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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 04:53 PM PST

7 FEB — Semasa saya bulan lalu ada seorang yang pernah berjawatan tinggi dalam Bursa Saham bertanya, dia tidak faham dan tidak suka PAS bersekutu dengan DAP.

Ada pula rakan sesurau yang tidak menyertai PAS tetapi suka kepada PAS, memberitahu dia dukacita PAS bersekutu dengan DAP.

Kemudian seorang profesor yang bidang kajiannya sains politik, jadi orang Umno yang tidak kedepan sangat dan dapat pangkat kerana Umnonya itu, bersikap terbuka terhadap PAS, merasa ajaib mengapa PAS boleh bersatu dengan DAP?

Imannya terhadap Umno tidaklah sekuat iman Ibrahim Ali Perkasa atau Menteri Noh Omar. Mengikutnya, Umno yang dianggotainya itu bongkak, rasuah dan macam-macam seperti yang selalu musuh Umno kata pada Umno, tetapi dia tidak boleh terima PAS yang bukan partinya itu boleh menerima DAP sebagai kawan.

Padanya, DAP yang bercakap tentang anti-rasuah, mahukan kerajaan yang baik dan demokrasi adalah parti yang licik. Mengapa PAS yakin sangat dengan DAP yang bercakap tentang beberapa yang baik tentang Islam. Ia parti licik dan hendak memperalatkan PAS saja.

Maka berkewajipan pula saya menjelaskannya. Saya mengambil masa untuk berdailog dengan sesiapa saja atas isu ini bukan sekadar mahu mempertahankan PAS, tetapi apa yang PAS buat sekarang adalah apa yang saya desak PAS laksanakan selama lebih dari 20 tahun dudu dalam Jawatankuasa PAS Pusat.

Sebelum saya menyertai PAS, masih menjadi wartawan Utusan Melayu, dalam forum di Universiti Malaya dengan penalis lainnya Tan Sri Senu Abdul Rahman, Setiausaha Agung Umno dan Lim Kit Siang, Setiausaha Agung DAP, saya sarankan supaya PAS mencari sekutu bukan Melayu dan DAP mencari sekutu Melayu kita mahu berperanan secara berkesan dalam politik.

Saya kata kepada semua yang sangsi akan muafakat PAS-DAP itu, awak jangan sangka PAS ini bodoh sangat sambil mengaku DAP adalah cerdik. Masalah Umno dan orang Umno merasa ia saja cerdik dan PAS bodoh belaka. Padanya Cina yang baik dan jujur ada dalam MCA saja dan dalam DAP itu semua penyangak.

Malaysia dan kerajaannya yang rosak sekarang, orang Melayu, Cina dan India yang rosak sekarang adalah gara-gara politik bongkak, rasuah, menyelewang dll Umno seperti yang diakui oleh profesor tadi. Segala keburukan Umno yang saya sebutkan tidak pula dinafi oleh profesor dan bekas orang kuat Bursa Saham tadi.

Cuma kata mereka yang baiknya Umno itulah Melayunya, bukan perangainya. Mereka telan semua yang buruk Umno kerana Melayunya sedang keburukan yang dilakukannya terhadap Melayu dibiarkan saja. Jika keburukan Umno itu tidak dihentikan, bukan negara saja lingkup, Melayu pun habis lingkup.

Tiada cara bagi menghentikan keburukan Umno itu ialah dengan mengalahkannya dalam pilihanraya. Umno sendiri tidak boleh mengalahkannya dan DAP sendiri pun tidak boleh mengalahkannya. Sama juga dengan Umno sendiri tidak boleh menang pilihan raya dan MCA sendiri pun tidak boleh menang pilihanraya.

Umno hanya menang kerana berkawan dengan MCA dan MIC, dan Umno dan MCA boleh dikalahkan dengan PAS berkawan dengan DAP.

Kalau DAP mahu merasa kuasa mesti berkawan dengan PAS. Syarat berkawan dengan PAS jangan jadi anti-Islam, jangan senggong Raja-Raja, jangan tolak Bahasa Melayu dan jangan banyak hentam Umno, serahkan pada PAS saja menghentam Umno. PAS pula jangan banyak cerca MCA dan MIC, biar DAP saja cerca MCA dan MIC.

Kalau DAP mahu berperanan dan berkuasa, ikut apa yang PAS nasihat itu. Kalau PAS mahu lama berkuasa maka jagalah perasaan DAP. Kalau DAP fikir ia nak perkuda PAS, nanti PAS boleh lari dan berkawan pula dengan Umno. Ia bukan ugut tetapi itulah caranya supaya PAS tidak jadi kuda.

Tapi dengan berkawan dengan DAP itu terbukalah peluang dakwah. Hal ini boleh difahami oleh pelakun filem Abby Abadi dan penyanyi Aishah. Mereka boleh faham, orang mengaji sains politik tidak boleh faham. Tidak malukah profesor dengan Abby dan Aishah?

* Ini adalah pandangan peribadi penulis.

Take your temperature

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 04:35 PM PST

FEB 7 — Over decades, America has generated hours of laughter in Malaysian homes with their medical dramas. From the ever-quoted "House" to favourites of the past like "Chicago Hope" and "ER", and if one ventured further back to "St Elsewhere" and "China Beach."

They are funny because in our living room we witness dedicated doctors, nurses and hospital administrators making big decisions, mulling over the smallest details and going the extra mile to get people with the strangest of conditions get healthy. For the Malaysian, that's a miracle.

Think about it. Right now, in the office or home, if you find a colleague or family member convulsing on the floor, would you drive the person to a hospital or call for an ambulance. 2013, and I'd drive the person.

You would too, ambulance services in Malaysia are a mystery to all. The question in your mind, if you cared for the patient, would not be whether to wait for help to arrive, but to which hospital since in your mind not all hospitals help enough.

To a government hospital which has more equipment but no guarantee of immediate access to the right medical personnel, or to a private hospital which you are not sure has the right facilities.

Not all is well in Malaysia healthcare.

In this election, you must expect those vying for your vote for a start to care about it, and then to have some ideas on how to move the issue of healthcare, primarily public healthcare, forward.

Because today in a country where the majority are earning RM3,000 or less per household, any major medical complication for one family member turns everyone's life upside down. For that, healthcare must be an election issue.

This is a continuation of the previous discourse on education as one of the litmus tests for those intending to govern. Today I want to highlight elements to the national healthcare debate.

Healthcare is complex, however discarding the people who will benefit or die from its performance from the discussion is cruel. This is one subject where transparency and participation will yield the greatest good for the rakyat.

It should not be reduced to government officials telling everyone to stop complaining and be grateful that that it cost only RM1 to meet a government physician and receive free medication thereafter.

1 Care (not)

Exactly a year ago a small storm referred to as 1 Care came along. A brave plan to provide comprehensive care for all Malaysians, financed by fixed deductions from salaries. Other than Health Ministry officials no one was gushing with excitement. The minister Liow Tiong Lai adopted the standard feudal lord posture, saying too many people are prematurely opposing such an innovative and compassionate programme.

An "ungrateful" nation asked where were the details, since there were allegations that up to 10 per cent of everyone's income will be passed to a pool managed by unnamed people.

The minister told Parliament that the blueprint will be out in two years, which means early 2014. One year into this blueprint preparation and the public are still in the dark about what will happen next year, and how much the rakyat must pay. Mind you this is a mandatory programme they have in mind.

It is an open secret that with a growing population — and in time, a larger ratio of it ageing — medical breakthroughs, rising cost of drugs and equipment let alone doctors, and uniquely to Malaysia defective-on-completion buildings, a completely free healthcare is impossible as managed by the present government. They are ready to pass the bill down, it is a matter of time.

Therefore, is it conscionable for Barisan Nasional (BN) to campaign to retain their mandate without speaking or clarifying about a major policy thrust they will insert into all our lives in a year's time if they win?

Doctors and hospitals

Modern medicine and its practitioners are central to the quality of life. The leading voices in the debate for better healthcare are doctors, outstanding individuals like Dr Roy McCoy. The Tung Shin Hospital doctors spoke out against police brutality in their compound during Bersih 2.0 because that's what doctors do, defend the weak and treat the sick.

But in the last 30 years, bit by bit, the political agenda has eroded the ability of public healthcare to care for all, literally. The paying wings in public hospitals are indictments of suspect middle grounds to generate more income for the hospitals and the doctors.

This country can pay its doctors better, and it can become efficient if medical decisions are made by professionals, not politicians.

The monopoly of drugs and hospital services to companies like Pharmaniaga only adds unnecessarily to public healthcare costs.

If there is a rationalisation of healthcare in this country — I am not opposed to all of us paying to stay healthy if that is what as a country we can afford — it has to be led by doctors, not politicians, 1 Care or any care.

On private hospitals, though they are in the non-public sector the nature of the business requires a social driver in the decision matrix all the time. Fee policies cannot be on "how much can a person pay" as demanded by the hospital's accountants. This is why medicine, in particular billing, has to be stringently regulated, as it should be elsewhere. When the service traded decides mortality, the state has to be omnipresent even if not dominant.

Mindful too that most private hospitals in our country are new and did not grow from community involvement or religious-social orders like churches. Since they are founded on grounds of being good business, there may be a social spine missing at times.

Then the list

There is a shortage of specialists, and alarmingly in distribution. A colleague told me that a cancer patient was asked to head to Kuala Lumpur if she wanted a state-employed oncologist. Unfortunately, since the patient lives in Sabah it is a bit of an ask. Granted the government said that there are only around 64 oncologists in the private and public sector in total, that fact does not abdicate the responsibility. Matching the need in a crucial and almost always life-threatening area of medicine should be a priority regardless of the cost.

The Health Ministry should lead information sharing on generic drugs. This is easy, but requires effort. With many Malaysians on modest incomes, people can generally self-prescribe over the counter drugs. Information is the answer, and since general ailments repeat adopting generics is a major cost-saver.

The ministry has to also engage the community, healthcare must seek to help even those who are unaware of what is available to them.

Drugs for HIV patients are free and there are methadone treatment programmes for illicit drug addicts, usually heroin. It cannot downplay some of these programmes because of the moral elements perceived.

The government has conceded over and over that obesity and lifestyle choices are rendering more and more people sick. Diabetics, heart patients and those with high blood pressure inundate the landscape. There is a national crisis here, and government must act. Not telling people it is bad to be unhealthy, but to lead the charge. From mandatory sports in schools for both students and teachers to prosecution of parents allowing their children to be obese, there are various policy tools available. All policies require not launches but rigour, commitment and political will. Ask your candidate what he or she thinks of this.

Dengue, and hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreaks are common and rely on poor public health implementation. Are you confident that your local council, district health department and other authorities are genuinely proactive in improving sanitary conditions?

Is there general progress in newer but basic healthcare components in our public delivery? From trauma counsellors, family liaison officers, managed care at home, full-service ambulances with emergency medical technicians and support groups — to deal with disease, effects and death.

How to add them then?

The column intends to spread out on a fictional table all possible things to consider when judging the public healthcare track record of the incumbent and also assist in examining the ideas the other guys might have.

A politician told me that young voters are uninterested with healthcare, in my mind I could hear a pin drop. The young may be inexperienced by they are not stupid.

The value of a pill is quickly internalised by people of our age from young simply because the pill helps them feel better. And mortality is not a concept only the old and infirmed grasp. Plus you are never too young to have a family member or loved one ravaged by disease.

However, that politician is right, the hiding of healthcare from the political debate has been way too successful, and way too many don't talk about it though they live the reality it creates. It is compounded by our social zeitgeist that death is indeterminate and unavoidable, which of course corrodes our society's will to exact more from our public healthcare.

More so, a society that does not think — therefore does not debate — a better public healthcare system will give Malaysians better lives is unsuspectingly dissecting itself without general anaesthesia. That does not usually end well.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Khamis, 7 Februari 2013

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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