Kota Kinabalu, Thursday. The lift in the remaining functioning block of the embattled Queen Elizabeth Hospital broke down for the fifth consecutive day. It is the latest misfortune to befall the capital city’s only referral hospital.

Healthcare services are currently at a virtual standstill as transportation of essential hospital equipment and ill patients came to a grinding halt.

A brief survey by Daily P.O.T.S Express found oxygen tanks, food, wheelchairs and transport trolleys littered and stranded in their respective floors.

“This is totally unacceptable. It is medical negligence and implicit murder by the Ministry of Health,” a wheelchair remarked on condition of anonymity.

An oxygen tank lambasted the health authorities as well.

“Unlike nutritionists and administrative staff masquerading as doctors, I actually earn my keep in my daily job saving lives and reducing morbidity. If I had limbs like humans, I will be the first to rush upstairs to save Mr. Wong who is in dire need of oxygen,” the 5-footer oxygen tank said.

There were very few kind words from other hospital citizens.

“I am unclean and less than hygienic. I am full of foul-smelling, dark green stools that stinks anyone with a functioning olfactory bulb. I should be transported in enclosed trolleys and not on the back of humans. This is supposed to be the new millennium, not the feudal ages,” said a visibly irritated Soiled Linen.

The hospital director was unavailable for comment. She was believed to be chairing a Family Planning Workshop together with her eleven children.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Saman denied allegations that the state government was not exerting enough pressure on the federal government to tackle the mounting healthcare woes in Sabah.

“With regards to the issue of broken-down lifts, I have already emailed all my favorite cronies to issue the most attractive tender. We will select the most outrageous quotation for spareparts imported from my ancestors’ homeland of Pakistan,” Musa Saman clarified.

The chief Minister further added that allegations of corruption and feet-dragging in the current Sabah state healthcare crisis are the work of irresponsible politicians from the opposition.

Healthscare Minister Liow Tong Lai urged the public to be patient and understanding as the government is facing a very challenging time allocating funds for provision of healthcare services and prosecuting ex-ministers involved in extramarital sexacapes.

Interviews with patients and hospital staff surprisingly revealed much optimism and high morale.

Anu Bah, an elderly patient with advanced lung cancer said that he was grateful to the Barisan Najis (BN) government for sponsoring his CT scan at the Sabah Medical Center. He also wished to express gratitude to the nine hospital staff who carted him on a trolley down two flights of stairs and up again.

Meanwhile, hospital staff Bilang Bilang added that the hospital support services unit is proud to demonstrate solidarity and the spirit of muhibbah in times of adversities such as these.

Bilang added that Sabahans have total faith in the leadership of the BN government to resolve this crisis situation.

“Anu bah…the current predicament Sabahans are facing is a blessing in disguise. It is a golden opportunity for us Sabahans to display our harmonious spirit to the Peninsular Malaysians bah,” he concluded before proceeding to carry the 50kg oxgen tank upstairs. Read more!

How to Make Easy Money In A Healthcare Crisis

Read more!

An Open Apology To The Health Minister

Dear Yang Amat Berhormat (YAB) Datuk Liow Tiong Lai,

I am sincerely sorry for my unwarranted outburst in my previous letter.

Your kind intentions have been severely misinterpreted.

I am utterly sorry if I appeared to belittle your credentials and leadership capabilities.

I can see now what an ignorant nincompoop I have been by accusing so very unjustly.

Dear YAB,

I realise now that you had far-sighted goals when you closed down our operation theatres and wards. In line with global medical education and training, you wanted the doctors in Sabah to be well-versed in acute care and emergency healthcare services.

Therefore, you abruptly but wisely witheld all non-emergency surgeries like colon cancers and enlarged prostates. You knew that one day these tumors would grow and spread and cause potentially irrversible severe systemic upset. That is the perfect time when we doctors will finally get the opportunity to provide acute care.

I am also apologetic for accusing the Minisry of deliberate feet-dragging in building a new general hospital for Sabah. In fact, I am losing sleep over my unfounded allegations that cronies of the state and federal government are reaping indecent profits from the current health crisis.

I should have known better. Malaysia is after all, not spared from the global economic turmoil. We should be more thrifty and save our funds and billions of ringgit for projects of greater public interest, like the national space program and the many buy-elections ahead.

Oh, how were you misunderstood! A thousand apologies from me!

Dear Datuk,

I was also uninformed and ignorant of your noble mission to improve palliative services in Sabah and the country as a whole. Why should we doctors perform complicated and heroic surgeries trying to cure cancer and degenerative diseases? After all, there is a oft-repeated medical slogan that clinicians should ‘cure sometimes, relieve often and comfort always’. If only I had known that you were a staunch believer in palliative care, I would not have bombarded the Ministry with such contempt.

From now on, I will stop pleading the Ministry of Health for more operating theatres, recovery wards and medical staff trained in life-saving clinical work. I will instead persuade cancer patients against surgery and opt for palliative care instead. I will encourage my colleagues to do the same although I can’t guarantee that they will do the same. They are very stubborn and determined doctors, you see – not unlike me when I wrote my first letter to you.

Dear most honorable and esteemed Minister,

After today, I will based all my clinical judgement on bedside assessment instead of relying on x-rays, CT scans and various blood results. I realise now that you were only trying to make us into more astute clinicians when you seemingly neglected Sabah by not providing us a CT scan and various diagnostic lab tests.

Lastly, my most respected and magnanimous Health Minister, I apologise from the bottom of my heart and beg for pardon for my excessive sarcasm in this second letter.

I am after all, a product of the system.

Read more!

An Open Letter To The Minister of Health

Unlike MCA members, not everyone enjoys being labeled a ‘squatter’....Mr Minister, how would you like to have a tumor growing in your rectum with no avenue of getting it removed?...


Dear Health Minister,

Ali, a 32-year-old road traffic accident victim, travelled three hours from the district of Sabah and arrived in Kota Kinabalu six hours after the initial trauma. After the initial assessment in the emergency department, a CT scan of the head and abdomen was ordered to exclude intracranial bleeding and intraabdominal injury.

He was whisked back onto an ambulance to the privately-owned Sabah Medical Center (SMC) for the required scans. After the ten-minute procedure, he was repacked into the ambulance back to Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to undergo further assessment while awaiting the results of his blood tests and x-rays. His scans and X-rays were reviewed.

Ali was found to have a lacerated liver and a fractured long bone with multiple superficial wounds. He was then prepared for emergency surgery.

For that, the young man was then re-wheeled into the ambulance headed once again to the SMC where the operating theatre and intensive care unit of QEH are currently housed.
By the time surgery starts, it was already nine hours from the time of his motor vehicle accident.
My story hasn’t finished, Mr Minister.

One hour into the operation, our young chap bled tremendously that he required more blood products to sustain life. It would not be another hour or so before the blood products arrive from the blood bank of QEH to the SMC. You see YB, blood has to be taken from the patient and passed to a house officer. The house officer will fill in the necessary forms and hand them over to an attendant. The attendant will wait for a chartered bus or ambulance to head back to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or rather, what remains of it.

Back in QEH, the attendant will wait 45 minutes for the blood to be cross-matched and then wait a while more for the arrival of a chartered bus or ambulance to ferry him (or her) back to SMC.
Anyway, being a fit and healthy young man previously, Ali survived the operation. He was admitted to the ICU and needed a repeated chest x-ray.

For that, the radiography team in QEH is informed. The duo will then take a the chartered bus or ambulance SMC to perform the X-ray. Shooting an X-ray takes all but two minutes. Processing the cassette will take another five. However, the processing is done back in the hospital and delivered by the next available ambulance back to SMC. By the time the X-ray films reach the patient, it could be anything from three to twelve hours later.

Dear Yang Berkhidmat (YB) Liow,

I hope you notice the unacceptable predicament our Sabahan patients (and medical staff) are facing currently.

It is already six months since the initial and abrupt closure of Kota Kinabalu’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Since then, we have been without a proper operating theatre and intensive care unit. We are also without distinctive wards for many of our surgical patients of most disciplines.

Frankly speaking, the health crisis of the state of Sabah has run so deep and far along that I do not where to begin.

I will instead serve an eye opening fact to you, Mr. Liow.

At the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, the the communist government of the People’s Republic of China erected a 1,000-bedded hospital within seven days. Work on the Xiaotangshan Hospital started on April 24, 2003 and completed on April 30th, with 7,000 workers and 500 machines tirelessly on duty around the clock. Far from being a melamine-laced structure, the Xiaotangshan Hospital is equipped with the then state-of-the-art anti-infective measures and facilities. The structure built within a week is still standing firm six years later today, ready to house any ill and potentially infective patient in the event of any unforeseen health crisis.

Mr Health Minister,

That is exactly what Sabahans are in right now – a health crisis!

The Barisan Nasional government chants ‘Malaysia Boleh’ like some proverbial battlecry but the Sabah state health crisis has proven that empty vessels make the most noise.

Unlike MCA members, not everyone enjoys being labeled a ‘squatter’.

For six months, the medical staff and patients of Sabah have been housed in sections of the Sabah Medical Center paying a whooping rental of RM 90,000 per day.

For five months since our forced relocation into your prized SMC, we only had one operating room for life-threatening emergency cases. Elective surgeries were postponed indefinitely even those involving cancers and prostates and suspicious breast lumps.

We only restarted elective surgeries a month ago but even so, the backlog of cases is tremendous and catastrophic.

I wonder Mr Minister, how would you like to have a tumor growing in your rectum with no avenue of getting it removed?

That is exactly what our poor Sabah folks were facing. They were without money and without a hospital to get operated in. In fact, they still don’t because they do not have a formal general hospital for Kota Kinabalu anymore.

Heck, we don’t even have our own CT scan.

What we do have however is lots of bills to pay and debts to settle.

Is it true that the state department of health owes SMC a total of RM 6.1 million for CT scan services? Is it true that Hantaran Wira, the company contracted to provide transport to and fro SMC-QEH is paid RM 0.5 million per month?

Mr. Minister,

You owe the 3.4 million population of Sabah a lot of answers, wasted lives and needless deaths.

Money cannot solve all problems in life.

Thank you for listening.

Yang menurut perintah,
Product of the System.

Read more!

Malaysians in Forbes Magazine

Kuala Lumpur, Thursday. The highly-acclaimed Forbes magazine records five new overnight Malaysian multimillioaires in its latest February 2009 issue.

They are no strangers to the local population and go by the names of Nasharudin Hashim, Mohd Osman Jailu, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Hee Yit Foong and P Balasubramaniam.

In an immediate response, Malaysian Finance Minister cum premier-to-be Najis Razak applauded the great news and credited the achievement to the wise economic management of the Barisan Najis (BN) government.

Nasharudin, Mohd Osman, Jamaluddin and Hee Yit Foong are tied on the Forbes list with RM 50 million each,while P. Balasubramaniam is ranked a few notches lower with an estimated wealth of RM 15 million.

“Malaysians of all races and walks of life are proud to have five of our own in an esteemed publication like Forbes. It is concrete evidence of the efficacy of my Ostrich in the Sand financial doctrine. The multi-racial lineup is also a testimony that the Najis Economic Policy (NEP) has empowered the Malay society without sidelining the minority races,” said Najis in a media statement from the Finance Ministry.

In a faxed statement, HINDRAF leader P. Warthamoorthy comments that the lower ranking of the Indian Malaysian is yet another firm evidence that “machas are severely marginalized in Tanah Melayu.” He will be petitioning Queen Elizabeth II on this matter.

The article in Forbes magazine also carried snippets of interviews with the newly-minted Malaysian millionaires.

“Unknown to many, Nasharudin and I have been working on a frog farming business venture for eleven months now. Fishing for ikan haruan (snakehead) is very popular among the Malaysian population, especially UMNO politicians. In addition, bubur haruan (snakehead porridge) is a hot-selling local delicacy,” Hee Yit Fong was quoted as saying.

Mohd Osman and Jamaludin meanwhile are reowned figures in the female escort services with franchises in Indonesia and China. Both brushed off allegations that providing and receiving female companionship is haram in Islam.
“Our principles are simple. When someone offers you a young, sexy lady from China, it is sedekah (donation) and not immoral. Giving and receiving alms is not wrong in any religion, is it?” quipped Osman.

Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam when contacted, refuses to comment on his relatively lower standing or divulge any details of his current whereabouts.
“I’m in a place far, far away where there is no todi or murtabak. The majority of the people here do not speak Tamil but Swedish,” was all PI Bala had to say before he hung up.

Other Malaysians who almost made the Forbes list include two young bumiputera Malay chaps by the name of Saiful Bukhari and Hilmy Malek. Both are currently in the sand business, with Hilmy saying that Malaysians will surely respond to Najis’ head-in-the-sand solution to economic woes. Read more!

The Najis Cure To An Ailing Economy

Putrajaya, Wednesday. Prime Minister designate Najis Tun Razak today had unveiled a grand masterplan to help Malaysians overcome the woes of an ailing global and national economy.

“We must learn from the ostrich. When we bury our heads in sand, we can’t see our predators and vice versa. If Malaysians would spend less time worrying about the economy and instead focus on politics and juicy scandals, the global economic crisis will pass us by without our realising so,” Najis said in his keynote address at the annual Glocal Economic Forum.

“Malaysians must be thankful to the BN government for creating so much distractions lately. From the Altantuya murder trial to the disappearance of PI Balasubramaniam, the Perak political crisis and the Elizabeth Wong photos, Malaysians of all races are eternally indebted to the BN government. Look how fast and how much time has passed us by. It’s already the end of Feb 2009. Malaysian Chinese especially should balas budi (show gratitude),” he added.

At the closing ceremony of the forum, Najis announced the formation of a new economic caucus comprising Malaysia, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Mongolia tentatively named C4 . C4 is expected to be an influential and trend-setting financial powerhouse in the Asian-African continents.

“C4 is my brainchild and I am very proud of it. For starters, the C4 nations will promote my Ostrich In The Sand doctrine among all nations in order to weather the increasingly volatile global financial sentiments. The C4 creed is simple and universal. It is a concept that can battle almost all of our troubles, from a shrinking national currency to blackmailing mistresses,” Najis added.
A total of three economic resolutions were passed among the participating nations in the inaugural C4 conference.

Firstly, Malaysia will donate another one third of Sabah’s jungles as logs to the erection of Robert Mugabe’s second mansion.

Secondly, North Korea will impart its nuclear technology knowledge to Malaysia as soon as its reclusive grand leader Kim Jong Il emerges from hiding for the first time in a decade.

Thirdly, Mongolian ladies will have a no-frills access in and out of Malaysia.
“There will no immigration hassle for all Mongolian ladies aged between 16-46 years whose waistline is less than 31 inches. There will be no immigration records of any sort. We expect Mongolian ladies to respond favorably to this piece of good news. They will be given an exclusive tour of my bedroom,” Najis explained.

Not all economic maestros agree with the Ostrich In The Sand doctrine however. DAP economic advisor Tony Pua remarked that ostriches do not actually bury their heads in sand to escape from their daily issues of survival and death.

“Quite frankly, ostriches are merely searching for berries underground,” Pua said. Read more!

Political Storm Moves to Selangor

Selangor, Monday. Photos featuring a state politician in various stages of undress with a tempeh are in circulation on the world wide web. It is the second political scandal of such nature in as many days.

Details at press time are scant but a reliable source revealed that the politician concerned was a former chief minister of Indonesian descent with a recent history of botulism therapy. It is also widely believed that the politician was a former dentist who entered and graduated from University Malaya under a New Economic Policy (NEP) ticket. The photos reportedly contain very explicit images of the politician in multiple compromising positions in the nude with a tempeh.

State opposition party, the United Mamaks National Organization (UMNO) condemns the perpetrator and has lodged a police report, claiming that photos depicting a fat and ugly non-Malaysian was an act of treason to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

Dr. Mohd Khir Toyol, a nominee for UMNO Youth leader in the upcoming UMNO general assembly announced that he will mobilise hundreds of thousands of unemployable Mat Rempits in a public demonstration as an act of solidarity with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. He further added that he will do so immediately after ingesting his last home-cooked tempeh.

“As a first generation Indonesian-Malaysian, I am appaled by the insensitiviy of the person releasing such photographs over the world wide web... I would also like to take this opportunity to declare unreservedly that I am not the person in the nude in those photographs. The person in those photos looked like me and acted like me. However, he is fat, stout and unbelievably ugly and therefore can’t be me,” Dr. Khir Toyol said as he read with great difficulty from a one-page statement.

Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong, herself a recent victim of similar incident remarked that the public should not be quick to speculate or pass judgement in situations like this.

“He that hath not sinned, let him cast the first stone.” YB Elizabeth added.

In an immediate response, Dr Khir Toyol has this to say: “Pass me the stone now, please.” Read more!

A New Daily in Town

I'm tired of the blasphemous UMNO-owned media.

I'm starting my own publication.

Watch this space. Read more!

Here's for you, Najis!

It's something I did eight years ago in medical school.

I have never regretted it. Read more!

Judas, Jesus and the Repercussions of Betrayal

Dedicated to the four Judas-es of the Perak State Assembly.


Matthew chapter 26-27
(New International Version, edited)
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

The Lord's Supper
When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."
Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"
Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."

Gethsemane
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Jesus Arrested
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him.

Judas Hangs Himself
Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. Read more!

If I were...the Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzuan

If I were the Sultan of Perak, I will recognize that the quagmire that my state is in is possibily destiny's beckoning. I would first take a deep breath and sit down to think before making any decision on the political impasse in my state.

As a legally-trained professional, I will remind myself again and again what I have always preached on the topic of good governance and the importance of integrity in leading a nation. It was not too long ago when I myself lectured that ‘only those who are capable, responsible and scrupulously honest should be allowed to serve in positions of leadership.’

I will bear in mind my esteemed reputation as the most wise and respected ruler in the Council of Malay Rulers, regardless whether the larger-than-life standing was truly justified. Knowing fully well that Malaysians are currently in state of political awakening, I must do the right thing so that my subjects in the Silver State will remember me as the ruler who defied feudal warlords. We are after all, mere mortals and will one day leave this earth without any of our worldly possessions.

Apart from that, I will look back at the times when Ipoh and Perak as a whole was a shining example of sound leadership as opposed to the current state of affairs. I have ruled and reigned long enough to see the marked deterioration of Ipoh city. The city built on tin is more of a retirement home now. The young have let to seek job opportunities in Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Abandoned homes and vacant shops are a dime a dozen. The elderly in land who have contributed to its development are growing old without the company of their children or the pleasure of noisy, rowdy grandchildren.

The airport named after me receives only one flight each day and even so, an airplane that is barely occupied. This airport that bares my names pales in comparison to the bustling Kota Baru airport in PAS-led Kelantan. If there was one thing my state can boast to superior in, it’s the ubiquity of old folks’ home and other nursing institutions.

At this juncture, I will realise that Perak has truly degenerated and regressed from its namesake. It is no longer silver, it’s not even scrap metal. It’s just a vast piece of land with abundant resources that has been plundered repeatedly and shamelessly over the last 50 years. While the daylight looters robbed and enriched themselves in the name of democracy, the people remained poor and perhaps became even poorer over the years. This is something I do not have to search far and wide to see for myself. Not far from the heart of Ipoh city - in Buntong, Meru and Pasir Pinji my rakyat are still staying in makeshift homes made out of zinc and leftover plywood.

I will now question myself whether I have lived up to my reputation and much lauded preaching. Can I look back and honestly claim that I have safeguarded the interests of the simple folks of Perak Darul Ridzuan? Can I even claim to have upheld the integrity and sovereignity of the Malay Royalty? Have I in a state of unintended complacency allowed a party of money-minded politicians to insult the intelligence of my citizens and usurp the rights and powers of the Malay royalty?

I will consider the implications of ordering a power transfer to the Barisan Nasional. At first glance, I will notice that it is not even BN as I know it to be. Essentially, it will be an UMNO government, with UMNO holding 28 seats and MCA a solitary seat. Not only that, I am also empowering the likes of Hamidah Osman, state assemblywoman for Sungai Rapat who regarded Indian Malaysians as worse than snakes. Is this the legacy that I desire to leave behind?

My thoughts are increasingly disturbing by now. I must however look back at the last ten months of governance under the informal coalition christened as Pakatan Rakyat by Malaysians of all races and religion. It was a short time to gauge any state government. Nevertheless, news from the ground and even from the BN-dominated mainstream media have given positive reviews to the bedfellows made up of supposed DAP Chinese chauvinists and PAS ultra-Islamists.

In the last ten months, my subjects living in new villages for the last 50 years were finally given the opportunity to apply for freehold land titles. Malay villagers crying foul that their land for cattle-grazing has been snatched are finally getting their voices heard by none other that the Menteri Besar Nizar Jamalludin himself. For the first time in the history of Malaysia, an Indian Malaysian was given the post of Speaker of the State Assembly. I should have felt proud that this took place in my beloved Perak Darul Ridzuan. Perhaps I should have gone to the ground and asked the people if they were satisfied with the leadership and administration of the Pakatan Rakyat state government?

Indeed, if I were the Sultan of Perak, I will dissolve the state assembly and allow my rakyat to speak up once again.

As it is however, I am not the Sultan of Perak, which is why UMNO has now hijacked the silver state of Malaysia. Read more!

A Time To Speak Up

After a hiatus of almost three months, I think the time is ripe to put reflections into words once again.

Keeping silent and refraining from expressing one's thoughts isn't easy, but thousands of Malaysians are effortlessly doing it so every day.

Of the many issues close to my heart, the on-going Sabah state health crisis is particularly outstanding.

It isn't easy watching simple folks receive substandard healthcare while UMNO/BN politicians reap shameless unspeakable wealth from the sufferings of the ones who placed them in power in the first place. Read more!