for Malaysia
Thanks to all for views on whether the “caretaker government” public interest litigation should be instituted.
Time does not permit me to respond to the good arguments canvassed on both sides. The caretaker government suit may be filed tomorrow.
Thanks also to those who have pledged financial support to the suit. Your financial donation will be sought on this blog shortly.
In asking the medical fraternity not to blame him for the jailing of Dr. Basmullah Yusom who failed to register his clinic under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998, former Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek is guilty of a grave injustice to Dr. Baharom.
Chua said the PHFSA was never intended to criminalize doctors. He said PHFSA, which came into force on May 1, 2006 when he was Health Minister, was intended to weed out bogus doctors who posed a threat to public health and safety.
Now that a qualified doctor, who has an annual practicing certificate issued by the Malaysian Medical Council has been criminalized and sentenced to three months jail for his inability to pay RM120,000 fine, why has Chua failed to speak up firstly, to admit that the enforcement of the PHFSA should be suspended until there is iron-clad guarantee that there would not be another case of criminalizing of a doctor like that of Dr. Basmullah; and secondly, that it is grossly unjust for Dr. Basmullah to spend another day in jail. Continue reading “Release Dr. Basmullah immediately as he has paid over RM21,000 fine with 16 days’ jail”
Media Conference Statement(2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur at the start of a two-day whistle-stop campaign in Perak to launch the second DAP general election theme on “Say no to corruption and rising prices” at the Pokok Assam market, Taiping on Saturday, 2nd February 2008 at 9 am:
Mulling legal suit for court declaration on caretaker government once Parliament is dissolved to prevent abuses of power by Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers in misuse of government resources and funds for BN electioneering
The Cabinet on Wednesday spent three hours discussing the next general election – a gross abuse of government resources as well as another shocking example of the failure and increasing inability of government leaders to respect the important distinctions among the government, party and personal which is the root cause of rampant corruption in Malaysia.
I want to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi whether in the three-hour Cabinet meeting on the next general election, he had issued a clear directive to all the Ministers that they should set an example of ethics and integrity once Parliament is dissolved, and should not abuse their “caretaker” responsibilities to abuse government positions, resources, manpower and funds for Barisan Nasional electioneering purposes. Continue reading “Will public support Court action to uphold “caretaker government” concept once Parliament dissolved?”
Media Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur at the start of a two-day whistle-stop campaign in Perak to launch the second DAP general election theme on “Say no to corruption and rising prices” at the Pokok Assam market, Taiping on Saturday, 2nd February 2008 at 9 am:
“Don’t give BN 75 seats in Parliament” should be the common objective of all opposition parties, civil society and Malaysians who want to see the beginning of a new democracy with an effective check-and-balance
The next general election is shaping up to be the most important of all 12 general elections in the nation’s 50-year history.
Even former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has warned that a thumping victory for the Barisan Nasional and Umno in the next general election would end up as an endorsement for a coalition “centred on nepotism and corruption”.
Mahathir has said that even if Umno loses 20 or 30 of their candidates, the Barisan Nasional is going to win. Continue reading ““Don’t give BN 75 seats in Parliament””
The next general election is shaping up to be the most important of all 12 general elections in the nation’s 50-year history.
The comment by the Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr. Ismail Merican that Dr. Basmullah Yusom, the first doctor to be jailed under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 preferred jail to paying the RM120,000 fine in instalments is most inconsiderate, callous, heartless and totally unbecoming of a top civil servant.
New Straits Times today quoted Dr. Ismail as saying that Dr. Basmullah “declined the Health Ministry’s offer to stay out of jail”.
He said the offer was made to the doctor by the ministry’s prosecuting officer.
Dr. Ismail said: “It’s not that we do not care for doctors or are unsympathetic to them.”
If Dr. Ismail really “care” or sympathetic to doctors, how could he use language which is so inconsiderate, callous and heartless?
From Dr. Ismail’s account, it would appear that Dr. Basmullah is a pervert who prefers to go to jail instead of enjoying his personal freedom outside prison!
Dr. Ismail went on to say that if Dr. Basmullah feels he has been harshly sentenced by the Sessions Court, he has the right to appeal to a higher court.
I am just shocked and outraged beyond belief that even up till now, Dr. Ismail does not see or accept that Dr. Basmullah just do not have the means to hire counsel to appeal against the sentence of RM120,000 fine or three months’ jail – when he had not been able to afford the expenses to retain counsel to represent him at the Sessions Court or to take up the “offer” to pay the hefty RM120,000 fine by instalments.
This is why Dr. Basmullah is in jail in Kajang Prison for the past two weeks – creating outrage to the extent that a online “Don’t Jail Doctors Blog Campaign” has been launched.
Many are asking why is the system of justice in Malaysia is so perverted that a doctor could be jailed for not registering his clinic although he has the annual practicing certificate of a medical practitioner, while criminals whether the corrupt or those guilty of heinous crimes can get away scot-free, moving freely in society! Continue reading “Dr. Basmullah’s jailing – Ismail Merican inconsiderate, callous, heartless and unbecoming of top civil servant”
It is front-page headline news in all the Chinese newspapers – the approval for six new Chinese primary schools and the relocation of 13 Chinese primary schools by the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein with the “All-for-one and one-for-all” group photograph of Hishammuddin with MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, MCA Secretary-General Datuk Ong Ka Chuan and Gerakan President Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon.
Nobody will say no to general election goodies, just as nobody will say no to gifts by “Santa Claus” on Christmas Day, although one is fully aware of the real intent of such goodies – which I will reserve for another occasion to touch on.
For the moment, I will like to ask a question each of the five BN leaders in the “one-for-all, all-for-one” group photograph “celebrating” the approval for six new Chinese primary schools and relocation of 13 Chinese primary schools.
To Hishammuddin – why didn’t he take the opportunity of his visit to MCA headquarters, his first as UMNO Youth leader, to publicly apologise for his “keris-wielding” at previous Umno Youth general assemblies which was highly offensive, even by MCA and MCA youth leaders and members, for being utterly insensitive to the rights and feelings of other ethnic communities?
To Ong Ka Ting – why he had not given a full public accounting as to why previous general election promises for the building of new Chinese primary schools and relocation of Chinese primary schools for the 1999 and 2004 general elections had not been fulfilled 100%?
To Chong Kong Choy – why he had failed to give full accounting for the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal as RM4.6 billion could have been better spent to build new Chinese primary schools throughout the country to meet needs based on increased enrolment and not to win votes before each general election. Continue reading “19 new/relocated Chinese primary schools – question each for the five BN leaders”
“Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi trying out a T-shirt after launching The Emperor’s New Clothes boutique at Pavilion. The T-shirt was given to him by the boutique owners – his daughter Nori Abdullah (right) and his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin (left).”
– caption of a photo in page 2 of New Straits Times today.
11 comments in last hour but the real “horror” has not dawned on everyone, so I am amending the heading to include “dumb”.
by Richard Teo
Malaysians should not accept what the govt say in the media as gospel truth.Of late we hear DPM Najib say that the opposition is not capable of administering the country.This is not only misleading but a blatant lie.
The present govt have shown that it is not capable of properly governing this nation.The last 22 years of Mahathir’s tenure and 4 years of Pak Lah’s administration have seen the country degenerating towards a failed state.
The litany of failures in the various govt department is shocking.The Police Dept is in dire straits with crime surging to unprecedented heights. The Judiciary is not only tainted with dubious appointments but it has practically lost the
confidence of the people.Religious conflict arising from conversion of non-muslims and the practice of ‘body snatching’ of muslim converts have stretched racial tolerance to breaking point.
In addition the govt has wantonly wasted public funds in compensation for the crooked bridge and the Broga incinerator project. The PKFTZ cost the govt a few billion of tax payers money which was siphoned off by UMNO cronies.
The Defence Ministry headed by our DPM, Najib saw fit to purchase inferior quality Sukhoi air planes from Russia and Scorpene Submarines from France. All these dubious purchases were done through the front companies of his close friend Razak Baginda who is now charged with the Mongolian model’s murder. Continue reading “Malaysians should expect a change for the better”
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is right when he said yesterday that the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno are incapable of reforming themselves without pressures from the electorate.
Mahathir warned that if the voters back the Barisan Nasional government once again in the coming polls, it would be an endorsement for a coalition “centred on nepotism and corruption”.
He also expressed the hope that Barisan Nasional supporters will not vote in “corrupt and inefficient” leaders in the next general election.
I fully agree with Mahathir and this is why the denial of the Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in Parliament and the Perak state assembly should be the common objective of all Malaysians who want to see change and improvement in Malaysian politics and nation-building. Continue reading “Mahathir right that BN and Umno incapable of reform – why BN 2/3 majority must be slashed”
Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang at the launching of the DAP Pasir Pinji Election Operation Centre in Ipoh on Thursday, 31st January 2008 at 1 pm:
3-hr Cabinet meeting yesterday on next general election the latest example of gross abuse of power, lack of integrity and rapid degeneration of ethical quality of Abdullah premiership, which is quickly losing the ability to understand the difference between right and wrong
New Straits Times today carried an exclusive about the three-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday on preparations for impending general election under the heading “Get ready to face election, ministers told”, which reads: Continue reading “3-hr Cabinet meeting on general election – a premiership quickly losing ability to differentiate between right and wrong”
DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh will take up the case of Dr. Basmullah Yusom, 44, the first doctor to be jailed under a technicality under the Private Health Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998 as pro bono publico to get him released from Kajang Prison.
As reported by New Straits Times on 19th November 2008, Dr. Basmullah has earned the dubious reputation of being the first person to be convicted under the PHFSA for not registering his 10-year-old clinic in Desa Pandan, Kuala Lumpur.
Fined RM120,000 or three months jail, Dr. Basmullah had been languishing in Kajang Prison for the past fortnight as he does not have the money to pay the fine.
In Penang on Sunday, I had called on the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail to intervene in this case of grave injustice and to invoke the revisionary powers inherent in his office to call up Dr. Basmullah’s case to get the Univeristi Sains Malaysia (USM)-trained doctor and father of eight out of jail without any moment of delay.
Alternatively, I had also called on the Chief Judge of Malaya or the Chief Justice of Malaysia to invoke their revisionary powers to call up the case to quash the jail sentence imposed on Dr. Basmullah.
Unfortunately, there has been no response whatsoever from the Attorney-General’s Office or the judiciary.
This was why DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran and I visited Kajang Prisons two days ago where we received confirmation that Dr. Basmullah was serving his jail sentence although we did not get to see him.
I have since been in contact with Dr. Basmullah’s wife, Nurlizah Hassan, who also met Karpal over Dr. Basmullah’s jail term. Continue reading “Dr. Basmullah in Kajang Prison – Karpal takes up case pro bono publico”
Each candidate behaved well in the hope of being judged worthy of election. However, this system was disastrous when the city had become corrupt. For then it was not the most virtuous but the most powerful who stood for election, and the weak, even if virtuous, were too frightened to run for office. – Niccolo Machiavelli
It’s exciting; I don’t know whether I’m going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I’m ready for the job. And, if not, that’s just the way it goes.- George W Bush, 43rd President of the United States
Elections are supposed to be an educational process – not a time when propaganda rules the airwaves and cyberspace, and indoctrination rules the minds of those playing the game of choosing a new government.
It is a time when, borrowing the words of Princeton professor Harold Frankfurt, one sees the evolution of “bullshit to truth” in the continuum of “truthiness or truthism”.
But one wonders how much understanding of the election process the Malaysian voters have. We seem to rush through elections and have become good at being indecisive, secretive and calculative about the date of the general election. We should instead be preparing the minds of voters with a sense of predictability and basic understanding of what is involved in electing a government.
We must treat an election as something more that a Geertzian ‘Balinese cockfight’; a time of high stakes in a game of shame and blame. We must make our voters more intelligent so that they may in turn choose intelligent governments that respect human rights and freedom of speech, and will work for all.
As voters, we have to ask ourselves many questions. Continue reading “Evolving from ‘bullshit to truth’”
Letters
(received 10.23 am)
by NKK
I just faced up to four Indian armed robbers this 3am morning in Alam Damai Cheras, KL
This is a true story about my lifetime first-hand experience with an armed robbery on 30 Jan 2008. I was eating and reading a late-night newspapers in a “mamak” (Indian Muslim) restaurant at Alam Damai Cheras of Kuala Lumpur at about 3AM morning.
Suddenly four Indian robbers broke in from nowhere, three of them ski-masked and armed with 2-feet matchet each.
The gang leader ordered cashiers and all (four) customers, including me in the shop to surrender our money and phones. All were robbed except me, I managed to escape from their seizure. No advisable to fight armed robbers with your bare hands.
Two police patrol cars arrived at the scene after about 20 minutes of reporting. I will try to get CCTV photos from the shop-owner and publish robbers’ photos in this webiste.
Regards,
Together with DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran, I visited the Kajang Prison and the authorities have confirmed that Dr. Basmullah Yusom is serving three-month jail term for failing to pay RM120,000 fine for operating a clinic without registering it under the Private Health Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998.
Every day of jail by Dr. Basmullah is equivalent to paying RM1,333 of the fine. He has been jailed for 12 days or equivalent to paying RM15,996 of the RM120,000 fine!
We were unable to see Dr. Basmullah and will try to contact his family members to see how we can be of help to ensure that he could be speedily freed from jail.
I find it most regrettable that there has been no response from the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail in the past three days to my appeal for his intervention by invoking his revisionary powers to call up the case to quash the most unfair and unjust three-month jail sentence – the first doctor to be jailed under the PHFSA despite assurances by both the Health Minister and Director-General of Health Services that private practitioners would not be jailed over a technicality.
Why is the Acting Health Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting keeping quiet about this gross injustice in the implementation of the PHFSA? Continue reading “Dr.Basmullah paying RM1,333 for every day in jail”
I received an email from a political observer who noted that Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, the retiring Minister for Energy, Water and Communications appeared to be wrestling with the truth and his dubious 36-year political legacy.
This is the email that I received referring to Keng Yaik:
“With his political career coming to an end after 36 years, LKY has been wrestling with the truth and his political legacy.
“Four days ago, LKY joked in Malacca that he wanted to retire as after being scolded by Lim Kit Siang-Lim Guan Eng father-and-son for his whole life, he did not want to be scolded by the grandson!
“It has been perceptively observed that there is always a kernel of truth even in jokes made by politicians, and LKY is no exception. In his subconscious, he is aware that he has left a dubious political legacy after 36 years which cannot stand scrutiny whether by the present or future generations.
“As one of the longest-serving Cabinet Ministers, together with MIC President Samy Vellu, LKY will have to accept full responsibility for the parlous state of the Malaysian nation today 50 years after Merdeka – in particular, in abandoning the Merdeka social contract on a secular nation by being the first national leader to support Mahathir’s declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic state, the rise in religious intolerance and extremism, the extension of the New Economic Policy from 20 years to 50 years, the plunge in educational standards and international competitiveness, the destruction of an independent judiciary and professional police, the rise in crime, rampant corruption, gross human rights abuses through ISA detentions and suppression of press freedoms.
“These are o failures by LKY to future generations. No wonder LKY is afraid of being scolded by Lim Kit Siang’s grandson, representing a third generation of Malaysians! Continue reading “Keng Yaik wrestling with the truth and his dubious 36-year political legacy?”
Would Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu be dropped as a Barisan Nasional candidate in the next general election?
This question does not sound so far-fetched and unthinkable now as the query which I posed a fortnight ago as to whether Samy Vellu would back out of contest in Sungai Siput in the next general election during my two-day 14-place “whistlestop” campaign in Perak to highlight the DAP national general election theme of “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia”.
I had said on 12th January that Samy Vellu had become the lightning rod of the long-suppressed anger and frustration of the Malaysian Indians over their long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization in the country and the very personification to the Malaysian Indian community of everything that is wrong and unfair about Barisan Nasional policies in the past three decades which have reduced them into the new underclass in Malaysia.
I said:
“If Samy Vellu re-contests in Sungai Siput in the next general election expected within 65 days, again leading the MIC election campaign, MIC parliamentary and state assembly candidates throughout the country will face massive rejection by the Malaysian Indian voters.
“Are MIC leaders trying to find a way to convey and convince Samy Vellu that the best service he can do to the MIC after being the MIC President and sole Malaysian Indian Minister for close to three decades is for him to fully absorb the anger and frustration of the Malaysian Indians at the MIC failure to check the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians by accepting full personal responsibility and not contesting in the next general election – thus saving the MIC slate of parliamentary and state assembly candidates from the full wrath of the Indian community in the polls?”
Undoubtedly, my statement a fortnight ago struck a chord in the MIC and there were moves behind-the-scene to prepare for an alternative leadership – which has angered Samy Vellu resulting in the reported sidelining of the MIC leaders concerned. Continue reading “Samy Vellu dropped as BN candidate in next general election?”
By Farish A. Noor
The verdict of history is still not out yet following the demise of General-turned-President Suharto. For all his achievements in putting his country on the map and leading Indonesia towards industrial development, Suharto’s human rights record remains one of the bloodiest in the post-colonial history of Southeast Asia, matched only by that of Ferdinand Marcos, who was likewise one of the great strongmen of Asia.
Suharto presided over one of the most spectacular socio-economic transformations in Asia of the 20th century: His nation of more than two hundred million souls was transformed over a period of three decades from a faltering post-colonial economy on the verge of bankruptcy to becoming one of the most attractive destinations for foreign capital investment. Yet the social and economic costs were high: Indonesia was sold as a source of cheap human labour and natural resources, to be exploited and plundered by foreign multinationals as never before. During this period normal political activity in the country came to a standstill; political parties were either disbanded or forced to merge; political dissidents were routinely harassed, silence and incarcerated, with hundreds more liquidated at will by the armed forces and security agencies of the state. The Indonesian press was stifled; students told not to enter the arena of politics; feudal structures were reinforced; while corruption was allowed to run rampant.
Even after he was deposed in May 1998 Suharto left office as one of the most corrupt leaders of the Third World, amassing wealth to the tune of billions of dollars that had been expatriated to foreign banks. Until today there is still no accounting of the exact extent and magnitude of his and his family’s corruption; and their collusion with the forces of capital and the army that kept this entire system of patronage and state violence intact for so long.
There are, however, some important lessons to be learned from this complex and often painful – and extended – episode of Indonesian history: Continue reading “Lessons from the rise and fall of Suharto”
Letters
by EJB
It is with regret that medical practitioners learn of a doctor being jailed under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (PHFSA) for not registering his clinic. This is clearly not what was promised to doctors when both the current Director General of Health, Ismail Merican and the previous Health Minister Chua Soi Lek were all gung ho about implementing an Act that was clearly poorly drafted. When the PHFSA came into effect on Nov 1, 2006, there was great resentment and distrust among private doctors. The PHFSA was regarded as an insult to their integrity and demeaning the profession. Many were distrustful about the implementation of a haphazardly written law by a ministry known primarily for its incompetence.
Despite the misgivings of senior GPs, specialists, ex-DGs, ex-MMA chairmen and even a senior judge such as Datuk Mahadev Shankar who was an authority on medico-legal proceedings, both the Minister and the DG ran roughshod over their objections in implementing this law. Doctors still recall how Chua and the DG quickly convened a meeting when medical practitioners threatened to march to parliament. At the meeting, they promised various amendments to the Act. The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and other medical associations trusted the word of both the Minister and the Director General and did not even push for all the changes to be in writing before the law was passed.
But today it is clear that the word and the credibility of the Director-General means nothing as the regulation has now claimed its first victim, Dr. Basmullah Yusom, a USM graduate, registered with the Malaysian Medical Council with a valid Annual Practicing Certificate. He was fined an unbelievable RM120,000 and jailed subsequently for three months when he could not afford to pay this fine. He couldn’t even afford counsel. Anyone, long enough in the profession will tell you that there are many medical practitioners who serve their communities quietly without expecting too much in financial returns. Continue reading “Botched PHFSA – why the Director-General of Health must resign”
Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has clearly recovered his “elephant memory” from his comments on the death of former Indonesian President Suharto.
Mahathir told Bernama that accounts the former Indonesian leader killed some 500,000 people after taking power in 1965 were “absolute nonsense”.
He said: “I know this for a fact. I knew what happened. Indonesia was in a state of anarchy then and he has no authority. At the time of the killings, he was not even the president. He did not order the killing.”
Mahathir, who ruled for two decades before stepping down in 2003, said he regarded Suharto as a friend of Malaysia and a personal friend.
“We looked up to him as a great leader and as an international statesman. For me, it’s quite personal. I know him and I have worked with him for a very long time.
“Even though Indonesia was not an ideal democracy during Suharto’s time, the fact remained that he brought stability to Indonesia.”
Mahathir added: “Of course, there is a price to be paid,” acknowledging that some people had suffered under Suharto’s administration.
Without getting into a debate on Mahathir’s assessment of Suharto’s leadership of Indonesia, it is good to see Mahathir’s recovery from his recent lapse of memory. He gave his comments on Suharto with confidence and authority, in total command of his memory.
This was very unlike his appearance before the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Lingam Tape eleven days ago on January 17, when he had to repeatedly plead loss of memory in his 90-minute testimony.
Continue reading “Mahathir should be recalled to Lingam Tape RCI now that he has recovered his “elephant memory””