The Labu and Labi Team of Najib and Muhyiddin
M. Bakri Musa
[First of Four Parts]
The dynamics between Prime Minister Najib Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin is one of rivalry. They compete rather than complement each other. They give every indication to be the least productive and most dysfunctional ‘team,’ if I can stretch that term. Their relationship has awful feng shui and exudes bad karma.
They are politics’ Labu and Labi, the bumbling hired hands in P. Ramlee’s comedy movie of the same name, who spent their time fantasizing about their employer’s daughter while neglecting their chores.
Alas, leading the nation is anything but a comedic act; it is an awesome responsibility. Najib and Muhyiddin however, are treating their position as they would a trophy wife; with Najib consumed with displaying it while Muhyiddin is busy licking at the chops barely concealing his own desires.
Najib has nothing substantive to show after a year in office. It is emblematic of his inept leadership that when the recently-acquired new Scorpene submarine could finally dive, it made the headlines! Incidentally, that sub was bought during Najib’s tenure as Defense Minister.
We have significantly lowered the bar for and expectations of our leaders. Next, we will be excited if Najib were just to show up! Consider that former Prime Minister Mahathir had praised Najib merely for not dozing off at meetings! As for Najib’s much ballyhooed “1Malaysia,” a check on its website today showed that it is still inviting readers to register to join him for tea on March 13th, a good two weeks ago! Well at least that is better than the fate of his deputy’s blog.
On the major issues, from the teaching of science and mathematics in English to the controversy over the “Allah” terminology, the two are not even on the same page. They are complete opposites. Often that is the catalyst for a dynamic and creative relationship. That however, is true only with highly-accomplished and self-confident personalities. Najib and Muhyiddin are far from being that!
I will compare the current duo of Najib and Muhyiddin to their predecessors, and then suggest a course of action Najib should take to salvage his tattering leadership. I will focus on three preceding pairs: the best and ideal team of Tun Razak and Dr. Ismail; the longest and most enduring partnership of Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak; and the destructive and dysfunctional combination of Mahathir and Anwar. These three examples (two positive and one negative) provide many relevant lessons for Najib.
Unaltered the present course will lead to a breakup of the two, with destructive consequences to them, their party, and their country. The scale would be many times worse than the Mahathir-Anwar explosion of 1998. The latter crippled the party and deeply divided the country, but only temporarily. In that ruinous split there was a definite victor, the mercurial Mahathir, which made the conflict mercifully not protracted.
If Najib and Muhyiddin were to split, it would come at a time when their party is at its weakest and most vulnerable; likewise the nation. As neither Najib nor Muhyiddin is strong enough or commands sufficient respect and support within the party and country, their split could consume both of them, as well as fatally cripple UMNO.
As for Malaysia, it has come a long way since the traumatic events of 1998 and could thus take the Najib-Muhyiddin breakup in stride. Indeed I would argue that the split would be good for the nation.
Nothing however, is preordained; prophecies need not be self fulfilling. Even bad karma and ill feng shui can be ameliorated. Najib’s future is in his own hands and in the fateful decisions he makes, not with the alignment of the stars or the tea-leaf reading of some village soothsayers.
Earlier Teams
The first and longest pair was that of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak. It spanned over 15 years and was the most successful the country has ever seen, or likely to see again. Even when the duo broke up following the 1969 race riots, it was done discretely and with minimal public repercussions. The pair remained unique in that they maintained their respect for each other long after one exited the stage. They never uttered an unkind word for the other, at least not publicly. It was a class act right to the end.
Compare that to the nasty things the Tunku and Hussein Onn heaped upon Mahathir when he was Prime Minister, or the scorn and contempt Mahathir poured on his chosen successor, Abdullah.
At the other extreme, we had the initially very promising and dynamic but later proved to be highly destructive and dysfunctional pairing of Mahathir and Anwar. The nation is still playing the price for that ugly split. The pair was like an unstable radioisotope; when it split it continued spewing its toxic radiation, defying all attempts at containment.
The team of Tun Razak and Dr. Ismail that succeeded the Rahman-Razak duo was easily the best and ideal. Perhaps the brevity of their tenure spared them from the inevitable tensions and rivalries. Malaysians today look forlornly to that team, especially considering what is being served to us today.
The Razak-Ismail team was not the briefest; that distinction (if it can be called that) belongs to the immediately succeeding team of Razak and Hussein Onn. That was also the most forgettable pairing. The Razak and Huseein duo demonstrates that it would take both sides to make a great or at least workable team. It is not enough to have only one member shine; a laggard partner would bring the pair down. This observation would be validated many times later, as with the Mahathir-Musa Hitam and Mahathir-Ghaffar Baba pairings.
When both members are lightweights, then we would have a laughing stock of a team, a political Labu and Labi team. At worse it would be a disaster, for them as well as the country. We had that with the Abdullah and Najib; we are now we re-living it with Najib and Muhyiddin.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Saturday, 27 March 2010
What Poetic Justice!!
Below is a heartfelt letter, screaming for justice -
from a lawyer & an "economic doomsday prophet" who spent lots of effort through his "spins" and legal acumen, to defend the man who wrecked the Judiciary, Mr. Mahathir.
Even then - Mathias Chang, if what he says here is true, has definitely been wronged, and has to be defended by the Legal Fraternity and all good citizens (despite his tainted past) ... and the Judge has to be taken to task - ASAP!!!
**As much as I deplore the conduct of the said Judge, I cannot but help myself when I say, "P0etic Justice!!"
So here it goes the diarrhoea of words:-
"I have no wish to continue with the proceedings as I have no confidence in the impartiality of the Court. My three counsels have been repeatedly abused by you. You have also abused me and cast unwarranted aspersions on my character without basis. In my over 30 years of practice, no judge has ever abused me and or was rude to me. I intend to make a complaint to the Chief Justice and would now take leave and retire."
To My Dearest Friends and Colleagues,
I have fought against injustice throughout my life and as a practising lawyer, upholding justice when there are abuses by the judiciary and the state machinery calls for sacrifices and I have never shirk from that call to duty.
On Thursday, I became a victim of injustice inflicted by an errant Judge in the High Court of Malaya.
In this case, I was the litigant, the plaintiff suing the defendant, American Express for defamation, malicious falsehood, breach of contract and misrepresentation. It relates to a charge I had incurred for and on behalf of the Malaysian Government some years back for which the Government has not paid.
Most of you are aware of my opposition to the previous regime headed by the 5th Prime Minister. In the course of that political fight, I had to defend Tun Mahathir for which I was sued for RM 50 million allegedly for defaming one of the cronies of the regime. I counter-claimed against that crony likewise for defamation against me and exposed his corruption in conjunction with the son-in-law of the then Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi. My defence against the RM 50 million claim was justification, the crony was corrupt to the rotten core. The case has been in limbo ever since.
Therefore, this case that came up for hearing is not as simple as it looks. There were forces ready to pounce and humiliate me at every turn.
THE CASE:
From the word go, my three Counsels were treated without due respect.
1) My Counsel was denied the right to make an Opening Statement, a right which every litigant has.
2) I was called to testify immediately.
3) Bearing in mind that my claim was in defamation and malicious falsehood, it was incumbent on my Counsels to lead evidence on my background as a barrister and an advocate for over 30 years and my service in government as political secretary to the 4th Prime Minister. Immediately the judge pounced on me and declared everyone before her court will be treated equally and I had no need to declare my past and or the need to "impress" her. She further said that "so what if I was previously the political secretary to the Prime Minister and a senior lawyer of over 30 years experience."
4) My Counsel objected and told her that reputation is needed to be established for the purposes of a claim for damages etc. He was told to proceed and go on to the next issue.
5) In giving evidence, whenever I had to refer to an exhibit and or an admission made by the defendant in support of my answers, I was accused of "submitting to her" and she abused me as trying to conduct my evidence as a lawyer and not as a witness. Again, objections by my three Counsels were overruled and when so overruling my Counsels, banged the table with her right hand.
6) The Judge repeatedly accused my Counsels of not "doing their work" and such remark seemed to be always on cue when Defendant Counsel makes any objections. This lawyer is also the lawyer acting for the crony of Abdullah Badawi in the defamation suit for RM 50 million against me.
7) This hostile exchange went on till lunch break. I had not by that time finished with my testimony. During the lunch break and unknown to me, the judge summoned the defendant's counsel and my lead counsel to her chambers and declared that I had no case and she will dismiss my claim.
8) My Counsel informed me of this development while I was having my lunch.
9) When Court resumed, I requested an audience with the judge in her chambers with all parties present to make a formal complaint to spare her the embarrassment of a public complaint. The Judge refused my request.
10) The Judge resumed the hearing in Open Court, whereupon I addressed the Court and said:
"I have no wish to continue with the proceedings as I have no confidence in the impartiality of the Court. My three counsels have been repeatedly abused by you. You have also abused me and cast unwarranted aspersions on my character without basis. In my over 30 years of practice, no judge has ever abused me and or was rude to me. I intend to make a complaint to the Chief Justice and would now take leave and retire."
I said this in a very firm and deliberate manner.
IT IS TO BE NOTED THAT IN MALAYSIAN COURTS, PROCEEDINGS ARE RECORDED LIVE, AND AT THE END OF THE PROCEEDINGS, WE ARE GIVEN A COPY OF THE VIDEO RECORDING.
11) The judge remarked and warned me that my conduct has been recorded. To that I replied that likewise her abusive behaviour was also recorded.
12) Whereupon, the Counsel for the defendant stood up and shouted, "This is contempt! Arrest him! Arrest him!" and cited Order 51 of the Rules (which by the way does not provide such measures).
13) The Judge incited by that lawyer, directed the police officer in attendance to arrest me and place me in custody in the Lock-up at the basement of the Court Complex.
14) The professionalism of the police officer was such that he did not handcuff me, but merely invited me to follow him. In the course of our short walk to the lock-up, he said that he was stunned and was disappointed with the behaviour of the judge towards a senior lawyer.
POINT TO NOTE: IN ACCORDANCE WITH MALAYSIAN LAW, I HAD NOT COMMITTED ANY CRIME AT THAT STAGE TO WARRANT ANY ARREST, MORE SO ONE INSTIGATED BY A LAWYER. AN ALLEGED CONTEMPT AT THAT STAGE IS NOT AN ARRESTABLE OFFENCE. MORE OF THIS LATER.
15) When we reached the basement, I was invited to sit on a sofa and was not placed in a cell. He enquired whether I would like to have lunch and or refreshments and was most concerned about my well-being. I asked for permission to use my cell phone to contact another Counsel to defend me in this matter. The officer readily gave his consent.
16) I immediately called my friend and fellow colleague, Mr. Zainur Zakaria who is also the Acting Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission.
17) When I narrated the events on the phone to him, he was utterly shocked and asked me, "Was there any charge for contempt? Was a charge prepared and read out to you? Was any plea taken?"
I replied, "None whatsoever ... I am wrongfully arrested."
18) Zainur rushed to my cell from his office which was five minutes away from the Court Complex.
19) Zainur went to the Court and told the judge that I cannot be arrested for contempt when there has been no charge and no plea taken, and most importantly no conviction. Zainur knew the law as he had faced a similar experience some years ago.
20) The Judge went to her chambers, prepared the charges and resumed sitting in Open Court.
21) She read the charge to me and if my memory serves me right, this is what she read out, "You lost your cool and left the court premises. This is contempt (The video would verify the exact words). How do you plead?"
I responded, "Not Guilty."
22) Zainur requested an adjournment till the next day ? Friday to prepare my defence. The Judge refused and demanded that I defend myself.
23) I told the judge that she had abused the lawyers and me and as such I am not in contempt.
24) She proceeded to convict me and asked for my mitigation. I said there is nothing to mitigate and that I intend to appeal against her decision. She then proceeded to impose sentence: RM20,000 to be paid within a week, failing which one month's jail.
The Judge also directed that the trial of my claim would continue the next day and if I am not present, she will proceed to dismiss my claim.
25) On Friday, my Counsel made an application for the Judge to recuse herself on the grounds of her behaviour on the previous day as well as having convicted me of contempt. She refused and disposed the case in my absence. My Counsel was asked to discharge themselves.
THIS SUMS UP WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED.
The judicial system is rotten, but I had in the past tried to reform by working within the system and held back my open criticisms.
I never expected to be a victim of the system. If this can happen to me, what more the poor and or unrepresented litigant.
It seems that there have been many cases of abuse by this Judge but the Chief Justice did not take any action.
MY FAMILY IS 100% BEHIND ME ON THIS MATTER.
I have no intention to pay the fine. I am also considering not even appealing as I have no confidence in the Appellate Courts. Should there be an appeal, they could do a white wash and uphold the conviction to protect one of their members. The public would be confused and may even think that I was indeed wrong in opposing the abuse. They may also be cowed in the future in any opposition to similar abuse.
I am therefore preparing myself to go to jail and hopefully, my incarceration would arouse the conscience of the people to stand up and fight against an injustice. An action that has been DELAYED FOR TOO LONG.
I appeal to all of you for your understanding and support and I seek your assistance that my plight be given the widest publicity as possible.
You can do so by writing to: -
1) The Prime Minister, Dato? Seri Najib bin Tun Razak
Fax: +603-88880142 or +603-88887711
Political Secretary's Fax: +603-88883971
2) President Bar Council, Malaysia
Fax: +603-20261313
3) Chief Justice, The Rt Hon. Tun Dato Seri Zaki Bin Tun Azmi
Chief Justice Chambers
Federal Court of Malaysia
Istana Kehakiman
Precinct 3, 62506 Putrajaya
Malaysia
Email: normazaida@kehakiman.gov.my
4) Chief Judge of the High Court of Malaya
The Rt Hon. Tan Sri Arrifin Bin Zakaria
Chief Judge Chambers
Federal Court of Malaysia
Istana Kehakiman
Precinct 3, 62506 Putrajaya
Malaysia
Email: noridah@kehakiman.gov.my
The week for payment of the fine ends on Wednesday - 31st March 2010
I intend to surrender myself at the Court premises. produce the RM20,000 to establish evidence that I have the means to pay, but will not pay and rather be sent to jail in defiance of the injustice inflicted on me by this errant and abusive Judge.
I thank you all for your support.
As ever,
Matthias Chang
1Malaysia Clinic: Is the Health Ministry Above the Law?
"You are just Pisang Goreng to "the powers that be" -
where you once needed a doctor's review before a diagnosis could be made,
now you make do with everything & anything (including MCs!!)
dished out by 1/2 past 6 MAs at 1-Malaysia Clinics.
Just wait till your dads/Husbands die from being served antacids for a Heart attack
or IV drips for heart/kidney failure.
You can then thank criminals for treating you
in the name of 1-Malaysia!!"
~ Ya Habibie Cruzeiro al-Thots
where you once needed a doctor's review before a diagnosis could be made,
now you make do with everything & anything (including MCs!!)
dished out by 1/2 past 6 MAs at 1-Malaysia Clinics.
Just wait till your dads/Husbands die from being served antacids for a Heart attack
or IV drips for heart/kidney failure.
You can then thank criminals for treating you
in the name of 1-Malaysia!!"
~ Ya Habibie Cruzeiro al-Thots
"A doctor today with an Annual Practicing Certificate (APC)
is legal under the Medical Act 1971 but becomes illegal
if his premise is unregistered under the PHFSA 2006.
But a Hospital Assistant (HA) working in a presumably legal PHFSA premise, 1Malaysia Clinic,
becomes immediately illegal as he has committed a felony
under the Medical Act 1971 since under this Act only registered medical practitioners are allowed to work in medical clinics.
This is the end result of people like SM Idris who give half-baked ideas
to our poorly trained civil servants
who then create silly laws in a knee-jerk unthinking fashion,
which ultimately not only endanger people’s lives but place the government eventually in a legal quandary.
Worrying statistics of wrong prescriptions and misdiagnoses seeping out of 1Malaysia Clinics maybe just the tip of a disaster waiting to happen."
~1Malaysia Clinic: Is the Health Ministry Above the Law?
is legal under the Medical Act 1971 but becomes illegal
if his premise is unregistered under the PHFSA 2006.
But a Hospital Assistant (HA) working in a presumably legal PHFSA premise, 1Malaysia Clinic,
becomes immediately illegal as he has committed a felony
under the Medical Act 1971 since under this Act only registered medical practitioners are allowed to work in medical clinics.
This is the end result of people like SM Idris who give half-baked ideas
to our poorly trained civil servants
who then create silly laws in a knee-jerk unthinking fashion,
which ultimately not only endanger people’s lives but place the government eventually in a legal quandary.
Worrying statistics of wrong prescriptions and misdiagnoses seeping out of 1Malaysia Clinics maybe just the tip of a disaster waiting to happen."
~1Malaysia Clinic: Is the Health Ministry Above the Law?
Wanna Buy a Proton? Go overseas, mate!!
How can we thank the BN Govt?
Buy a Proton!!!
Here's something I picked up in Facebook:-
Harga Persona kat Saudi = SR 36,100
Harga Gen2 kat Saudi = SR 33,600
Harga Waja kat Saudi = SR 37,950
1 Saudi Riyal = RM 0.94
Maknanya harga Persona kat Saudi = RM 33,934 aje
Maknanya harga Proton Gen2 kat Saudi = RM 32,256 aje
Maknanya harga Waja kat Saudi = RM 35,673 aje
1 Malaysia bayar RM 66,799.97 untuk 1 Waja di Msia!
RM31,126.97 lebih MAHAL!
Buy a Proton!!!
Here's something I picked up in Facebook:-
Harga Persona kat Saudi = SR 36,100
Harga Gen2 kat Saudi = SR 33,600
Harga Waja kat Saudi = SR 37,950
1 Saudi Riyal = RM 0.94
Maknanya harga Persona kat Saudi = RM 33,934 aje
Maknanya harga Proton Gen2 kat Saudi = RM 32,256 aje
Maknanya harga Waja kat Saudi = RM 35,673 aje
1 Malaysia bayar RM 66,799.97 untuk 1 Waja di Msia!
RM31,126.97 lebih MAHAL!
"Takpe, Takpe" - Tribute to an MCA "Strongman" ....
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
===!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!===
===!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!===
 Mr Chua asked media to give him and his family "some space" |
He said he had apologised to the prime minister and other ruling party leaders but would not resign, and his own wife and children had accepted his apology.
Mr Chua said he had taken no part in the making of the DVD recordings, one of them said to be almost an hour long.
The video is CCTV footage taken in a hotel, according to one newspaper.
It is the latest in a series of difficulties to confront the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who is expected to call an election in the coming weeks.
According to Malaysia's Star newspaper, copies of the DVDs were initially left at various locations in the town of Muar, in Johor State, on Saturday "for people to pick up".
'It was me'
Mr Chua made his admission hours after the Star reported that the two DVDs were being widely distributed in Johor, his home state.
"I am the man in the tape," Mr Chua, 60, told reporters.
"The girl is a personal friend."
"I would like to emphasise I did not make the tape myself," he added.
"Who [did] this is not important. What is most important is that my family, wife and children have accepted my apology."
According to the Star, the DVDs are believed to be CCTV recordings made in a hotel suite. The hotel and the date are reportedly unknown.
As health minister, Mr Chua has advocated giving out free condoms to reduce the spread of HIV, in the face of religious opposition.Thursday, 25 March 2010
Religion sours Indira’s happy family story
Religion sours Indira’s happy family story
By Clara Chooi
Indira with her daughter Tevi (left) and son, Karan (right) at their home in Ipoh. — Pictured by Choo Choy May
Theirs was not the stuff of novels; it was just a run-off-the-mill high school romance that eventually resulted in an exchange of wedding vows.
What they did not know was that three children and 14 years later, their marriage would be torn apart by a highly-publicised inter-religious custody battle that, until today, remains unsolved.
In an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insider in her home city of Ipoh recently, Indira vented her frustrations over the ambiguity of the country’s religious laws, and recalled the many trials and tribulations of the past year that had very nearly caused her to give up Hinduism just to keep custody of her children.
The drama, said Indira, actually began from the day after she and Pathmanathan became Mr and Mrs Pathmanathan. Once a doting boyfriend and first-love, Pathmanathan wasted no time in shedding his sheep’s clothing, she said.
“Shortly after we got married, he began to beat me. Over and over again. Most of the time over small, petty arguments,” she claimed. Her allegations cannot be independently verified and is not a subject of her legal case.
Indira, however, said she kept quiet about the beatings, not wanting to blow the problem out of proportion and praying daily that her high school sweetheart would soon return.
And so the couple moved on with their lives without much fanfare. In 1997, Indira gave birth to her first baby girl, Tevi Darsiny. A year later, a baby boy, Karan Dinish, joined the growing family.
The couple struggled through difficuly years as financial problems eventually began to cause serious dents in their marriage.
“I took a job as a kindergarten teacher. My husband switched from job to job and we had to move around Malaysia quite a bit. I hardly got to see my family members, not even during Deepavali,” said Indira.
To top it off, she had to settle the household bills and take care of the children all by herself, as Pathmanathan was frequently on the road.
Indira claimed she had to put up with abuse and infidelity.
“Even my children knew about this. Imagine what it felt like when my daughter came home one day and told me — ‘Amma, I saw daddy with another woman’,” said Indira.
Still, like many broken marriages, Indira and Pathmanathan stayed married for the good of the children.
It was in March last year that the real drama really exploded, she explained, barely a year after she had delivered her third child, Prasana Diksa, a chubby little baby girl who should have been the uniting factor in a disintegrating marriage.
“He came home that day, telling me he wanted to talk to me. When we got the chance, he told me ‘Why not we all become Muslims? Life would be easier, we would get better opportunities, money would come easier’. He said ‘Come to Kelantan with me, they will give us land’. I was shocked,” she said.
“I refused and so did my two older children. We fought and he got angry... he began to beat me. My daughter yelled at him, saying ‘Don’t you ever lay your hand on Amma’. He got angry with my daughter but he did not beat her. He is a very good father to them,” said Indira.
In the midst of the argument, she said, Pathmanathan grabbed 11-month-old Prasana and stormed off.
“The other two did not want to come with him so he just took Prasana,” she said.
Losing Prasana was just a harbinger of worse to come.
At the police station later, Indira was dealt with a stunning revelation — that Pathmanathan had already embraced Islam earlier in the month and had become “Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah”.
“I was shocked because he has always been the religious... he would even go with us to the temples on occasions,” she said.
It was the first mile of long, bad road from that day onwards, said Indira.
Mohd Ridzuan had even converted all three children into Islam without the presence or knowledge of their mother, after taking the children’s birth certificates from the family home.
“He changed all their names and even informed their schools they were now Muslims,” she said.
It was then that Indira discovered the flaws in the country’s religious laws and just how sticky a custody battle could be when it involved a Muslim-convert and a non-Muslim.
With little choice in her hands, Indira was forced to take her struggle to the courts, and until today, her dilemma has not been solved.
She sought two things — that her children remain as Hindus and that she gets to keep custody of all three.
Since her husband absconded with Prasana, Indira has been living with her two older children in Ipoh.
To date, two conflicting custody orders have been granted to the couple — one to Mohd Ridzuan from the Syariah Court last April and one to Indira from the civil High Court on March 11 this year.
Which order should prevail, however, is still unknown as the country’s laws are silent on that matter.
Meanwhile, Indira’s application to seek leave for judicial review to quash the conversion of her three children to Islam has been set for April 3.
Indira contemplated embracing Islam, in order to be allowed to keep her children.
Indira said that the last time she had caught a short glimpse of Prasana after a year-long separation was in January this year, when Mohd Ridzuan was ordered to bring the toddler to court to meet with High Court Justice Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim.
Although she had been forewarned by her lawyers, the sight of her 21-month-old baby girl weighed down by a large tudung (Malay headscarf) had moved her to tears.
She voiced frustration at having missed out on so many firsts in Prasana’s growing years, like her first words, her first steps, and even her first birthday.
“I just missed so much... I missed so much. She was taken when she was just 11-months-old. I missed everything. She was such a pleasant child, very easy to care for and we all loved her. As a mother... and a kindergarten teacher, I see children everyday but I can’t see my own baby. Now, I do not know anything about her, how long her hair is, what she likes... I miss my child,” she said.
In fact, Indira said she had very nearly given up at one point and had even toyed with the idea of converting to Islam for the good of the family.
“It was my two older children who stopped me. My son said ‘If you want, you can go ahead. I do not want to be a Muslim’. He is a bold child... but my children were right... why should we convert?” she said.
She lashed out at the glitch in the country’s religious laws and condemned the government for not acting quickly on the matter.
To date, the government has given no indication on when it would amend the laws governing such religious conflicts.
Indira’s lawyer, M. Kulasegaran recently said that he would bring the battle back to the Parliament again soon, and blamed the legislative body for not moving fast to solve the deadlock.
In the meantime, Indira’s fight continues in the courts.
Tomorrow, the Ipoh High Court will hear Mohd Ridzuan’s application for a stay of the custody order granted by the civil High Court to Indira.
But the feisty 35-year-old said she was ready to do just about anything to win custody rights to her children, especially baby Prasana.
“There is no fight too difficult for me to handle, I will not give up, not surrender because my children’s futures are at stake here. I love them too much,” she said.
She said that she intended to fight this to the very end, even if it meant challenging the country’s 52-year-old system.
The system, Indira firmly added, may fail, but never the love of a mother for her children.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Rumah Sakit Yang Sakit « Lim Kit Siang
Rumah Sakit Yang Sakit
An Open Letter to Health Minister
Dear Yang Berkhidmat Liow Tiong Lai,
Mr. Wong, an elderly man presented at Hospital Likas because of severe breathlessness and was found to have severe pneumonia on chest x-ray.
He was then admitted to the High Dependency Unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) 30 minutes away for treatment.
He improved after six days and was then transferred to the normal ward for further recuperation.
A bed was urgently needed one day later and the frail Mr. Wong was then shipped off to Hospital Bukit Padang for ‘rehabilitation’.
Alas, he did not improve but instead deteriorated.
As Hospital Bukit Padang was devoid of the necessary equipment and setup for managing emergencies and ill patients, Mr. Wong was then resent back to QEH for further management.
More tests were required and old Wong was then sent to Sabah Medical Center for a CT scan.
I’m not sure what happened to Mr. Wong thereafter.
Dear Minister,
I hope this short story did not catch you in an awkward moment as the infamous video did to your amorous predecessor.
I hate to interrupt you in the midst of your personal battle for self preservation in the increasingly irrelevant political party called MCA but the healthcare crisis in Sabah has just taken a turn for the worse.
The locals in Sabah refer to hospitals as ‘rumah sakit’ – translated literally to mean a ‘sick house’.
Increasingly, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the only tertiary referral center in Sabah is living up her grand title of being a sick house.
Partially shut down since September 2008, the ailing sick house of Sabah has turned critical recently, with worsening cracks and falling tiles and a real threat of frank collapse.
The older blocks nearby were declared unsafe and subsequently evacuated and shut down.
Ill and frail patients were shipped off in a frenzy like unwanted cargo to nearby centers like Hospital Bukit Padang the mental institution, Hospital Likas, and the makeshift hospital of Lingzhi Museum in Kepayan and of course, UMNO’s favourite Sabah Medical Center (SMC).
Mr. Minister of Health,
The formation of the Queen- SMC-Likas-Lingzhi-BukitPadang medical maze has brought total chaos to healthcare services in Sabah.
The docile and unassuming Sabahan patients are constantly playing a wicked game of musical chairs, being transported around from one hospital to another according to their changing healthcare needs.
There is not one single center that can address a patient as a whole.
A lady in labor will be told that she can’t do so in QEH, while a fitting patient are whisked away from Likas to QEH.
A child with a broken limb may go to SMC but the surgery can only be done in Likas.
Elderly Mr. Wong is merely one of many such victims.
Continuity of care is virtually impossible when patients are moved about every few days.
Valuable investigations and data are lost in the process of multiple transfers resulting in costly, repeated tests.
Patients have even died due to the lack of emergency equipment and the deficient setup at the peripheral wards.
You will not hear all these because your little pharaohs in the state health department have done a great job concealing negligence, mismanagement and sheer stupidity.
Medical personnel are suffering in silence too.
Doctors from house officers to specialists are rushing around the five medical centers daily, wasting precious time, fuel and energy in the process of doing so.
Medical officers have been doing eight to fifteen on-calls every month as a result of the increased locations housing the sick.
That is fifteen days away from home and family every month, mind you.
Just in case you forgot we too have young, growing kids to care for.
Absent parents do not make for good family dynamics, won’t you agree?
We are risking our lives each working day wondering if the abandoned tower block will one day collapse upon us and send us to our Maker.
Our comrades serving in Sabah Medical Center are not having it any better.
In spite of the Barisan Nasional’s grandiose publicity buzz over the RM 245 million purchase of Sabah Medical Center, the medical personnel and patients have remained mere squatters in the premises.
The medical staffs are receiving summonses so very too often as a result of limited parking space.
Those of us in surgical disciplines are working till 9 pm on Mondays to Fridays so as to optimize the operating time of our three miserable rented surgical theatres.
In the SMC wards, 4-5 patients are cramped into rooms meant for two as the hospital was built to house a capacity of 150 beds only.
Mr. Minister,
My colleagues and I cordially invite you to come and see the ground situation for yourself without a grand entourage of administrative boot-lickers.
Patients who require hospital admission have to be turned away due to the insufficiency of places.
The inpatients meanwhile are packed like sardines in the current wards, with hardly a metre of space between beds.
The situation is comparable to a Vietnamese refugee camp.
Hospital-acquired infections are the norm rather the exception.
When a patient with tuberculosis coughs his lungs out, everyone in the ward will be inhaling the highly infectious Mycobacterium.
After 50 years of independence, our ill patients who require close observation are still sharing monitors and other equipment between themselves.
Is this the standard of care that Barisan Nasional is according to Najib’s self-proclaimed fixed deposit?
Whatever happened to all the oil money that Sabah has generated for Tanah Melayu over the last 50 years?
So you see, Mr Health Minister, we don’t need more jobless house officers, more empty promises and more tasty slogans like 1Malaysia.
We need 1Hospital and 1HealthMinister who is attuned to the sufferings of the rakyat under his care.
Do and be all that even though Sabah will most likely hand Barisan Nasional another landslide victory come next general election.
With warmest regards,
Product of the System.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)