Malaysiaku, Negaraku

x Oleh Stephen Ng Pertama, izinkan saya mengucapkan tahniah kepada Menteri Besar Pahang Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail dan exco kerajaan negeri Pahang yang baru, khususnya exco negeri yang baru dilantik yang menjaga perpaduan, pelancongan dan kebudayaan, Leong Yu Man. Negeri Pahang mempunyai banyak yang perlu dikejar berbanding dengan seluruh negara dari segi pembangunan dan infrastruktur. Kepada ramai antara kita yang tinggal di bandar, saat kita bercakap tentang Pahang, kita terfikir tentang banyak destinasi eko-pelancongan yang indah seperti Tasik Cini, Taman Negara, Cameron Highlands dan Pulau Tioman. Baru-baru ini, apabila berbual dengan rakan-rakan dari Singapura tentang menghabiskan percutian mereka di Malaysia, saya menyedari bahawa ramai daripada mereka tidak pernah merasai tinggal di pusat peranginan eko-pelancongan. Kepada rakan-rakan Singapura yang hanya mengenali hutan konkrit, mereka serius ingin bermalam di salah satu pusat peranginan eko-pelancongan yang pernah saya

Medicines In M'sia Dearer Than Even In Developed Countries: Survey By Stephen Ng KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Bernama) -- The price of medicines in Malaysia is much higher than even in developed countries, according to a survey by two local universities. The survey covering branded drugs and generic medicines at 20 public hospitals, 32 private retail pharmacies and 20 dispensing doctors found the price of these medicines to be higher by between 10 and 16 times than the International Reference Price (IRP) under the World Health Organisation methodology. "In the private retail pharmacies, we found that the prices of branded medicines could be as high as 16 times the IRP and 10 times for generic drugs," said Zaheer Ud-Din Babar of the University College Sedaya International's School of Pharmacy who headed the survey team. The survey covered Penang, Johor Baharu, Kota Baharu and Kuala Lumpur. Government hospitals are also not spared of high medicine prices. "Alth

  After listening to a video forwarded to me by a friend, I must say that Anwar Ibrahim is the man for the job.           In this video conference call with Canadian prime minister,  Justin Trudeau , Anwar shows that he has a good command of the English language.          He is well-respected by leaders around the world because his views resonate with theirs, too.           It is only when we have a leader with international calibre that Malaysians can now lift up their heads again when they go overseas. We no longer have to be ashamed that our prime minister is a clown or a kleptokrat.           Well done, Anwar! 

    By Stephen Ng   I have, in the past, written and even dreamt of having an efficient public transport system that serve thousands of daily commuters.           Although public transport is not my forte, I have been a regular user and even a proponent of public transport.           After I introduced the last mile shuttle service, we started campaigning with the tagline, “ Providing Connectivity Where It Matters Most – From anywhere in the Klang Valley, you can now reach (name of the private university) with our shuttle service.”           The biggest gratification was when I had to travel daily to Institut Kanser Negara for my treatment for over two months, and I found out that they had a shuttle service connecting the ERL station and the hospital. Commuters are not Convinced Yet What every commuter is looking for can be summarised into three key points: (a) frequency with short waiting intervals (b) Reliability, with no delays or breakdowns (c) Economical yet comf

  By Stephen Ng I read the letter by the Stateless Malaysian Citizenship Movement, urging the Federal Government to end the woes of stateless children from citizenship trauma.              It goes without saying that thousands of children born in this country have suffered for one reason -- because they are stateless.   Although the choice is not in their hand, they happen to be born in a country which exercises Jus Sanguinis, a principle of law which determines the citizenship of an individual by the nationality or ethnicity of one or both parents.   In some cases, even though the father may be Malaysian, when they are born out of wedlock, they remain stateless for life. In Sabah, where there is a mass migration of people from the Philippines and Indonesia, children born to these parents are also stateless. While most of our children can go to school, own their bank accounts, or travel overseas, stateless children will limit their parents’ overseas travel. What Went Wron

As appearing in Malaysiakini   LETTER  | The public transport system that was said to have “third class maintenance” is nothing new but it is time for the present government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to make the necessary changes to bring it to the next level. Several years ago, I was informed by a friend who works with a rail service that when they did a complete overhaul of the system, the engineers were shocked to see the system being in shambles. What shocked my friend is that, even though things were already falling apart, the trains were still running. Doesn’t this sound familiar to us? In fact, this mindset is pervasive throughout the entire system of government. Decades ago, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad lambasted the civil servants for their third-class maintenance culture too. Yet, nothing has improved. Recently, I highlighted to my municipality that the blue paint on many of its signage posts in housing estates has faded away. One particular signage has