Well, 5th of May 2013 will be the day Malaysians will decide on their future. Since I started voting, I feel this is the longest time taken to conduct an election after dissolution of Parliament. Why? From what I gather, the caretaker government is running scared and are not confident of winning. In fact, I had a policeman who said that if the election is conducted clean, the current caretaker government will fall.
I thought of taking a break from writing about medical issues as the election fever is picking up. The whole mess that this country is facing at the moment is purely due to mismanagement. We are a very rich country and should have progressed way ahead of many other countries. We were better than Korea and Singapore in late 60s and early 70s. In fact, out growth rate in 1970s were higher than anytime after that, despite oil production starting only in late 70s. This is what I call ” The Curse of the Black Gold” ! When we have oil, we forget to develop any other field and try to survive on oil money. What happens when we run out of oil? Despite producing oil, we are a nation with one of the highest debt, reaching almost 55% of our GDP. Why is that so?
We are producing youngsters with instant debts, the moment they leave the university. WE could have easily built more public universities and give subsidised education to everyone irrespective of race or religion. BUT we didn’t. We still have the only race based university in the world (UiTM) but yet shouting 1Malaysia slogan everyday. This very university is funded by public fund aka taxes paid by the citizens of Malaysia of every race. Rather than throwing BRIMs, KRIMs etc etc, why can’t we use this money to pay the PTPTN loan and get our youngsters out of debt! Our cost of leaving is increasing day by day. I can buy an item from eBay, amazon.com and other online stores much cheaper than buying in Malaysia ( including postage)! Doesn’t it look funny? The answer is simple: monopoly and cronyism.
When there is monopoly and cronyism, cost of living will increase. It happened to Russia before and that’s the reason Soviet Union collapsed. It’s socialism and capitalism together! When Penang and Selangor government stopped the leak, they made a tremendous amount of money. The leakage is everywhere due to cronyism. Those who are in medical line in government hospitals will realise that almost ALL drugs are now generic drugs and not the original. The reason given was that it is cheaper and reduces the government’s cost. Unfortunately that is not true. I am sure everyone knows that for all purchases made by government sector, it has to go through a “bumiputera” agent aka UMNO crony!. What this agent does is to sign the forms and transport the drugs from point A to point B. Wholah, the commission is 10% of the total drug price supplied. So, if the total drug price is RM 1 million, he earns RM 100K instantly without doing anything but just signing papers. This is the system created by Dr Mahathir to make instant millionaires among the Malays to compete with the Chinese millionaires, which only backfired later.
Now, the 10% I wrote above is the commission for original drugs. Do you know that the government is buying generic local made drugs for the same price as the original? These cronies are now supplying the generic drugs for the same price as the original, making almost 100% profit!! That’s the reason, the MOH never manage to reduce the total cost despite getting generic drugs! Who suffers at the end ? The RAKYAT as they are getting inferior drugs which most of the time does not work. The doctors in government sector can’t do anything as the decisions are made at the top!
That’s why I believe in what the opposition is trying to say. If they can stop these leakages, we will save tonnes of money which in turn can be channelled to education . By eliminating the “middle man” syndrome, we can reduce the cost of leaving. Of course, this is a difficult task as many of these people are UMNO cronies who need UMNO badly to survive. They will throw all the money they have to sponsor the election campaign in support of BN. Read the book written by Barry Wein on Mahathir tilted “Malaysian Maverick” . How Mahathir created the mess we are in, is clearly stated in this book. I also read “Doctor in the House”, the autobiography of Dr M. I feel the title of the book should have been ” Me and the Malays” . From beginning till the end, it is all about him and the Malays with no mention of the contribution of the non-Malays to this country. Despite bringing physical development to this country, he destroyed it internally.
Well, I will stop here for the moment. As the election comes closer, the country will get heated up. Every single person who is a registered voter should come out to vote. A change might be needed to put things back in place. If we don’t like it, we can always change back! That is what you call ” 2 party system”.
Many, especially those aged 50 and above, are afraid of the “unknown”. Many still think Kerajaan = BN.
I hope the young come out in droves, and vote with their conscience.
on the contrary, i think those who are 50 and above will be rooting for the opposition. they hv seen how the country was better run, how people led happier and more secure lives, and they hanker for what had been snatched away by the present Bankrupt Nation regime. let may 5 be the turning point in malaysia’s history.
I think most of the Rakyat is ready for a change for the good of the nation.Howevert dubious election polls may screwed this PRU13 up BIG time!
Same goes for the insurance industry as well. Too many middle men aka “insurance agents” leeching off the premiums. The consumer should have the choice of either purchasing directly from the company or opt for an agent only if needed. Not the current system of hiding commissions in the premiums.
Spot on Kelvin.Insurance agents nowdays are very dubious. They won’t explain the limitations of a policy they are only interested in making big bucks ASAP and drive flashy cars , some go into hiding when the clients face problems. Assholes, not all though.
Yes Viv…i am 60…lol….we had good days during our school days ..until the late 60s… there was no racial problems…everybody respected each other in terms of both race & religion. We used to sit across the table…you eat your nasi lemak & me eat my char siew rice…never had any problems with that.
And when our dear malay friends will come over to eat mother’s cooking..OMG those good days will never come back….Thanks to a doctor of course…..who while condeming the colonials as DIvide & Rule….himself turned malaysians against each other starting with his Malay Delima…when he added a new word to the malay vocabulary….”Bumiputra”…and divided us all. Well come 5th May…we whether we vote for BN or Pakatan….nothing’s gonna change. Our division is so deeply rooted now. A beautiful country…we had everything going for us…but now torn into pieces..ruled by corrupted & greedy. God Bless Us.
To Kelvin & Critic…
You must have had real bad personal experiences with some bad insurance agents….But how could that be…because insurance agents are under strict governance by their Insurance Co they represent and in addition they are strictly supervised by Bank Negara.
Both the Company & Bank Negara are very sensitive to complains from customers. Unlike real estate agents insurance agents are licenced and and well regulated …and they could loose their licence easily if a customer complains and it can be established that they acted maliciously.
I am not sure what type of insurance you are refering to..ie car insurance or others…( perhaps you could elaborate a little) but in all cases the customer has a cooling off period ..i think 90 days where the customer can change the mind and seek a full refund. And whom are you refering to when you say ‘middlemen’…..cos there are no middlemen in insurance biz.
Btw Insurance agents dont really make much from their premiums…and if you know how their commision works….their passive income is spread over several years…so they dont earn immediately from premiums collected. And how could they go into hiding etc…cos they are licenced people…unless u have been dealing with some con men….in which case you have yourself to blame for been taken for a ride.
Btw I am not an insurance agent, but my few agents of 10-20yrs acquaintance are such wonderful people..and always there to assist…so I am obliged to speak for them. Regards
Mr.Ashraf,
I am refering to the younger generation agents, don’t you see many of them driving flashy cars .Perhaps u are not from generation Y whom i was refering to. Youngsters today only think about making quick money.
Actually it is true. I have seen many insurance agents who does not tell the truth to the clients. Furthermore, many of them even ask doctors to cheat the medical report so that the client can get the insurance!!
Regulations are regulations but enforcement is weak
Critic,
As i explained there is zero tolerance with Insurance Companies & Bank Negara if there is a customer reports. Forget about what cars they drive, if they have made their money or their fathers are rich, they are entitled to buy whatever cars they want. If you have been conned…then you have to excercise your right to make a proper complain. If you havent done that yet, what the hell are you complaining here about.
Dr Pag,
Doc, there are liars in every professions, doctors included. You just said it yourself….’asking doctors to lie’…dont doctors know that they have a ethical obligation not to lie !. If the doctors choose to lie…is the insurance agent wrong the liar or is the doctor the liar?
It wrong for you to say “many” insurance agents lie. If you say some…yea.
I am more inclined to say majority of customers who buy insurance dont ask the right questions or understand their policy…so why blame the insurance agent.
I am going to make a statement here….I do find doctors generally have shallow knowledge outside their job…shocking but true. Talk to them on money matters…ie housing, banking, finance, legal, i can add insurance now,Maybe medical schools need to teach some commerical subjects too, so future docs are not so dumb.
Haha, you are absolutely right about doctors not knowing much about the outside world!
BUT trust me, I have seen enough insurance agents who are big time conmans!!
As supposedly ‘professional’ insurance agents, they are duty bound to advise customers about what is best for them, and explaining the fine prints of policies they are buying. However, that is like asking the cat to guard the fish! They make money from selling products to customers, so the temptation is to oversell. Many are of course, professional in their work, but there are just as many who are not. It is not valid argument to say customers do not ask the right questions: unless they are really educated and informed, they will NOT know what the right questions are. The onus is on the agent to inform. Just as the onus is on doctors to get informed consent from patients.
Interestingly, the same accusation can be leveled at doctors, as those in private practice earns from treating patients, and the temptation is always present to over treat.
during my secondary school,i never believe that when someone told me bumi can easily get a scholarship.i thought everyone who get the scholarship should be good.i only realized the fact after i enter my college.if the same selection criteria apply to non bumi,i think a least half of my secondary schoolmates eligible to get scholarship.what i hope for is just a equal chance to get what we deserved for,and i support pakatan not because all their candidates are good,just because i support 2 party system.we rakyat already fed up with the corrupted government.we need to change.i m going to vote this time.
Ignorance is bliss, they say.
These days, politics is the hottest conversation everywhere. You pick up the phone to talk to a friend, or a relative, and suddenly you are discussing politics!
I was not very much into politics until very recently when I felt my money had been ending up in some rich individuals’ expensive handbags.
We all have heard the “cincin” and handbags story, which has now been confirmed by the lady herself.
That she did not purchase it is secondary. The fact is she and her family did have a taste and a liking for such obscene luxury, so much so the ring had actually been shipped here.
Would – or could – any of us do that? At a time when people are finding it hard to make ends meet, she was eyeing the ring!
Now, they are giving you back the RM200 or the RM500. But wait! I know that some children in private schools with annual fees of RM30,000 have also been given the cash!
The coming general election will be the first time I will cast my ballot. When I registered as a voter, I did not do it to exercise my right.
I did it simply to exorcise the ghost of BN and their supporters which have been running amok since 2008.
I have more friends who are ready to vote for ‘bananas’ or any other fruit placed to contest against BN.
But there are days when questions boggle my mind while chatting with friends who still support BN. I have always wanted to know what is it they don’t know yet. I concluded that they are in the dark.
They either do not read or only read Utusan Malaysia and watch TV3.
So I tried to tell them of the recent survey finding that more Malaysians are getting news from sources other than RTM, TV3 or any of the other local TV channels.
People now depend on independent news on the internet such as Malaysiakini or The Malaysian Insider.
I tried to tell them – you don’t have to stop watching TV3 news. You don’t have to read Harakah because it is a party organ and it could have its own biases.
There are many other news sites on the net which are not operated by political parties.
Many of these friends of mine who have no clue of BN’s excesses actually have much fear of losing whatever material things they now have.
Most are Malays, and a good number are Indian Muslims whose parents would have taken great pains to repeatedly visit the NRD just to have their children registered as Malays. As such, they feel some ‘protection’ under BN.
So, I thought to myself, are they even thinking like a Muslim should? Some of whom I know are very pious.
I am beginning to think they definitely are praying with a happy heart, feeling secure, but will they pray when all these benefits are taken away?
Will they pray when they wake up one day to find the new government declaring equal rights for all just as Islam has taught us? Do they even understand the meaning of the Just God?
What can they lose? Seven percent bumi benefits when buying a house? Are you okay to be given preference to enter universities when others are not?
And you are okay when many poor non-Malays are oppressed due to these policies? Some have lived in this country longer than you – do you think they should go back to their parents’ or grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ homeland? And to where? India? China?
They don’t even know how to speak good Tamil or Mandarin any more.
After 50-plus years, with all the benefits, where are you all now? Well protected, but where are you now?
You are still the same officer who comes back home with not enough money, who cannot afford your children to buy a small house. What happened to your benefits?
You go to any place and you can’t see a phone shop if there is no ‘China man’ around. These Chinese – denied many benefits accorded to you – have struggled since birth.
Their effort is more blessed by God, as they earn money with hard work while we still wait for government handouts.
We are nowhere. So what benefits would you lose, my dear BN-supporter friends?
Many of these friends feel that some non-Malays are also racist. I can agree with that, yes, completely. My question is, aren’t you racist, too?
You get more privileges than the non-Malays only because your birth certificate says you are a bumi. Let’s face it, everybody is racist in Malaysia.
People tell me Chinese companies only employ ‘their people’ for top position. I agree. But not long ago before you applied for this job, wasn’t your race preferred for university enrolment?
Similarly, some Chinese complain that Malays are racist even in their preference of where to buy their daily goods. I agree, but I have also seen Chinese salesmen snubbing non-Chinese customers.
So why is everybody racist? It is all from up there, our political and government’s concept that “one race is more privileged than the other”. So the poor non-Malays who only know Malaysia as their land strive on, and in the process some begin hating Malays.
And when they openly show this hatred, some Malays react by calling them racists, too, and then argue that “we must protect our nation”. What nation, whose nation?
Do the Malays know they represent Islam in Malaysia? Do they realise that some ignorant non-Muslims hate Muslims because of this institutional racism? Can we blame them?
Yes, they are ignorant but so are you! You talk about Islam and defending Islam, yet in your heart you have no iman (faith). All you think about is “my benefits”.
Take a look at Australia. Whatever your view about that country, its system accords equal benefits to all, including Muslims who have only become citizens for several weeks.
That is why they still feel a belonging to Australia despite some limitations in their religious practice such as the prohibition of azan in public.
When we Muslims are just, the non-Muslim communities will similarly accept the reality of Malaysia’s Muslim history and identity and accept some limitations, just as Muslims in Australia have.
Islam is just. Everybody has equal rights. If you still feel that you need your children to be protected by man’s rule (BN) and not by God, then you are just like what the Qur’an describes: “Deaf, dumb and blind; and they are not to return (to the right path)” [Baqarah 2:18].
As for me, I will vote for the banana that I don’t know about. Give Pakatan Rakyat a chance. I, too, have so many doubts about Pakatan.
Yet, I am convinced it can’t be worse than our present state. If it does, then I can pass my verdict in another five years.
Giving BN another five years will spell the end of the opposition, and ultimately competition. In any country, such a competition is healthy. What makes you think Malaysia is any different?
A first-time voter’s open letter to Muslims from MalaysiaKini’s Siti Norhayati Mohd Yusoff.
How not to be racist? Every form you fill, you need to identify your race.
In the voters details for every constituency, the numbers are divided into ‘muslim/bumiputera’, ‘non-muslim/bumiputera’, chinese, indians etc. It is now not only racist, but religiously segregated as well.
The govt keeps racial statistics for just about everything. Yet when asked to publish the facts on total taxation paid by race category, they curiously stated that they do not keep data on such demographics. Curious omission indeed.
Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’ve gotto go home .. Micheal Buble’s HOME made me cry
I have dear Malay friends n neighbors during my school time in the 70th. But, my deceased neighbor once told me that even an agama teacher even taught the little one not to buy from Chinaman supermarkets or keep a distance away .. Why live in hatred?
In the 80th, my foreign friends taught me how to “read” politics then only i realised with him in place for 22 years … Nothing is left for us RAKYAT!
I am still Malaysian. I love u, Malaysia
You guys are dreaming of course. BN will win big this time around and you Paga can continue your rant in this blog. Can call me a cybertrooper lalalalalaa… Bn will win… BN will win… too bad.
of course with their dirty politics and tricks!
It’s sad that despite being a country with such rich diversity in race and religion that the colour of our skin is so critically used and measured in the name of education to those who sees fit in awarding scholarships.No wonder, communities who are maltreated are offended and harbour a sense of resentment towards the Government which has done practically next to nothing to placate these communities.
Hi Dr Paga,it’s fine that that the non bumis are not totally selected for JPA scholarship.Why?.if they did,most of us non bumis would not be able to SHINE.It the irony of things that when we play god when we are not supposed to, the very thing that we feared most will haunt us BIG time!
yup, agreed
I think ppl dun get scholarship despite having high scores is because their interview were bad and psychology test they cheated by choosing great answers regardless of his or her own characteristics? Now spm result is not enough. They want to see overall…
not really! the reality is different
It seems student in matriculation can get 99 marks/100 for their cocurriculum which translates to 9.9/10. No wonder they can get their places in public university so easily. At most, in my school, stpm student only get 70+ marks… http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2720849
This is what happens when non-standardised in house assessment system is used. Everybody has their own idea of what activity is worth what marks. In addition, centres with high standards will award lower marks, and paradoxically penalise their students, and vice versa.
Matrik is well known as a pathway to maximise their students’ chances to get into choice courses. in the way top marks are given, academically and otherwise.
Unfortunately, within the last 3 years, medicine has turned from a critical course with shortages of doctors to a ‘now everybody can be a doctor’ course with surplus of junior doctors.
The best option now is to try get into Matrik, which gives you the best chance of getting 4 flat, and priority selection into ipta. Failing which, STPM. If you can gain entry into a world top 10 uni, JPA will give you a scholarship. But getting into a top 10 (actually only 4 to choose from, as the other 6 are US universities, where medicine is a postgraduate course) is a quantum leap from SPM/STPM/Matrik.
Why is it that society are so paranoid about opening up to other races to blend in to their society and thus making a truly truly muhibbah society where all irrespective of how u walk,talk,shit, etc and the colour of your skin is blurred beyond recognition!.The question that begs to be answered is WHY r people fearful of their own shadows?
dr pag..
i am former MARA scholarship receiver. settled my studies on time and no payback. fought hard up and down the MARA building to get my sponsor last time because my father works as a driver.
the issue is, i can see lot of upper class and the superior officers sons got sponsored too. this is applicable to other scholarship departments such JPA, ATM, and any state foundation(Yayasan Negeri).
heard of JPA superior officers used the JPA scholarship quota to fill their sons into medical programmes oversea.
inequality.
YES, this is what I am trying to say. It should be based on need and not race.
” The RAKYAT as they are getting inferior drugs which most of the time does not work.”
Dr. Pagalavan, correct me if I’m wrong, I learnt that generic and original drugs are similar in terms of efficacy because the formula used to produce these drugs are the same. Thus both contains the same active ingredients needed to produce a therapeutic effect. The difference will probably include the packaging, shape, colour and preservatives which do not play a role in therapeutic effect. So how is that the drugs administered in hospitals which are generic would differ in efficacy as compared to the original ones used previously?
Thank you.
Medical Student
Nope, you are wrong. The original company still holds the original ingredient( it is their company secret). What the generic companies do is to analyse the drug themselves and come up with their version. Then they will do some small bioequivalent studies and claim that it is the same as original. In reality, you can really see the difference in efficacy and side effect profile. Of course there are some good generics as well but it s risk that you have to take.
I was a SPM top scorer back in 2011, getting 12A+ and there were only seven students throughout the nation achieved that. Last year, I thought the top 50 spm scorer JPA scholarship would be safe in my hands as the only requirement is academic achievement, and yes, koko is not taken into account. Alas, I wasn’t in the list. What surprised me was that they gave out the scholarship to those getting 9A+ and so on. My heart was torn into pieces, and it worsened when i was denied the chance to enter matriculation, leaving me languishing in form 6. Luckily,my story was published all over the newspaper in Perak and a Dato’ helped me to squeeze me into the matriculation. From that moment onwards, I told my friends no matter how good we are, how top we are, how intelligent we are, we are treated like….
Some students try to take as much subjects as possible in hoping to get an easy way out to gain scholarships. It didnt work that way lol. People can sense why one person took as much subjects just for the sake of the scholarship and that is why people dont think such person shud get scholarship. Besides, too exam oriented style of education does not equal intelligence. Its more like no life and just study and not overall quality.