the rakyat for the capture of these creatures!!! That’s OUR Selayang council. Check out their website to find the offending annoucement.”

Here is another:

I bring to your attention the abovementioned matter.

It’s come to my attention via the Selayang Municipal Council’s website
(http://www.mps.gov.my/default01.htm) of this very attractive part-time “job”.

I would like to express my uttter disgust and am absolutely repulsed by this barbaric competition which is being held by the council. This competition is not only NOT solving the problem of strays in the area, in fact, I believe it is so easily-abused by greedy citizens. What’s going to stop strangers from stepping into someone’s home, abducting someone’s pet, removing the collar and pass it off as a stray?

The prizes offered are lucrative enough for many to steal in order to receive the top prize. RM15,000, RM13,000, RM11,000 for first, second and third prize respectively.

The Selayang Municipal Council is not only irresponsible, it is downright barbaric! Instead of offering the prize money as an incentive, a better way would be to use the money for spaying and neutering the strays. An even better solution would be to actually donate the money to its local SPCA or PAWS. Continue reading “Selayang Municipal Council Dog Hunt Competition”

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PTPTN – incompetence compounded

OMJ has sent me a copy of letter he had written to PTPTN on the unreasonable interest demanded for the balance of loan, illustrating that the PTPTN is suffering from “incompetence compounded”.

This is OMJ’s letter to PTPTN:

Dear sir,

i am OMJ, (I/C given) a ptptn loan borrower. i previously got a loan from ptptn to further my studies and after i graduate i immediately sent an email to ptptn, asking your ministry to deduct my loan repayment from my salary, but there was no answer from your ministry until end of last year which said that you all will process my request but then i found out during the “no answer period”, i was being charged with interest which purely no fault of mine.

A few days ago i got another letter telling me that i still a balance of RM 355.90 unpaid. This is very unfair to me. I, an honest citizen, trying to repay my loan, but because due to your ministry’s ineffeciency, i have keep interest which i myself do not even know.

Is it how an honest person is being treated? And i have tried to check my balance on your website but i was always unable to load the page. SO i am kept in the dark of my balance while your ministry keep sending my letter, telling me of balances which i do not even know existed, to pay up.

This is very unfair to me. A letter was sent from your ministry to me asking me to send RM 1779.50 in 5th February 2007 and i have sent a check on 12th February 2007. So what is this RM 355.90. Why am i being bullied for being a good citizen? Continue reading “PTPTN – incompetence compounded”

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Another “Highland Tower” in the making?

Housing Development at foothills in Ulu Kelang Area
by Seri Naga Leong Loong Hee

With the collapse of Highland Tower and the landslide that happened in a retired general’s house in Ulu Kelang area, I thought the government has issued a statement that there will be no longer development being allowed to be carried out in foothill near that area.

However today as I was cycling in that area, I notice they are clearing the land at a hill near Jalan Melawati 4.

I have attached the pictures for your easy reference. I think it’s time for our government to really learn from the past. With such indiscriminate clearing of land near foothills, we are having a Highland Tower incident in the making.

Not to mention it’s a waste of land by just building less than 100 houses and they are destroying the environment at the same time. Continue reading “Another “Highland Tower” in the making?”

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Land Premiums for renewal of leases in Sarawak

by Sara Wak

The state BN leaders have already lost RM billions in First Silicon and Borneo Paper & Pulp projects, on the other hand they are trying to penalise the people for the mistakes that they made by imposing high land premiums for renewal of their lands.

How much has the State lost in the First Silicon and Borneo Paper & Pulp projects compared to the land premiums to be imposed by Taib and his government for land lease renewal?

Will the land premiums to be collected be sufficient to cover the RM billions which Taib and his government have lost in First Silicon and Borneo Paper & Pulp?

Who are to be held accountable for the losses? CM? The whole state Government?

Who were those responsible for making the decisions to invest in these projects?

Who were the ones who drafted the agreements not to cover Sarawak but to make the Government of Sarawak responsible for the loans taken out and having to pay the banks when the partners do not pay ?

The people of Sarawak have a right to know.

Where is the accountability? We demand an answer. Continue reading “Land Premiums for renewal of leases in Sarawak”

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Yek Yow Ngan – MOH and Assunta wrong

by AHMAD SOBRI

I read with anguish the recent death of Madam Yek Yow Ngan, 51, a marketing executive at the Nanyang Siang Pau. Madam Yek was apparently involved in a car accident on Sunday morning, 27th May at about 3am at the 8th mile Puchong Road and was subsequently surrounded by a group of men with parangs and iron rods.

She was rushed to the Assunta Hospital where she was admitted at 4.10 am by her son, Allan Yeong Hon, with multiple injuries and in a state of coma.

Active resuscitation was apparently carried out at the emergency unit at the Assunta by the nurses and doctor there including intubation and infusion of 4 units of blood. Her condition stabilized at about 5am.

She was subsequently wheeled in for CT scans and X-rays and was being transferred to the ICU when the question of costs arose.

The son, apparently unable to afford the charges, requested for a transfer to a government hospital.

She was subsequently transferred by ambulance at 5.45am in a “stable condition” to the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur when there was no response from the nearby University Hospital. She arrived at 6.10am. She however died 3 hours later at the GHKL at 9.40am, Monday morning 28th May.

Her distraught family, unhappy with the medical turn of events, complained to the Ministry of Health. The Health Minister has seemingly absolved Assunta Hospital, saying that the Hospital had followed proper procedures.

He further clarified that since emergency treatment had been rendered before the question of payment arose, “the hospital had done nothing wrong” and this he deemed was fair. These events were apparently further confirmed by officers of his “medical practices” division which concurred with him.

There are two pertinent issues here, as in almost every emergency case reported in the media. Continue reading “Yek Yow Ngan – MOH and Assunta wrong”

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Qualifying exams for new docs

QUALIFYING EXAMS FOR NEW DOCS
by AZK

“You don’t have to blow out anybody else’s candles…
to make yours shine brighter…”

I read with interest the Health Minister’s proposal to have common qualifying examinations for all foreign-qualified doctors. The Health Minister appears to have discovered that all these frequent visits to assess and continually evaluate new medical schools are a costly affair.

In fact, in the age of the internet, it is nothing more then a scam by our free-loading MMC council members to claim allowances and fly business class to various, sometimes exotic destinations just to see if these schools produce bona-fide doctors, all courtesy of the tax-payer when much of the information can be gathered via the net.

More importantly though, now that Chua has proposed a qualifying examination in line possibly similar to Britain’s PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board) or the USA’s USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) it boggles the mind if our lot of council members are really up to it in conducting examinations of this complexity.

Needless to say the current Unscheduled Universities Examination under Section 12(1) (aa), Medical Act 1971 is so hopelessly biased especially in the clinical sections, that, like the legal profession’s CLP where there is an incredibly high failure rate, it gives rise to suspicions that the examination is yet another tool to discriminate and meet political agendas to right racial imbalances in the profession.

More alarming is its selective application on foreign graduates but not on local graduates who today are mainly responsible for our notorious healthcare deliver systems.

Chua’s frustration could be real. The Malaysian Medical Council is a discredited body. Among others, it currently consists of a member who graduated after 40 years of age, another who is being sued [deleted], yet another who chairs meetings and doesn’t operate anymore [deleted].

Many are involved in businesses such as housing development, private medical schools, nursing schools, etc therefore bringing to the body a conflict of interest that will eventually skew any decision they try to make.

A significant number of these members are downright academically uninclined including deans with dubious qualifications. Continue reading “Qualifying exams for new docs”

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Class of “forgotten Malaysians”

Hi Kit Siang

I’m not sure if you’ll be reading this, or even why exactly I’m writing to you; but like other times after reading about the happenings in Malaysia through your blog, I am saddened and moved from deep within.

Allow me to introduce myself. I was born in Johor, in 1983 – making me 24 years of age this year. From a young age, from primary (or standard one) I studied in Singapore. Instantly, this placed me into a group of ‘forgotten Malaysians’ of which I still belong to today – do read on. I did not study in Singapore by choice, my parents decided to see put me there when I was 7, because being part of the Malaysia school system when the British system was employed -they were alarmed by the perceived drops in the levels of education in Malaysia at that time – and they really wanted me to grow up speaking good English…and Singapore was the closest country to have its curriculum in English at that time. I’m sure you can appreciate the incredible irony in Malaysia reversing on its decision years ago and teaching Math and Science in English now. And while I am most capable of invoking my own commentary and discourse on the subject and others like it, I shall resist the urge and refrain from doing so on this occasion, as I nevertheless will find myself doing throughout the rest of this email – as each instance of the incredulous policies and politicians that dominate our country come up.

But I digress. I studied in Singapore a full ten years, travelling DAILY from Johor Bahru, not residing in Singapore because, I guess, my parents wanted me to retain my unique Malaysian identity and “Malaysianess”. I do not have fond memories of my time in the country, although I did well at school, I guess, I dislike autocratic and freedom-curbing societies where the rights of the individual are sacrificed for the whims of the elected collective in the name of nation-building. That is not to say I do not understand the need for such measures at certain times – but I suppose I do not function well in countries where such practices are the norm.

At the end of my high school studies in Singapore, I made the decision to return to Malaysia. To study at a private college in KL. I had tried on past occasions when I was in high school, to do so, only to find out that I was not eligible to do so because I did not take Bahasa Melayu as my primary subject. As a result of studies in Singapore, where English was the medium of instruction and Mandarin was my ‘mother tongue’, I cannot speak fluent Malay to this day nor do I have the ability to write in it. Therefore, according to some quarters, I am not considered Malaysian. But was I to blame? I remained in KL a full 3 years, was one of the top students at my college for a worldwide course, until it was time for me to pursue my education overseas. Continue reading “Class of “forgotten Malaysians””