Liow Tiong Lai, the PHFSA …and warrior mosquitoes

Letters

by
Suka Jaga Tepi Kain

Thus far the new health minister, Liow Tiong Lai has made two statements regarding the notorious PHFSA (Private Healthcare, Facilities and Services Act). One is that doctors should not own too many clinics as they will not be able to focus on seeing patients (that is if they are still seeing patients) and the other is that of private hospitals overcharging. In today’s Star, the DG, Ismail Merican wrote a letter about how the Ministry used its enforcement resources to track down a “bogus Burmese doctor” who worked with a private hospital following a complaint. Hopefully this complaint was genuine and not borne out of professional jealousy.

This doctor was apparently employed previously by the DG’s own alma mater, University Malaya but became “bogus” when he left their employment. Presumably he or she had MMC registration previously. Could this not have been solved by a simple phone call to the hospital asking them to make certain the doctor renews his registration? Or was this created by the MMC themselves by dilly dallying his registration or worse still being obstructive in not renewing his registration? Or perhaps, what is deemed proper by the University Malaya, is not being deemed proper by the MMC or the MOH?

It is no secret that a great many of the Ministry’s own doctors are treating patients without registration. But the DG has seen it fit to apply Section 31(1) (c) of Act 586 of the PHFSA fastidiously in going after a single doctor who apparently is a bona fide one but is now technically not because his registration was not renewed or perhaps pending renewal. Mercifully no one was prosecuted. Apparently three cases have been prosecuted. Two are awaiting trial and one pleaded guilty. And we all know what happened to that one doctor who pleaded guilty don’t we? Liow should ask this DG, who obviously is still obsessed with this Act, as to what happened to all the promised amendments that he and Chua Soi Lek agreed to? Another broken promise? Tak Tau? Not within his powers? Ask the AG? You see. This is why you lose elections. The MCA just cannot keep its promises simply because it has no control over the pathetic civil service that attempts to run this Ministry. You want to know more. Just ask Chua Jui Meng.

It is all very proper for the Minister to complain that certain doctors own too many clinics. Perhaps they do. And perhaps too, they are good managers who know how to handle their resources. As for the 250 private hospitals overcharging, what exactly does the Minister plan to do? Is he going to send enforcement officers to pore over itemized bills and lock up hospital managers, their doctors or specialists? Understand first, that private hospitals function in a different climate. It is called market forces. Supply and demand. You limit the number of specialists and hospitals in the private sector and at the same time run a poor public service hospital, then this is what you get. Overcharging and various dubious attempts to make a profit. It happens in almost every industry right from rice to diesel. How do you curb this? You either improve your own services or decentralize your hospitals into Trusts as in the UK or corporatise or privatize them as in Singapore or the US. Competition always seems to have a sobering effect on enterprise. The Health Department, then, basically takes on a monitoring role and focuses on public health.

Which brings the issue of the Ministry’s recent proposal to deploy millions of genetically modified “warrior” mosquitoes to fight dengue fever. The mosquitoes are apparently to be released first in Pulau Ketam. Has Liow been to Pulau Ketam? Does he actually know why this island has a high incidence of dengue? Pulau Ketam is 10 nautical miles from Port Klang and has a population of about 10,000 Teochew, Hokkien and Hainanese villagers. It’s specialty – seafood.  But it holds one sordid detail. Pulau Ketam has to be the dirtiest island on earth or at least Malaysia. A walk along its passageways will reveal appalling filth and garbage in the form of containers, bottles, metal sheets, engines and even dead animals strewn all over the island especially under the stilts.

Not all of it is the islanders’ fault as some of the rubbish could be as a result of the highly polluted Klang River. The MOH has one health facility on the island itself. There is another facility hardly 300 meters from the Port Klang jetty where the previous South Port stands. Two kilometers away the Ministry has another health facility at Telok Gadong. In addition the MPK (Majlis Perbandaran Klang) has its own health facility in town itself. Could the MOH not make concerted efforts with a clearly overwhelmed Alam Flora to clear the rubbish and improve the virtually non-existent sewage facilities at Pulau Ketam instead of dabbling in dodgy genetic engineering experiments? Does it not have the public health and enforcement resources to clean up the island or has it spent it all in implementing the PHFSA and going after “bogus” doctors or health facilities.

It is status quo at the Ministry of Health isn’t it? Prioritization appears to be a problem. Nothing really has changed. Despite the MCA being virtually whitewashed in the recent elections with it losing support from not only its own community but Malaysians in general, it still runs this Ministry. The reason why this Ministry will never improve is obvious. It just doesn’t have proper management. Despite Ong Ka Ting’s belated attempts to redeem himself and make the MCA more relevant, it will not be able to do so in a BN hopelessly handicapped with ineffectual civil servants who have only seen one side of the coin – government service. Not a single health professional in this Ministry has any experience working in the private sector where accountability is all but mandatory. Any experienced healthcare professional in the private sector can reform healthcare services in this country to be on par with the rest of the world. As evidenced especially with the new governments in Penang and Selangor, the only way this Ministry is going to improve is for the PR to come to power. And for the sake of all Malaysians, the sooner the better.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 May 2008, 7:53 am and is filed under
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Ning Baizura’s encounter with Penang CM

My attention  was drawn to the blog on Malaysian songstress  Ning Baizura’s encounter with the Penang Chief Minister,
“Have you seen a Chief Minister sit in Economy Class? I have”
.

It was independent blogger Zainol Abideen who drew  attention to the blog of Guan Eng’s meeting with Ning and her manager, Vernon Kedit Jolly at the KLIA on Wednesday in his blog
Mahaguru58
.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 May 2008, 11:38 am and is filed under
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Time for press freedom reform – although 8 years late

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, should embrace press freedom reform to ensure that the reform measures he has announced on the judiciary and anti-corruption are meaningful and sustainable.

Without a fair and independent media, no reform measures whether to restore public confidence in the independence, impartiality and quality of the judiciary or an all-out battle against corruption can succeed.

When Abdullah first became Home Minister eight years ago, he was presented with a memorandum by Malaysian journalists calling for press freedom reform. He had at that time promised to study the memorandum but nothing has come out of it so far.

The March 8 political tsunami should be a salutary lesson to the Prime Minister that it is time that he embrace press freedom reform although it is eight years late.

The latest press ranking for Malaysia being placed at 141 in the Freedom House survey report on Global Media is another adverse international verdict on the state of the media in Malaysia. Abdullah should use the World Press Freedom Day this year to announce bold measures on press freedom reform especially an end to the annual newspaper licensing requirement as well as the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 May 2008, 2:04 pm and is filed under
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Doctors Prescribe, Pharmacists Dispense, Patients Suffer

by

Product Of The System

Real Life Scenario

Madam Ong is a 52-year-old lady with a twelve-year-history of hypertension and diabetes. She complained of generalised lethargy, lower limb weakness, swelling and pain. She brought along her cocktail of medications for my scrutiny. Her regular medications included the oral antidiabetics metformin and glicazide and the antihypertensives amlodipine and irbesatan. Madam Ong also had a few episodes of joint pains three months ago for which she had seen two other different doctors. The first doctor suspected rheumatoid arthritis and started her on a short course of the potent steroid prednisolone. Thereafter, she developed increasing lower limb swelling for which a third doctor prescribed the powerful diuretic frusemide.

Madam Ong was not on regular follow-up for hypertension and diabetes. Additionally, she has been re-filling her supply of steroids and diuretics at a pharmacy nearby with the purpose of saving up on the consultation charges.

I took a more complete medical history and performed a thorough physical examination. I concluded that this lady’s health was in a complete mess.

She was under sound management by the family physician until the day she defaulted follow up and was started on prednisolone by a doctor who was unaware she was diabetic. The steroid probably helped in relieving her arthritic pains though the suspicion of rheumatoid arthritis was never proven serologically.

However, it also worsened her sugar and blood pressure control and weakened her immune system.

Her legs swelled up because of the fluid retentive properties of the steroids. In addition, early signs of cellulitis were showing up around her legs due to a weakened immune function. The diuretic prescribed by the third doctor helped a little with the swollen limbs but she became weak from the side effects of diuretics.

Madam Ong’s problems escalated when she decided to forgo her doctors’ opinion altogether and decided to self-medicate simply by collecting all her medications from the pharmacist who supplied them indiscriminately. Unknowingly, the pharmacist had added to the lady’s problems in spite of the wealth of knowledge the pharmacist must have possessed.

The above scenario is a fairly common scene in the Malaysian healthcare. We see here an anthology of errors initiated by doctors, propagated by the patient’s health seeking behavior and perpetuated by a pharmacist.

Noteworthy but Untimely Move

The Ministry of Health is set to draw a dividing line between the physician’s role and the pharmacist’s, restricting physicians to prescribing and according dispensing rights solely to the pharmacists.

Such a move virtually has its effects only upon doctors in the private practice and particularly the general practitioner who relies on prescription sales for much of one’s revenue.

Doctors prescribe and pharmacists dispense. It’s the international role of each profession and very much the standard practice in most developed countries.

The Ministry of Health however, has failed to take into account the local circumstances in mooting this inaugural move in Malaysian healthcare. The logic and motive behind the Ministry of Health’s proposal is in fact laudable, but only if the Malaysian healthcare scenario is more organized and well-planned.

Spiraling Healthcare Costs

In the United Kingdom, all costs are borne by the National Healthcare Services. In the United States, despite all the negativity painted by Michael Moore’s Sicko, most fees are paid for by health insurance without which one cannot seek treatment. In these countries and many European nations, there is hardly any out-of-pocket monetary exchange between patients and their clinicians.

This however is not the case for Malaysia. Most patients who visit a private clinic are self-paying clients. The costs of consultation and medications are real and immediately tangible to patients. A visit to the general clinic for a simple upper respiratory tract infection may set one back by as much as RM 50.00 inclusive of consultation and medication. Most clinics these days are charging reasonable sums between RM 5 to RM 15 for consultation. Some are even omitting consultation charges altogether in view of the rising costs of basic healthcare. The introduction of the MOH’s ‘original seal’ to prevent forgery of drugs contributed much to this.

There is no denial that most clinics rely on the sales of medications in order to remain financially viable. From my personal experience, the charges for medications by private clinics are not necessarily higher than pharmacies. In fact, since each practitioner has a stockpile of one’s own preferred drugs, the cost price of the medications can be much lower than that obtained by the pharmacists who need to stockpile a wide variety of drugs. It is therefore a misconception that pharmacies will provide medications to patients at a much lower cost all the time for all medications.

Retracting dispensing privileges from the private clinics will only force practitioners to charge higher consultation fees in order to sustain viability of their practices. In the end, the patients end up paying a greater cost for the same quality of healthcare and medications. Inevitably, much of the increase in healthcare costs will also be passed on panel companies who will then be paying two professionals for the healthcare of their employees.

In this season of spiraling inflation, this proposal by the Ministry of Health is ill-time and poorly conceived.

Unequal Distribution of Medical and Pharmacy Services

As it already is, private general practice clinics are mushrooming at an uncontrolled rate. A block of shoplots in Kuala Lumpur may house up to five clinics. Does Malaysia have a corresponding number of pharmacists to match the proliferating medical clinics? If and when clinics are disallowed to dispense medications, the market scenario will become one that heavily favors pharmacists. The struggling family physician suddenly loses a significant portion of his revenue while the pharmacist receives a durian runtuh overnight.

The situation is worst in the less affluent areas and rural districts where the humble family physician may be the solitary doctor within a 50km radius and no pharmacy outlets at all. For example, there are no pharmacies in Kota Marudu, Sabah and only one in the town of Kudat. Patients seeking treatment in these places will get a consultation but  have no avenue to collect their prescription if doctors lose their dispensing privileges.

The absence and dearth of 24-hour pharmacies is also a pertinent issue. At present, many clinics operate around the clock to provide immediate treatment for patients with minor systemic upset. These clinics play an important role in reducing the crowd size and the long waiting hours at the emergency departments of general hospitals.

Without a corresponding number of 24-hour pharmacies to dispense urgent medications, the role of 24-hour clinics will be obtunded. The MOH’s plans of implementing its doctors-prescribe-pharmacists-dispense policy will merely backfire and result in the denial of services to patients.

A Bigger Problem Is The System Itself

The increasing number of medical centers around the country is not necessarily in the patients’ best interests or an indicator of improved healthcare provision. Most clinics and medical centers serve an overlapping population of patients. A person may be under a few different clinics simultaneously for his chronic multiple medical problems, resulting in a scattered, interrupted medical record. One doctor may not be informed of the interventions and medications undertaken by the patient at another practice.  The concept of continuous care and a long term doctor-patient relationship is practically improbable.

This is unlike the system in the United Kingdom where each family physician is allotted a certain cohort of patients for long term care. The doctor remains in full knowledge over his patients’ progress, making general practice one that is rewarding and meaningful.

The trouble-ridden Malaysian healthcare system prevents optimal clinical practice especially for doctors in the private sector.

Until the Ministry of Heath puts in place a more systematic and organized approach to healthcare, patients will still be denied optimal medical services despite a clear division between the roles of doctors and pharmacists. The process of prescribing and dispensing is but one step in the cascade of events that may result in harm being done to the patient. Role separation between the doctor and the pharmacist will not eliminate drug-related malpractice and negligence, as I have illustrated in the real clinical scenario above.

Loss of Clinical Autonomy

Private practitioners in Malaysia are at present enjoying a reasonable sense of autonomy over the health of their patients. In many ways, the freedom of clinicians to make decisions with adequate knowledge of the patient’s needs and circumstances is a plus point in clinical practice.

Involving the pharmacists in the daily management of every patient removes a great part of the doctor’s control over the clinical circumstances of the patient. He may prescribe one drug only to be overruled by the dispensing pharmacist later. The clinician has privy to much information about the patient’s circumstances that are available only in the patient’s medical records. It is based on this information that a clinician makes decisions on the final choices of medications for the patient.

A dispensing pharmacist does not have access to such priceless clinical history and may very well make ill-informed decisions in the patient’s medications. Once again, my introductory scenario demonstrates how pharmacists can help perpetuate a patient’s mismanagement.

Selective Implementation of Rules

Rules in any game should be fair and just and implemented on both parties. If doctors are to be prohibited from dispensing, shouldn’t pharmacists too be forbidden from diagnosing, examining, investigating and prescribing?

Yet this is exactly what takes place everyday in a typical pharmacy.

I have seen with my own eyes (not that I can see with someone else’s eyes anyway) pharmacists giving a medical consultation, performing a physical examination and thereafter recommending medications to walk-in customers. It is also not uncommon to find pharmacies collaborating with biochemical laboratories to conduct blood tests especially those in the form of seemingly value-for money ‘packages’. These would usually include a barrage of unnecessary tests comprising tumor markers, rheumatoid factor and thyroid function tests for an otherwise well and asymptomatic patient.

Pharmacists intrude into the physicians’ territory when they begin to do all this and more.

Doctors may occasionally make mistakes due to their supposedly inferior knowledge of drugs despite the fact that they are trained in clinical pharmacology.

In the same vein, pharmacists may have studied the basic features of disease entities and clinical biochemistry but they are nonetheless not of sufficient competency to diagnose, examine, investigate and treat patients. Pharmacists are not adequately trained to take a complete and thorough medical history or to recognize the subtle clinical signs so imperative in the art of differential diagnosis.

In more ways than one and increasingly so, pharmacists are overtaking the role of a clinical doctor. Patients have reported buying antibiotics and prescription drugs over the pharmacy counter without prior consultation with a physician.

If the MOH is sincere to reduce adverse pharmacological reactions due to supposedly inept medical doctors, then it should also clamp down on pharmacists playing doctor everyday in their pharmaceutical premises. Patients will receive better healthcare services only when each team member abides by and operate within their jurisdiction.

The move to restrict doctors to prescribing only while conveniently ignoring the shortcomings and excesses among the pharmacy profession is biased and favors the pharmacists’ interests.

The Root Problem is Quality

A significant issue in Malaysian healthcare is that of the quality of our medical personnel. This includes doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists, therapists, amongst others. A substantial number of our doctors are locally trained and educated. If current trends are extrapolated to the future, the number of local medical graduates is bound to rise exponentially alongside the unrestrained establishment of new medical schools.

The quality and competency of current and future medical graduates produced locally is an imperative point to consider. Competent doctors with a sound knowledge of pharmacology will go a long way in improving patient care and minimizing incidence of adverse drug reactions. The very fact that the MOH resorts to the drastic step in prohibiting doctors from dispensing medications indicates that it must be aware of the high prevalence of drug-related clinical errors.

Much of patient safety revolves around the competency of Malaysian doctors in making the right diagnosis and prescribing the right medications. Retracting dispensing rights from clinicians therefore, will not solve the underlying problem. Our doctors might still be issuing the right medications but for the wrong diagnosis. In the end, a dispensing pharmacists will still end up supplying the patient with a medication of the right dosage, right frequency but for the wrong indication.

Patient safety therefore begins with the production of competent medical graduates. The problem lies in the fact the same universities producing medical doctors are usually the same institutions producing pharmacists. It is really not surprising, since the basic sciences of both disciplines are quite similar. Therefore, if the doctors produced by our local institutions are apparently not up to par, can we expect the pharmacy graduates who learnt under the same teachers to be much better in their own right?

Among other remedial measures, my personal opinion is that the medical syllabus of our local universities is in desperate need for a radical review. There is a pressing need for a greater emphasis on basic and clinical pharmacology. At the same time, the excessive weightage accorded to paraclinical subjects like public health and behavioral medicine need to be trimmed down to its rightful size. Lastly, genuine meritocracy in terms of student intake, as opposed to ‘meritocracy in the Malaysian mould’, will drastically improve the final products of our local institutions.

The MOH’s Own Backyard Needs Cleaning

Healthcare provision in Malaysia has undergone radical waves of change during the Chua Soi Lek era. The most sweeping changes seem to affect the private sector much more than anything else. The Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act typifies MOH’s obsession with regulating private medical practice as though all doctors are under MOH’s ownership and leash.

An analyst new to Malaysian healthcare might be forgiven for having the impression that the Malaysian Ministry of Health is currently on a witch hunt in order to make private practice unappealing and unfeasible in order to reduce the number of government doctors resigning from the civil service.

Regardless of MOH’s genuine motives, it must be borne in mind that private healthcare facilities only serve an estimated twenty percent of the total patient load in the whole country. The major provider of affordable healthcare is still the Ministry of Health and probably always will be. Targeting private healthcare providers therefore, will only create changes to a small portion of the population. Overhauling the public healthcare services conversely, will improve the lot of the remaining eighty percent of the population.

At present, the healthcare services provided by the Malaysian Ministry of Health is admittedly among the most accessible in the world. The quality of MOH’s services however, leaves much to be desired. Instead of conceiving ways and means to make the private sector increasingly unappealing to the frustrated government doctor, the MOH needs to plug the brain drain by making the ministry a more rewarding organization to work in.

The MOH needs to clean up its own messy backyard before encroaching into the private practitioners’.

An indepth analysis of MOH’s deficiencies I’m afraid, is not possible in this article.

MOH’s “To Do List”

The prescribing-dispensing issue should hardly be MOH’s priorities at the moment.

I can effortlessly think of a list of issues for the MOH to tackle apart from retracting the right of clinicians to dispense drugs.

Private laboratories are conducting endless unnecessary tests upon patients and usually at high financial cost despite their so-called attractive packages. In the process, patients are parting with their hard-earned money for investigations that bring little benefit to their overall well being. Mildly ‘abnormal’ results with little clinical significance result in undue anxiety to patients. More often than not, such tests will result in further unnecessary investigations. The MOH needs to regulate the activities of these increasingly brazen and devious laboratories.

Medical assistants trained and produced by the MOH’s own grounds are running loose and roaming into territories that are far beyond their expertise. It is not uncommon to find patients who were on long term follow up under a medical assistant for supposedly minor ailments like refractory gastritis and chronic sorethroat. A few patients with such symptoms turned up having advanced cancer of the stomach and esophagus instead. The medical assistants who for years were treating them with antacids and multiple courses of antibiotics failed to notice the warning signs and red flags of an occult malignancy. They were not trained in the art of diagnosis and clinical examination but were performing the tasks and duties of a doctor. There is no doubt that the role of the medical assistant is indispensable in the MOH. Just as a surgeon would not interfere with the role of an oncologist, medical assistants too must be aware of the limits of their expertise. MOH will do well to remember the case of the medical assistant caught running a full-fledge surgical clinic in Shah Alam in late 2006.

Adulterated drugs with genuine risks of lethal effects are paddled openly in road side stalls and night markets. They are extremely popular among folks from all strata of society who rarely admit to the use of such toxins to their physicians. It is possible and highly probable that many unexplained deaths taking place each day are in some way related to the rampant use of such preparations.

Non-medical personnel are performing risky and potentially lethal procedures daily without the fear of being nabbed by the authorities. These are mostly aesthetic procedures. Mole removals, botulinum toxin injections and even blepharoplasty are carried out brazenly by unskilled personnel and usually in the least sterile conditions. It makes a mockery of the plastic surgeon’s years of training but above all, proves that the MOH is indeed barking up the wrong tree in its obsession to retract the dispensing privileges of medical practitioners.

Closing Points

In summary, a patient’s health is affected by many factors – a doctor’s aptitude is merely one step in a torrent of events. The health seeking behaviors of patients play an imperative role in the final outcome of one’s own health. Most harm to patients can only occur as a result of unidentified minor errors in the management flowchart of a patient. If allowed to accumulate, such errors converge as a snowball that threatens the long term outcome of an ill person.

There are a multitude of other clinical errors apart from prescribing and dispensing, some of which are not at all committed by trained medical staff. The MOH must get its priorities right by first overhauling an increasingly overloaded public healthcare service.

Lastly, the difference between a drug and a poison is the dose. A toxin used in the right amount for the right condition is an elixir. A medication used in the wrong dosage and for the wrong indication is lethal poison.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 May 2008, 9:39 am and is filed under
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2007 Malaysian Population = 27.17 million

Estimated Population in Malaysia for2007 – 27.17 million (93% citizens; 7% non-citizens)

Malaysian citizens comprise

     Bumiputera – 66.4%

     Chinese      – 24.9%

     Indians       –   7.5%

     Others        –   1.3%

“All states register the same trend, i.e. bumiputera being the biggest group except for Penang with bumiputera and Chinese almost at par  i.e. 44.2 per cent  and 44.8 respectively .

Selangor registers the highest population, i.e. 4.96 million (18.3%) followed by Johore 3.24 million (11.9%) and Sabah 3.06 million (11.3%).  States with less than one million population are Negri Sembilan (0.98 million), Malacca (0.74 million), Perlis (0.23 million) and Federal Territory Labuan (0.09 million).

 (From Parliament Q & A)

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Al-Fatihah and a letter to the Home Minister and all Parliamentarians

by
Dr. Azly Rahman

Sad sad day.

Today is an extremely sad day for me. It concerns my beloved former English teacher, Puan Rahmah Sahamid. I had just read a Malaysia-Today entry  on the passing of her beloved sister Habnah.

Let me reproduce a letter she wrote to Malaysia-Today and I am asking this issue which concerns perhaps millions of Malaysians as well to be brought to Parliament. I am asking both elected representatives from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to deal with this in a bi-partisan manner.

Below is Puan Rahmah’s story and her urgent appeal, reproduced in full:

________________________________________________________________________________

Letter to the Editor/Relevant Authorities/

On the night of 29 April, my dear sister was brutally murdered in her bedroom; she had sustained head injuries, her internal organs severely ruptured. What would the last moments have been for her before she died? Did she expect the blow to come from someone she trusted and took into the safety of her own home? How she must have put up a fight, worrying for our aged mother, blissfully unaware of the gruesome murder taking place in the next room.My sister was found the next day sprawling in a pool of blood.She was 62 and lived with my mother,84 years of age and an Indonesian maid. There was no sign of forced entry. The Indonesian maid had disappeared, leaving her bloodstained clothes behind .From the evidence, according to police, the maid is the prime suspect.

How can I describe the essence that was my sister Habnah? The newspaper reports only describe her as a victim, maybe just another one of many that we read about so often in the papers over tea or coffee, or while waiting to catch the bus. That victim, my sister was so much more. She was generous as she was kind. It took her sudden death for us to realize how much she gave of herself ,to each member of our very large ,close knit family and especially to my aged mother-making sure she took her daily supplements, reminding her of her meals, her rest ,managing the repairs of the house ,groceries ,my mother’s daily meals, finances, medical health, as well as the 1001 things that a loving and dutiful daughter does every day for a much beloved mother.

How could this have happened?  Could it be possible that a person we had let into our home to take care of two elderly women was the perpetrator of this heinous crime ?My late sister was always careful to lock all doors and windows as precautions for security .But what precautions can one take when the criminal is locked in? We had engaged the maid from an authorized agency, had complied with all the procedures, made the requisite payments. Do we not have a right to expect that the maids we employ had at least been vetted to ensure that we are not letting into our homes psychotic, deranged persons who commit unspeakable acts of violence?

Much fuss is made when foreign maids are allegedly abused or ill treated by employers, and Indonesian and Malaysian authorities are quick to jump in to render protection and justice. But what justice is rendered to my late sister? What protection is afforded to employers and their charges against the wrath of psychotic, deranged or violent foreign maids?

 I have been told that the chances of apprehending the prime suspect-the Indonesian maid is extremely slim, because of the ease with which she is able to slip out of the country undetected. What is even more fearful is that she could slip back into the country still undetected to take employment in another unsuspecting household, under another name. Such is possible because of the serious lack of mechanisms of proper identification of foreign maids. There is not even a thumbprint, and sometimes not even a signature nor even a surname for proper identification. Are background checks conducted to ensure the foreign maids we bring in have no criminal records or mental history? What procedures are in place to ensure there is no recurrence of this tragedy? The answer is- there are none.

I cannot bring my sister back to life, and nothing will alleviate the pain, grief and shock of losing a beloved sister in such cruel circumstances .But I write this even as I grieve, in the hope that no one would have to go through what my family members and I are going through. I know there are many households in Malaysia where foreign maids are left to take charge of vulnerable and defenseless persons – the elderly and incapacitated as well as young children.There is a critical and urgent need to address all the weaknesses and deficiencies in our existing system relating to the employment of foreign maids. Procedures and mechanisms of proper identification, stringent vetting of backgrounds, a tracking mechanism to ensure blacklisted foreign maids are denied entry will ensure a much needed measure of protection to employers and their charges. This is especially crucial in the case of foreign maids, because unlike other categories of foreign workers, they are brought to live into our homes and therein lies our vulnerability.

My sister would not have suffered such an unspeakable fate had there been such procedures in place .So who should bear responsibility for her cruel death? The ‘prime suspect’ who wielded the death blows or the authorities for their lackadaisical attitude in perpetuating a ‘system’ that gives scant if any protection to employers by allowing such ‘persons’ to take employment in our households ? It is too late to save my sister, but not for other vulnerable households. I implore all Malaysians to join me in appealing to the relevant authorities, particularly Immigration, and the Home Ministry to take urgent action to protect our households. Let us not delay any further for inaction or apathy on our parts may cost the loss of another beloved life or lives.

In conclusion let me ask a chilling question? How sure are you that the new foreign maid you are bringing into your home is not the abovementioned ‘prime suspect’ or someone like her?  Sleep on it-that is, if you can.

Rahmah Sahamid

__________________________________________________

This is not just a letter to the editor but an urgent appeal to the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into this matter. Puan Rahmah’s letter is self-explanatory — while Malaysians are also guilty of abusing foreign maids, we must monitor maids that are abusive and in extreme cases, murderous.

Please join me in this forum to offer condolences and to send this urgent message to the relevant authorities, concerning a matter of national interest. This is an urgent mater to us as we leave home daily selling our labour to the State.

Alfatihah to Puan Habnah. My deepest condolences to Puan Rahmah Sahamid and her family. My appeal to the Home MInister — act now!

(Puan Rahmah Sahamid is an extraordinary teacher who has deeply impacted me in my love for the English Language and is a major influence in my life as an educator.  She is amongst the best English teachers I have been blessed with, and had touched the lives of thousands others — sincerely, Azly Rahman. )

                This entry was posted on Monday, 5 May 2008, 8:47 pm and is filed under
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RPK to be charged with sedition?

i have been informed that Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been ordered to surrender himself at the Jalan Duta magistrate’s court at 9.30 am tomorrow to be charged with sedition.

I have not been able to contact RPK to get confirmation.

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Anti-Corruption & Media Reform

The reform proposals announced by the Prime Minister  in the fight against corruption are also most unsatisfactory, viz:

·	The  Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to become an “independent” Malaysian Commission Against Corruption (MCAC) by year end, to be answerable to Parliament.

·	Increase of the MCAC’s  workforce to 5,000 officers over a period of five years, whistle-blowers protection legislation and improvement in the public procurement system.

An anti-corruption agency does not become “independent” just because the government describes it as “independent” – particularly when it continues to come under the Prime Minister’s Deparment instead fo operating as a completely autonomous organization, bereft of prosecution powers for corruption as this will remain the discretion of the Attorney-General.

Whether Malaysia can break the back of the problem of worsening corruption is not just through organizational or institutional changes but on whether there is the political will by the highest level of government to support an all-out war against corruption, vesting all the necessary powers to the anti-corruption institutions.

After his unprecedented landslide victory, Abdullah launched the National Integrity Plan which set the five-year target to improve Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from No. 37 in 2003 to at least No. 30 by 2008.

There is no more mention of this five-year NIP target for Malaysia’s ranking on the TI CPI had worsened by another six places  from No. 37 to No. 43 in 2007 – giving former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad the justification to say that corruption under Abdullah’s premiership worse than under his administration, that corruption, which was under the table during his time, had come above the table under his successor!

How can Malaysians be convinced that there is now a new political will to fight corruption by giving free and unfettered powers to the MCAC at the end of the year when nobody in government dares to say a single word about creating a new political culture of zero tolerance for corruption starting from the Cabinet and to be reflected in improved rankings in the TI CPI?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, should embrace press freedom reform to ensure that the reform measures he has announced on the judiciary and corruption is successful.

Furthermore, if Abdullah is serious about reform measures for the judiciary and anti-corruption, then it is time for him to embrace press reforms to ensure that these reforms  are meaningful and sustainable.

Without a fair and independent media, no reform measures whether to restore public confidence in the independence, impartiality and quality of the judiciary or an all-out battle against corruption can succeed.

When Abdullah first became Home Minister eight years ago, he was presented with a memorandum by Malaysian journalists calling for press freedom reform. He had at that time promised to study the memorandum but nothing has come out of it so far.

The March 8 political tsunami should be a salutary lesson to the Prime Minister that it is time that he embrace press freedom reform although it is eight years late.

The latest press ranking for Malaysia being placed at 141 in the Freedom House survey report on Global Media is another adverse international verdict on the state of the media in Malaysia.  Is Abdullah prepared to come to Parliament  to announce bold measures on press freedom reform especially an end to the annual newspaper licensing requirement as well as the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act?

(Speech [4] in  Parliament on the Royal Address on Monday, 6th May 2008)

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Belated genuine reforms or just sloganeering?

It is almost two months since the March 8 political tsunami of the 2008 general election which saw the end of Barisan Nasional’s unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority and the loss of state government in five states – Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan.

More than two weeks after the March 8 political tsunami, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted that the result of the elections was a strong message that he “had not moved fast enough in pushing through  with the reforms that he had promised to undertake’ when he was given an unprecedented mandate in the 2004 general election winning 91% of the parliamentary seats.

Abdullah said: “I thank the Malaysian people for the message. Point made and point taken.”

It was a sign of the Prime Minister grappling with the serious problem of denial but it was not assuring enough as he had missed the whole point of the March 8 electoral verdict – not that he “had not moved fast enough” in reforms he had pledged more than four years ago, but that he had hardly moved at all apart from reform sloganeering and periodically paying lip service to them.

Have Abdullah and his Cabinet now got  the full  message of Malaysians in the March 8 political tsunami?

This was  my first parliamentary question to the Prime Minister last Wednesday asking him  “to outline the top ten priority reform measures which his government will implement in the next 12 months to demonstrate that he has heard the voices of the people in the March 8, 2008 ‘political tsunami’”

This is the Prime Minister’s  written answer:

Seperti yang telah saya nyatakan sebelum ini, pihak Kerajaan menghormati keputusan rakyat sebagaimana yang telah dizahirkan dalam Pilihanraya Umum ke-12 baru-baru ini, dan kita menerima keputusan tersebut dengan hati yang terbuka. Pada masa yang sama, kita juga akan memastikan agar mandat yang telah diberi oleh rakyat, untuk terus mentadbir Negara ke arah (kejayaan dan kegemilangan tidak akan disia-siakan.

Kerajaan yang saya pimpin adalah kerajaan yang berpengalaman; kerajaan yang terbukti. Namun saya percaya bahawa Kerajaan yang saya pimpin ini tidaklah bersifat jumud. Saya yakin bahawa Kerajaan pimpinan saya akan terus bersedia untuk menjiwai hasrat rakyat, serta menangani isu-isu yang menjadi bebanan serta menimbulkan kegusaran rakyat.

Atas dasar itu lah, maka saya telah mengumumkan sebuah agenda pembaharuan bagi memenuhi hasrat rakyat. Butiran agenda tersebut adalah seperti berikut:

• Pertama: menangani impak kenaikan harga barang, terutamanya makanan, akibat arus pasaran global;

• Kedua: mengkaji semula pelaksanaan pelan-pelan ekonomi negara bagi memastikan agar faedah pembangunan negara akan dinikmati oleh setiap rakyat;

• Ketiga: mengurangkan jurang pendapatan dikalangan dan diantara golongan etnik, di samping memastikan kesaksamaan untuk semua rakyat Malaysia;

• Keempat: mengurangkan kadar jenayah;

• Kelima: meneruskan usaha kearah memerangi rasuah dan meningkatkan budaya integriti;

• Keenam: menyokong pembaharuan serta meningkatkan keyakinan rakyat terhadap institusi kehakiman dan

• Ketujuh: menangani isu sensitive berhubung agama termasuk pembinaan dan pemindahan rumah ibadat.

Setakat ini, saya telahpun membuat beberapa pengumuman berkaitan dengan agenda yang telah saya gariskan dan ianya telah diterima baik oleh rakyat. Pembaharuan-pembaharuan ini adalah tambahan kepada agenda pembangunan nasional seperti yang digariskan dalam Misi Nasional dan Wawasan 2020. Saya yakin bahawa agenda besar Kerajaan ini akan dapat menambah baik kualiti kehidupan rakyat, dan saya percaya rakyat akan terus memberikan sokongan kepada Kerajaan dalam usaha untuk melaksanakan pelbagai langkah bagi membawa Malaysia kearah era yang lebih gemilang.

I am shocked that after almost two months of the March 8 political tsunami and more than four years of failure to deliver the reforms he had promised in the 2004 general election,, the Prime Minister could not name ten areas for priority reform but had to  make do with seven.

What about the immediate and unconditional release of the five Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, DAP Selangor State Assemblyman M. Manoharan, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan, T. Vasantha Kumar and all the other detainees under the Internal Security Act, totally over 60 persons with some inc arcerated for over six years?

What about the repeal of all draconian and repressive laws like the  Internal Security Act, the Police Act, the Official Secrets Act, the  Sedition Act and  the Printing Presses and Publications Act?

What about the full implementation of the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police commission to create an efficient,  incorruptible, professional world-class police service to reduce crime, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights, particularly the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)?

What about mass media reforms to allow free and responsible press to flourish in Malaysia?

What about parliamentary reforms and modernization to create a first-world Parliament ?

What about the full commitment to enhance Malaysia’s international competitiveness to enable the country to successfully face the challenges of globalization – sending out the single-minded message that the future well-being, progress and prosperity of the nation hinges on the ability of Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not Malays versus non-Malays?

And most important of all – what about nation-building reforms as the most important message of the March 8 political tsunami is marginalization and alienation of Malaysians, regardless of ethnicity, religion, geography and even political affiliation by the nation-building process.

The Barisan Nasional government had spent RM100 million to celebrate the 50th Merdeka anniversary, and we are still in the midst of this celebration which is meant to be a year-long affair from August 31 last year.

Money had been squandered on meaningless fanfare,  ceremonies  and fireworks which had no meaning for the people or nation in pointing the future towards a  more united, harmonious, just, progressive and prosperous Malaysia in the next 50 years.

In fact, the months leading up to the major 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations on August 31st last year and its ensuing months were most divisive ones, as they saw racial, religious and political polarization at their worst.

Ironically, the most important and meaningful event in the 50th Merdeka anniversary is none other than the March 8 “political tsunami’ in the 2008 general election which, by sweeping away the two-thirds parliamentary majority of Umno and Barisan Nasional and power in five states, should be taken as a wake-up call to all Malaysians that something is very wrong with the 50-year Malaysian nation-building process.

Two days after the 2008 general election result, an op-ed article appeared in the Asian Wall Street Journal (March 11) in the name of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, entitled “Malaysia will heal her divisions”, where the Prime Minister pledged:

“As there has been much speculation about the implications of our election results, I wish to offer clarity on three critically important points:

“First, we have heard the voice of our citizens, and I will dedicate myself, in this second term, to healing the divisions which became evident during the campaign. That will mean developing new and concrete initiatives, not just rhetoric, that bring our people together and ensure that no one is left behind as Malaysia prospers, whether they are ethnic Malays, Chinese or Indians.”

Are Barisan Nasional MPs and backbenchers prepared to speak up for the immediate and unconditional release of the five Hindraf leaders and all the other ISA detainees in the present session of Parliament?

(Speech [2] in  Parliament on the Royal Address on Tuesday, 6th May 2008)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 7:17 pm and is filed under
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On judicial reform

The  Prime Minister recently announced reform proposals for  the judiciary and in the fight against corruption.

Many were  disappointed by the Prime Minister’s speech on “Delivering Justice, Renewing Trust” at a special dinner hosted by the Bar Council on April 17, 2008, as  more, much more, than what was announced to restore public and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and quality of the judiciary had been expected, viz:

• Ex-gratia payment for “the pain and loss” suffered by the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader and Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and their families, Tun Salleh Abas, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh and Datuk George Seah in the 1988 Judicial Crisis;

• A Judicial Appointments Commission;

• Review of the judiciary’s terms of service and remuneration to ensure that the Bench can attract and retain the very best of the nation’s talent.

The thunderous and prolonged applause at the Bar Council dinner which greeted Abdullah’s recognition of the “contributions of these six judges to the nation, their commitment towards upholding justice” and acknowledgement of “the pain and loss they have endured” in the 1988 judicial crisis cannot hide the general disappointment that the Prime Minister had fallen far short of expectations to ensure a fair and just closure to the Mother of Judicial Crisis in 1988.

It is precisely because the “contributions, pain and loss” of the six wronged judges cannot be equated with mere currency that the ex gratia payment is grossly inadequate. The six wronged judges deserve a full and proper recompense.

In his speech, the Prime Minister skirted the “rights and wrongs” and the “legality and morality” of the Mother of Judicial Crisis which plunged the country into two decades of judicial darkness.

The victims of the 1988 Mother of Judicial Crisis and the ensuing two decades of judicial darkness, with three of the four chief justices during the period, Tun Hamid Omar, Tun Eusoffe Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz compounding the travesties of justice by the judicial system, were not just the six wronged judges in 1988 but also included innocent, high-minded, idealistic and patriotic Malaysians who want the best for the country. In fact, whole generations of Malaysians were victims of the 20 years of judicial darkness!

Will the Prime Minister extend goodwill ex gratia payments to the other victims of the two decades of judicial darkness like former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid Syed Abdullah Idid (the first whistleblower from the judiciary with his 112 allegations of corruption, abuses of power and misconduct against 12 judges in 1996) as well as to the 106 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees in the 1987 Operation Lalang?

The goodwill ex gratia payment to the six wronged judges are welcome though belated but they are grossly inadequate in clearing the name and reputation of the six and in providing a full and proper closure to the 1988 Mother of Judicial Crisis and the ensuing two decades of judicial darkness under three Chief Justices.

The statement the next day  by Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the ex gratia payment for the six former judges in the 1988 judicial crisis is not a form of apology to them but merely “our way of addressing some of the personal considerations and some of the personal experiences, hardships that they have gone through” raised questions about the real worth and meaning of the ex gratia payment.

The payment of goodwill ex gratia payment without revisiting the 1988 Judicial Crisis on its rights and wrongs is already unsatisfactory enough but it becomes quite unacceptable when its whole basis is stemmed from pity or compassionate grounds to address “some personal experiences and hardships” suffered by the six wronged judges!

Najib is in fact directly contradicting Abdullah’s statement that “the contributions, pain and loss” of the six wronged judges cannot be equated with mere currency by implying that these wrongs and injustices could be dealt with solely in monetary terms.

This is why I maintain what is imperative to start a new chapter in Malaysian judiciary to turn our back on the 20 years of judicial darkness is to have a Judicial “Truth and Reconciliation” Commission to find out the lessons to be learnt from the 1988 Mother of Judicial Crisis and the series of one judicial scandal and crisis after another which rocked Malaysia in the past 20 years, not out of vindictiveness or vengeance, but to prevent any such recurrence in the future – focusing also on why the various national stakeholders, the judiciary, Parliament, political parties, mass media, civil society failed the critical test to defend the cardinal Constitutional principles of the doctrine of separation of powers and an independent, impartial and competent judiciary for two decades.

I have been calling for judicial reforms both in and outside Parliament in the past two decades when the country reeled from one judiciary crisis to another since the “Mother of Judicial Crisis” in 1988 and the victimization of independent-minded judges.

Abdullah should not take half-hearted measures but must initiate far-reaching judicial reforms to restore the Malaysian judiciary to its world-class pedestal which it had enjoyed since Independence in 1957 until two decades ago.

To ensure that Malaysia move out of the “judicial darkness” in the past two decades, the elements of a far-reaching judicial reform programme must include:

• A Royal Commission of Inquiry on Judicial Reforms to make detailed recommendations after a probe into the “judicial darkness” of the past two decades;

• A just and proper closure to the 1988 judicial crisis over the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges, bearing in mind that the victims of the “Mother of Judicial Crisis in Malaysia” were not confined to the three top judges sacked, the three other judges who were persecuted and hauled before a Judicial Tribunal but also the Malaysian people and nation who suffered for two decades the depredations of a deepening “judicial darkness”;

• Upholding  the doctrine of the separation of powers through constitutional re-amendment of Article 121(1A) to restore  the inherent judicial powers of the judiciary as entrenched in the Merdeka Constitution but which was taken away in a constitutional amendment in 1988 as part of the 1987-88 Operation Lalang crackdowns on fundamental liberties.

• A Judicial Appointment and Promotions Commission; and

• Overhaul of the Judges’ Code of Ethics to restore public confidence in judicial independence, impartiality and integrity, and to provide for a satisfactory and accountable mechanism for public complaints against judges, including the Chief Justice, for breaches of the Judges’ Code of Ethics.

It is most disappointing that legislative proposals for judicial reforms will not be ready for the current meeting of Parliament.

When will the necessary  constitutional amendments for judicial reforms, like the establishment of t6he Judicial Appointments Commission,  be presented to Parliament and come into force?

Will the Prime Minister be bound by the recommendations of the Judicial Appointments Commission as not to submit any judicial nomination which has not received the approval of the Commission or will the Judicial Appointments Commission be another toothless tiger like Suhakam?

Will the Judicial Appointments Commission be formed in time to influence the appointment of the next Chief Justice in less than six months to ensure that the country does not have another infamous first, in having the first Umno Chief Justice?

In the last Parliament, I had questioned the fast-track elevation of Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi in the judiciary,  with his  unprecedented triple jump to become Federal Court judge last September without ever being a High Court or Court of Appeal judge, then quadruple jump in three months as Court of Appeal President, and whether this is to be followed by his quintuple jump in a matter of a year to become the next Chief Justice when Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamed steps down from the topmost judicial post in October?

Is the Prime Minister prepared to make a public commitment that the appointment of the next Chief Justice will be first referred to the Judicial Appointments Commission which he has agreed to set up?

(Speech [3] in  Parliament on the Royal Address on Tuesday, 6th May 2008)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 7:21 pm and is filed under
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The Empire Strikes Back…

This morning, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the editor of the news portal Malaysia Today, was summoned to the Kuala Lumpur magistrate’s court to be charged with sedition in connection with his recent posting on Altantunya Shaariibuu murder case , “Let’s send the Altantunya murderers to hell”.

Last Friday, the Police Cybercrimes Division sent a squad to his house in Sungai Buloh and confiscated his laptop and CPU in connection with police investigations under the Sedition Act 1948 for incitement and also because he “commented on a case before the court made its decision”.

Any offence in the latter category would fall under “contempt of court” to be dealt with by the presiding judge for the Altantunya murder case. When and why did it become an offence under the Sedition Act?

The police and prosecution  action, coming immediately after the denial by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak through his press secretary of having anything to do with the murder of Altantunya Shaariibuu, smacks of an orchestrated response to Raja Petra’s blog – and must be deplored in the strongest possible terms.

Is this the beginning of a crackdown and  the latest example of “The Empire Strikes Back”  – the Barisan Nasional  strikes back in retaliation of the March 8 “political tsunami” which swept away the Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds parliamentary majority and power in five states?

In Malacca, the police acted in excessive force in arresting the DAP MP for Kota Melaka, Sim Tong Hin and two DAP Malacca Assemblyman,  Goh Leong San (Kesidang) and Lim Jak Wong (Bachang), on May Day when  they had responded to public concerns about the danger posed to residents and schoolchildren around Tun Tuah secondary school posed by metal rods protruding from the base  of an abandoned telecommunication pole in Bachang, Malacca. Lim was handcuffed and was assaulted and kicked by  the Ketua Polis Daerah Melaka Tengah.

What crime had the three DAP elected representatives committed when they were acting to protect the safety of the public, particularly school-children, to justify the police to treat them as common criminals, even handcuffing, assaulting and kicking an elected State Assemblyman?

If property rights are infringed, then this should be a subject for civil litigation and not for police abuse of power and violation of human rights.

Clearly, the  Malacca police was acting under the directive of the Malacca Chief Minister and Umno Vice President, Mohd Ali Rustam, in  retaliation for the March 8 “political tsunami”, gravely undermining  public confidence in the independence, impartiality, neutrality and professionalism of the police and the civil service.

Last Tuesday, officers from the Johore State Religious Department and the police gatecrashed into the Johore Baru Moral Uplifting Society, without warrant,  to forcibly remove a script picture depicting the Islamic faith as the Society was set up in reverence and respect for five religions, the others being Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Confucianism. The Johore Baru Moral Uplifting Scoeity had been in existence for some 50 years and there had been no complaint whatsoever against it. There are over a hundred Moral Uplifting Societies in the country not to mention its  world-wide connections. The religious enforcement officers also threatened to repeat such action in one Moral Uplifting Society after another in the state, with the Society in Muar as the next target.

Although such abuse of power and insensitivity was subsequently countermanded by the Johore Mentri Besar after a nation-wide uproar,  what is the message of such “Little Napoleon” rampages – especially as no disciplinary action is contemplated against the enforcement officers or those higher-up in the Johore State Government and Exco responsible for the policy decision to launch such raids?

(Speech [1] in  Parliament on the Royal Address on Tuesday, 6th May 2008 )

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 6:42 pm and is filed under
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The Empire Strikes Back in video

The first 33 minutes of my speech in Parliament on the Royal Address motion yesterday was on the prosecution of RPK, which is on video in four parts.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 6:49 pm and is filed under
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The Empire Strikes Back 2

When the witness becomes the accused

Citizen Nades – By R. Nadeswaran

The Sun

7th May 2008

EVER WONDERED why the police force is unable to close files and solve crimes? Do you know why witnesses to crimes do not want to come forward? Why do witnesses suddenly have memory lapses and declare: “I did not see anything.” I got the answers yesterday. Two police officers from the Commercial Crime Division of Bukit Aman gave an insight into how investigations are carried out and I can tell you with a clear conscience that it was an exercise in futility because their line of questioning would have insulted the intelligence of any right-thinking person.

Assistant Superintendents Wan Zainal Wan Mat and Albany Hamzah turned up at the office and said that they needed to record my statement in relation to police investigations into the transfer of funds from Balkis. To say that they came ill-prepared would be an understatement. To say that they never read any of the reports in theSun or any other newspaper would be the bitter truth. They are supposed to be investigating the transfer of RM9.9 million, and yet had no clue as to how to go about doing the job. This is because they came with pre-conceived notions and pre-prepared questions, perhaps drafted by their superiors, in the hope that this writer would shoot himself in the foot by implicating himself.

After the caution was administered under the Criminal Procedure Code and the usual questions on my qualifications and my career, it was crystal clear they wanted me to reveal my sources and wanted documents in my possession. Not that I had run foul of the Official Secrets Act because none of the documents cited were classified, but they came on a fishing expedition to get me to expose my hand and to find out what is going to be published in the future. They expected me to sing like a canary!

Terence Fernandez and I looked at each other in despair when asked: Merujuk kepada petikan yang terdapat dalam artikel berkaitan dengan memetik kenyataan Yeo Yang Poh (former president of the Bar Council), dari manakah sumber petikan berkenaan diperolehi? (Your article had a quote from former Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh. What is the source of the quote?) If only the two officers had cared to read the first paragraph of my report which was in front of their eyes they would have known where it came from – the Malaysian Bar website. But no, they had read nothing. What has Yeo’s comments got to do with their investigations?

They wanted to know if “I was instructed to write” and wanted to know if I had read the constitution of Balkis. If they had read all the reports on Balkis, they would have known that I quoted its constitution extensively. But no, they just cast the line hoping for a bite. The next question: Adakah kamu ada menyimpan perlembagaan Balkis. (Are you keeping a copy of the constitution) Did they expect a “Yes” from me? Even if I had it, does it make it an offence unless of course they thought they are putting the fright into me?

Are you in possession of a letter from the Registrar of Societies dated April 14 addressed to the mentri besar? Well, that’s not a classified document and even if I had it, would they have expected me to say: “Yes, I have it.”? They showed their hands too early and they thought they trumped me by asking: “You write that “according to documents sighted by theSun”, can you tell me what the documents are. My curt reply: “I cannot tell you because it is unethical for journalists to reveal what (documents) they saw or read.”

By which time, they had no more cards to play. They threw in the sai-lang card: “Dimanakah kamu dapat dokumen-dokumen berkenaan?” (Where did you get the documents from?”) Was this an investigation into Balkis or a probe to trace the source of my documents?

When they asked the final question, I blew my top because it not only became harassment but also bordered on stupidity. I was asked: Adakah kamu tahu siapa hakim bertindak sebagai penasihat undang-undang kepada Bakti sebagaimana yang dinyatakan oleh akhbar theSun? (Do you know the identity of the judge who acted as the legal adviser of Balkis?)

I asked the relevance of such a question. The answer was: ‘When the case goes to court, we need to answer all these questions”.

Don’t they read the newspapers? Didn’t theSun name the judge after which the Bar Council and the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers commented on it? My answer: “This was previously reported in theSun. Please refer to the papers.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 10:40 pm and is filed under
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Me, ‘the great white shark’?

I am intrigued by the following article by Azmi Anshar in
NST Online
 and thought that I would share it with you all:

DEWAN DISPATCHES: Parliament’s great white shark

For as long as the political savvy can remember, Lim Kit Siang has been an authoritative presence in the Dewan Rakyat, an orator of sublime presentation on compelling issues of the day he wishes to hound on political rivals, or a predatory great white shark smelling blood dripping from a “wounded” Minister or MP desperately trying to cover shenanigans only the Ipoh Timur MP can sniff out.

The 67-year-old seasoned Parliamentary player of seven terms can appear to be humbled by a lucid riposte by a cool Minister or MP and smile bewitchingly (menacingly if you suddenly realise that you are the target of his sniping), or he can suddenly snarl like an attack dog, pouncing ferociously on the lapses the MP may have unwittingly exposed. Except for a brief four-year period (1999-2004) when he was “exiled” out of Parliament after losing in the 1999 general election in Tanjung, Kit, as he is fondly called by colleagues and friends, has been a paradoxical character who had injected impact and colour into the debates of august hall.

Kit’s parliamentary performances, many seasons as Opposition leader, but now deferring to PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had been in his vintage style – articulate and authoritative when raising and stressing points but insistent, cynical, outlandish and brazen when deflecting broadsides from Barisan backbenchers, a slew of them with many axes to grind.

If there ever was a Top 10 list of best Dewan Rakyat debates, you can be sure that Kit has a couple of greatest hits in there somewhere, such is his searing influence in the business of formulating national laws and polices in the Dewan Rakyat.

Today was Kit’s turn to hold the floor in the debate on the royal address and he took a good two hours to deliver his package though a bulk of it meandered on endless interjections, clarifications, demands for rebuttals and, in the spirit of the Dewan Rakyat, a good old-fashion shouting match, all of it with BN backbenchers. Kit, who has the skill to rile up a Member of Parliament for no other reason than to rile up the person, would not have it any other way. All in all, another Lim Kit Siang vintage performance.

It was expected: the moment he stood up to begin his debate, Kit accelerated from zero to 120 in a matter of seconds, thundering on the authorities’ motive of charging blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin under the Sedition Act in connection with a recent posting on Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case when the resolute blogger should have been cited for contempt of court.

Kit’s penchant for hyperbole is also striking. Consider his overstatements on these allegations:

–> “Is this the beginning of a crackdown and the latest example of The Empire Strikes Back?” his description of the BN’s retaliation for losing five states in the March 8 polls.

–> “The BN government should be praised for “licensing” the DAP’s demand for reforms over the years. We won’t insist on copyright infringement.”

–> “The Government, for all its promise of transparency and accountability, allowed the bailout of Port Klang Free Zone development cost to bloat from RM2.5 billion to RM4.6 billion. This is the biggest scandal of them all, bigger than the BMF scandal. Is this going to be a bottomless pit?”

It did not matter that Kit’s allegations triggered derisive howls of protests, first from Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu), who Kit insinuated had profited from the PKFZ bailout. In interjecting and demanding passage to explain his involvement, Tiong accused Kit of being “unable to calculate” and offered to teach the Ipoh Timur MP on “how to count.” For a good 15 seconds, the slanging between Tiong and Kit degenerated into a shouting match and eventually, Tiong challenged Kit to repeat his allegations outside the privileged cocoon of the House, which a smiling Kit gleefully accepted. (NOTE: Kit had raised the issue during a Budget 2008 debate on Sept 10, 2007. Kit’s speech was reproduced in his blog)

Another aspect of Kit’s oratorical repertoire which he shows considerable skill is the baiting of an unsuspecting MP, which happened during a slanging match with Khairy Jamaludin (BN-Rembau). While Kit was droning on the statistics relating to the PKFZ, Khairy sought to ask a question: would all the Pakatan Rakyat state governments follow the Penang Government’s move to call for open tenders to establish uniformity?

Licking his lips, Kit thanked Khairy for what he felt was support for the Penang Government’s move and then proceeded to confer Khairy with this sobriquet: “the richest unemployed man in the world”, even after managing to dispose shares he owned at a loss. An indignant Khairy quickly jumped, citing Point of Order 36 (9), which prohibits an MP from questioning the behaviour and character of another MP, to which the House Speaker agreed.

However, Kit sensed a strategic rubbing-in: “Is this a sangkaan jahat (bad impression)? These are public facts,” he intoned, repeatedly saying his newfound sobriquet for Khairy, to which the younger man protested that Kit’s remarks deviated from the original issue. Both men ignored the Speaker’s plea for order as Kit repeated his sobriquet while Khairy maintained his protest.

Kit had a similar showdown many years ago with Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who – while answering a question related to his Works Ministry – was floored by Kit’s 180-degree attack, of all things, on the suit Samy wore. Kit berated incessantly that Samy’s professed passion for austerity and the poor did not match the very expensive suits he wore, in this case an Ermenegildo Zegna. While Samy steadfastly explained that his suit had nothing to do with the matter at hand, Kit’s response bordered on the infantile. “Zenga…Zenga…Zenga” was all Kit rattled, not caring that he pronounced the suit maker’s name wrongly but for pure tackiness, it was another Lim Kit Siang vintage bait-and-switch.

In yet another slanging match with Khairy, Kit allowed Khairy a question that Karpal Singh’s criticism of the Perak Mentri Besar and the state’s royal house in the transfer of a top religious officer as unconstitutional. Kit’s reply to a question with a question was classic: “Didn’t what Umno do to the Terengganu Sultan on the Mentri Besar’s appointment also unconstitutional?” This time, the exchange became a full-blown shouting match, joined by Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) and Ngah Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping). Tajuddin accused Kit of manipulation and abuse of privileges but Ngah went off-tangent by claiming that Tajuddin assaulted him inside the Perak State Assembly.

What was Kit doing while all of this was roiling around him? He sat down and merely enjoyed the confusion while waiting for it to simmer down before he was directed by the Speaker to wind-up his debate.

“You have spoken for almost 120 minutes,” the Speaker reminded Kit.

“Yes, 80 per cent of it wasted on these interruptions,” he deadpanned. The Great White shark would be fully satisfied at the prey he chomped today.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 May 2008, 1:11 pm and is filed under
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The Empire Strikes Back 3

(1)
DAP Assemblyman Handcuffed & Assaulted

(2)
More “Little Napoleon” rampages

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 May 2008, 4:22 pm and is filed under
DAP
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Police
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Grand Saga – the bully at Bandar Makhota Cheras

by
Edward Kok

Yesterday’s ruckus at Bandar Mahkota Cheras is another sad example of the Federal Government’s oppression against its own people whom the Federal Government has pledged to serve and protect.

The FRU, fully armed and protected against hapless residents who merely want to have an access road to their residence.

Why is Grand Saga, the toll concessionaire so eager to re-enact the barricade to block the access to Mahkota Cheras? A few more jam-free days for these traffic weary folks pending the decision of the survey report by the Survey Department would not have hurt Grand Saga one bit. Do they not have a social responsibility to Malaysians, especially after they have their pockets full, contributed by fellow Malaysians?

A very pertinent question arises. How are they, a mere private corporation able to get FRU’s assistance and supervision for their re-enactment of the barricade?

Firstly, for FRU to intervene, Grand Saga must be exercising a legal right. They are not. The survey department has not determined who has the right of way in respect of the access road. Neither is there an order from the High Court authorizing them to do so. The FRU’s intervention amounts to nothing more than assistance and abetting an illegal act! In short, the Federal Government is assisting and abetting an illegal act!

Such deployment of the FRU is clearly an abuse of power on the part of the Federal Government. Who in the Federal Government issued such instructions to the FRU? And why?

Many questios linger.

To Grand Saga and the Federal Government, your bullying ways will not go unpunished. One day, we, the ordinary rakyat will have our day. That day will surely come.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 May 2008, 8:50 pm and is filed under
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on Mahathir & KKN

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 May 2008, 6:07 pm and is filed under
Mahathir
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Raja Petra: a  bohemian rhapsody

by
Dr. Azly Rahman

“Is this a real life.. is this just fantasy

Caught in a landslide…. no escape from reality

Open your eyes… look up to the skies and see…I’m just a poor boy.. I need no sympathy.. because I’m easy come.. easy go…

“

 — Freddy Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody

There is so much sadness in our nation as we bemoan the imprisonment of a voice of conscience manifested in this individual called Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

There is so much anger in our consciousness as we wonder what justice denied can do to us as we see the rot in our cultural values and political lives — right in front of our eyes, feasted through the media.

Raja Petra is seeking deep in his inner self and journeying deep into the archeology of his consciousness and into the history of his self and his ancestors, seeking solace and guidance in what next to be done in this world in which the self argues and revolts against systems of oppression. His psyche and the journey of his soul perhaps bring him to a hill in Melaka some several centuries ago — a place where the legendary philosopher-king  and the Bugis warrior stood on a hill riddled with bullets from the advancing Dutch colonials. Raja Haji died standing.

Raja Petra is a gifted human being who is showing us what Henry David Thoreau, the American transcendentalist, spoke about “civil disobedience. He is what the philosopher Karl Jaspers reminded us of the urge to disobey and ideology that has become corrupt to the core and has employed the state apparatuses to silence those who speak truth to power.

Raja Petra is what Che Guevara means to Malaysians, a gung-ho revolutioner whose interest in motorcycles helped him craft his own hugely successful “motorcycle diaries” and helped him symbolize and embody the free-wheeling spirit of Americanism of the “Easy Rider era”.

Raja Petra is the symbol of the yearning in us to break free and to let out these “screams of consciousness”  so that we may learn to understand better what actually is the problem with this nation that needs therapy as a consequence of its obsession with law and order it creates and it destroys. It is the Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu of politics that we are seeing at play in the cosmic cycle, this karma of Malaysian politics that is meeting its end of the yuga as consequences to the production of many duryodanas (Durjanas) in the process of birth and rebirth.

Raja Petra is a Bugis warrior who installs kings and umpires and players in this game of politics we all are asked to play for fifty years. He make us conscious of the complexities of power relations, the roles of individuals in installing ideologies, the power of institutions in designing “inscriptions that alienate people” and helps us understand the nature of Malaysia’s interlocking directorates — of who owns what and what are the consequences of these.

Raja Petra is a commander-in-chief of a movement that exists in cyberspace and orchestrates the powerful dialogues that send shivers to the spines of those who cheats in this political game.

Raja Petra has shown us what jihad means and how we must carry on this revolution to its final destiny — a republic of virtue in which philosophy reigns supreme over ideology, whatever the ideology may be.

Raja Petra will be out soon, to carry on the revolution in the consciousness of men and women — a perpetual revolution that forces us to look at ourselves as historical beings and wonder “what have we done to  make this country as it is in which justice is denied, delayed, and dictated by the few.”

But there will always be Divine Justice, if one believes in the power of the Divine — in a Just God and God of Mercy and Compassionate who works in mysterious ways  and one who works through the agency called human beings — that will make things end well, even if all is not well in the beginning of things.

“Man proposes God disposes”, many have said. In us all, in the humiliation wrought upon this human being called Raja Petra and in the imprisonment of this voice of conscience, lies the mystery of revelation of justice. We shall see what lies ahead. We must, however continue to become makers of history — to protest either silently or out loud either in solitude or with others in pomp and pageantry, protest we must as we are essentially human beings born free with natural rights endowed by the Creator. Borrowing Rousseau, we believe that “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains…”

Protest we must. Investigate we must too. Demands we will orchestrate in order to have corrupt men and women, powers abusers amongst us, and swindling robber-barons amidst us to be brought to justice in the court of law that shall be governed by the people, through the will of the rakyat.

The rakyat awaits your homecoming, a candlelight vigil will adorn the street in front of the prison-industrial complex built by those who designed architecture of structural-violence, unseen by the naked eyes of the rakyat. Like the candles that await Sita Devi and like the candle-lights that bathes Jelaluddin Rumi, the light from the rakyat soothes and calms your bruised spirit in their patient wait for your freedom.

A grandchild of that Bugis warrior prince, a philosopher-ruler, better that many a prince Machiavelli pays tribute to– you are a voice of conscience and you shall be free. Free at last.. free at last…

Welcome back to the bosom of society. This is your bohemian rhapsody.

Welcome back, Saudara RPK.

This is my humble gift to thee. May these words renew your spirit.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 May 2008, 8:27 pm and is filed under
Azly Rahman
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“The World’s Richest Unemployed”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 May 2008, 11:55 am and is filed under
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Abdullah putting pressure on AG to prosecute Karpal – bad and dangerous precedent

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is setting a bad and dangerous precedent in publicly pressurizing the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail to charge DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor, Karpal Singh for sedition and turn a legal issue into a political and racial one.

This is the first time in 50 years that a Prime Minister had so flagrantly and blatantly put public pressure on the Attorney-General to prosecute an Opposition leader, making a total mockery of the absolute discretion of the Attorney-General as entrenched in Article 145(3) of the Constitution “to institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other than proceedings before a Syariah Court, a native court or a court-martial”.

On Thursday, Abdullah said he had instructed Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to lodge a police report against Karpal for making allegedly seditious remarks about the Sultan of Perak when Karpal had reiterated publicly that he had not questioned Sultan Azlan Shah’s prerogatives as the state’s head of religion of Islam.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister has
upped the ante
by publicly demanding that the Attorney-General speed up the probe against Karpal.

Abdullah has never shown interest or concern as Prime Minister  about high-profile cases, whether police reports previously made against Cabinet Ministers or  recently against Umno for the series of seditious conduct against the Malay Rulers after the March 8 general election over the appointment of the Terengganu Mentri Besar.

Abdullah should have used his high office to end the controversy which arose from the distortion of Karpal’s raising of a legal principle established by the case of
Federal Territory Education Director and others vs Loot Ting Yee
 about the transfer of federal and state civil servants into a challenge of the prerogative of Sultan Azlan Shah over matters pertaining to Islam and Malay custom.

The country is trying to come out of the  “judicial darkness” which it had been plunged into for two decades as a result of the series  of  crises of confidence and  credibility in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the system of justice – not just about the judiciary but also other important players especially the Attorney-General.

The Prime Minister’s public and persistent demand for action to be taken against Karpal by the Attorney-General does not create confidence that the present administration is fully committed to end the two-decade-long “judicial darkness” in the country by allowing all the major stakeholders in the system of justice their full and unfettered  independence and impartiality  – whether judges or the Attorney-General.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 May 2008, 9:31 am and is filed under
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
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Lingam Video Clip RCI report – table it in Parliament on Monday

The four-volume 186-page
Lingam Video Clip Royal Commission of Inquiry Report
, which was submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong yesterday, should be tabled in Parliament on Monday, in toto without any abridgement, regardless of whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had read or approved of it or not.

In first-world developed countries where governments are held strictly to international best practices of accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance, it would be completely unthinkable for the reports of Royal Commissions of Inquiry to be withheld from the public.

In fact, it is the practice of these countries for reports of Royal Commissions of Inquiry or other public investigations to be simultaneously released to the public when the reports or findings are submitted to the appointing authorities, whether the ruling monarch, the  head of state or government.

Yesterday,
Abdullah
 said he would decide whether to make the Royal Commission report public once he has read it.

He said: “I haven’t seen it yet. If it was submitted to the Prime Minister’s Department, it must have been while the cabinet was meeting.”

Does it really matter whether the Prime Minister had personally seen or read it or not, or whether it had  been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Department while the cabinet was meeting?

The notion that the government, whether the Prime Minister or Cabinet,  in first-world developed countries could exercise the right of veto as to whether such reports should  be made public would be anathema and offends every sense of accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance and sufficient basis to create a political crisis resulting in the resignation  or downfall of such a  Cabinet.

Five years ago, Abdullah promised to transform Malaysia from a “first-world infrastructure, third-world mentality” nation to one with “first-world infrastructure, first-world mentality” under his premiership.

Let Abdullah set the example of such “first-world infrastructure, first-world mentality” by announcing that the report of the Lingam Video Clip Royal Commission of Inquiry would be made public and tabled in Parliament on Monday, regardless of whether he could finish reading it or his personal reactions to it.

It is time the Prime Minister and the Cabinet realize that reports of Royal Commissions of Inquiry must be made public because national interests must prevail over individual, sectional or even government  interests.

Abdullah should not set the bad example of giving Royal Commissions of Inquiry a bad name by setting them up yet refusing to make their findings public, regardless of their  contents and recommendations.

Abdullah should be mindful that he would be destroying his credibility that he is capable of fulfilling, though belatedly,  his reformist pledges in his second term of premiership if he refuses to make public the Lingam Video Tape Royal Commission of Inquiry report – unless forced by the pressure of public opinion.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 May 2008, 2:56 pm and is filed under
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Cyclone Nargis and callous Myanmar military rulers – Let ASEAN be first to condemn

Let ASEAN be the first to condemn the Myanmar military junta for its callousness in not suspending its sham referendum to legitimize its 46-year dictatorship in the face of the Cyclone Nargis devastation.

On May 3,  2008, cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy delta and wiped out entire villages as it left a path of destruction across five regions. Over seven million people were affected by the storm, with estimates of dead ranging from 25,000 to 100,000 and up to a million homeless.

ASEAN governments and leaders cannot remain silent at the irresponsible and inhumane conduct of the Myanmese military rulers which  seized a shipment of United Nations food aid intended for victims of the devastating cyclone, declaring that they would accept donations of food and medicine but not the foreign aid workers.

By preventing critical and timely humanitarian aid from reaching survivors, the Myanmese military junta  has put hundreds of thousands – with one estimate as high as 1.5 million people – at risk of disease and death as well as brought shame and disrepute to ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 May 2008, 4:18 pm and is filed under
ASEAN
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Burma
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“Beggar Minister” finally admits

“Position of BN component parties like beggars”
 is the headline of today’s
Sin Chew Daily
 exclusive interview
 with former Gerakan President Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik,  with a secondary headline:
“Not given equal respect – Lim Keng Yaik”

Keng Yaik, who is now Gerakan adviser,  told
Sin Chew
 that  Barisan Nasional component parties like MCA, MIC including Gerakan ended up with status like that of “beggars” as they were not given equal position in the Barisan Nasional.

He criticized BN for not treating its component parties equally. He stressed that although Malay special rights are protected under the Constitution, the non-Malays also clearly enjoy their own  rights.

This  is a gem of an admission from Keng Yaik, who had been a Cabinet Minister for 22 years from 1986 to 2008.

MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other BN component parties had long been criticized for accepting “beggar politics” in the Barisan Nasional and Cabinet.

When did  Keng Yaik discover that he had been a “beggar Minister” for 22 years?  After his political retirement and the March 8 political tsunami?

During the 2008 general election campaign, Keng Yaik went all out to campaign for  Dr. Koh Tsu Koon to replace him as the Gerakan “beggar Minister” in Cabinet and to send his son, Lim Si Pin to be a “beggar” MP in the Malaysian Parliament.

Why had Keng Yaik been so blind that he was blissfully unaware for more than two decades that he had been a “beggar Minister” for 22 years, with the scales coming out of his eyes only after the March 8 “political tsunami”?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 12 May 2008, 3:49 am and is filed under
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