Malaysiaku, Negaraku

By Stephen Ng            I strongly urge the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim to look into the medicine prices in Malaysia.            Medicine is important to ensure the wellbeing of all Malaysians, and if the prices are beyond the abilities of the ordinary Malaysians to afford, many end up having to exhaust their hard-earned savings at old age.           In an article dated July 27, 2006 which I wrote in Bernama (see attached ), a survey carried out by a university lecturer, Zaheer Ud-Din Babar showed that “the price of  medicines in Malaysia is much higher than even in developed countries."           That was back in 2006; ever since then, prices of medicine have never gone down.            What is the use of giving the senior citizens special discounts on public transport services and cost of living allowances, but medicine prices are still high?          Even when medicines are obtained from the government hospitals, the government of the day still has to bear the cos

            Today is February 3. Two things that caught my attention when I woke up this morning was an article by Rosli Khan about corruption and the third tier of government. After reading this article, I am trying to connect with Rosli as he and I share similar passions on all three areas - corruption, local government and public transportation.           The second thing was something more heart-warming in the form of this birthday card personally hand drawn and kept secret from me until this morning. Although I get this every year, the fact that it was quietly placed on my bed, it still came to me as a pleasant surprise.  More Voices Heard Now          After sending out Rosli's article to a number of people in the present government, including those who have retired from civil service, I received another article written by Lee Lam Thye speaking on the same topic: Local Government.          I also received another article sent to me by Imraz Ikhbal, the voice whom you heard r

By Emmanuel Joseph OK so Izzah is a three term ex MP in 2 states, leader of several international NGOs and think tanks and a trained engineer who also has a Masters in ASEAN and international relations, former founding member, 23 year veteran VP of a party and headed  3 different States and formerly was the face of the party struggle, rejected appointments when her party won 3 elections in Selangor, 1 election in Negeri Sembilan and 1 Federal Elections and appointments when her mother was DPM. So you had no problems with her shouldering all that work for free, for 23 years. Now you have a problem with her father appointing her as a glorified office helper with an official name and no official pay. Same people were moaning and crying when she refused a post Dr M wanted to appoint her to (that TVET thing in 2018), now equating her with parachute politicians, overpaid empty posts, overnight President's daughters and such. Look, I agree with no nepotism lah. But I mean when the same pe

  By Lee Lam Thye  (Star) 23 Jan 2023 While the new Prime Minister DS Anwar Ibrahim is raising the bar in terms of dealing with pressing national issues, it is also important to look into matters that are peculiar to urban and semi-urban dwellers. The best way to do this is to constantly monitor the operations of local councils and have them quickly address all shortcomings. Currently, there are a total of 155 local authorities, consisting of 19 City councils. 39 Municipal councils and 92 District councils. These local authorities are jointly responsible for providing and maintaining a host of services including health services, social services, waste disposal, recycling and collection, trading standards, roads and transportation, housing, safety and health. There have been a number of issues that have been cropping up on a regular basis. There is the problem of poor drainage and maintenance systems leading to frequent flash floods the cumulative effect of which caused huge losses to t

This is a very good article by Rosli Khan. He hit the nail on the head about the local government and corruption. I have been saying using my own examples with my local council. Original article here. https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2023/02/03/new-role-izzah/ I have no problem with Nurul offering her services directly to her father on pro bono basis. In fact, she should be paid a salary that commensurate with her experience and within the range of salaries paid to others within the ministry. Read my blogpost.  Maybe her next assignment? Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government and Development, Nga Kor Ming has to prioritise the revamp of the local government.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An interview given by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday during which he zeroed in on his fight to eliminate corruption caught my attention. So did reports circulating over the past week abou

            Much, -- in fact, too much -- has been said about Anwar Ibrahim's daughter, Nurul Izzah being appointed as senior economic advisor.           Finally, the Prime Minister has given his reason for appointing Nurul as an advisor. The thing about Anwar is that he knows what to say and says it when the time is right.          To me, it is obvious that Nurul Izzah's appointment is not only welcomed, and it can hardly be argued as 'nepotism.' As defined by the Cambridge dictionary, it is "the act of using your power or influence to get good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family."            I believe, if I had consulted the late Gopal Sri Ram, he would agree with me on this. The former federal judge remained low key during the trial of Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor because he knew the moment, he said something -- in fact, anything -- he would come under attack. This is very unhealthy for a country that is supposedly "progressive&qu

Rakyat Malaysia yang beragama Islam tergores hati kerana seorang ahli politik di Sweden membakar kitab suci Al-Quran.           Di negara Barat, mereka tidak ada undang-undang yang melarang perbuatan keji seumpama ini. Itulah sebabnya kerajaan Sweden sehingga hari ini enggan mengambil tindakan terhadap ahli politik tersebut.           Sejurus kemudian, satu pula kumpulan cuba membakar kitab Torah, kitab suci orang Yahudi. Tujuan mereka hanya setakat menunjukkan betapa hipokritnya kerajaan Sweden untuk membenarkan Rasmus membakar Al Quran di depan Kedutaan Turki.           Sebenarnya bakar-membakar kitab suci agama orang lain sudah kerap berlaku di dunia yang pelbagai agama dan bangsa.            Lazimnya, ini perbuatan pemimpin-pemimpin yang bersifat ekstremis. Mereka hanya ingin mendapat perhatian dari orang ramai. Kemungkinan besar mereka ini mempunyai sakit jiwa tetapi kita orang terjunam bersama mereka dalam kontroversi yang boleh membawakan pertumpahan darah.           Jikalau ker