The Federal government is introducing a new national healthcare system called 1Care, which
will force you to give up to 10% of your monthly household income as your contribution
under/via a national health insurance scheme.
What’s worse, after paying so much…….
• You cannot pick choose your own doctor. The government will assign one doctor for you. You still have to pay more when you see the doctor • Your assigned doctor is budgeted to see you only 6 times a year • You get only the cheapest not-original medicine • You will not be covered for all illnesses especially expensive care under the insurance • If you don’t like your assigned doctor and/or the medicine given, you’ll have to pay more from your own pocket to see another doctor and/or get better medicine.
Healthcare costs will shoot up! From RM 33.7 billion in 2009 to a proposed RM44.24 billion
a year with 1Care. It will cost so much but will it be a benefit or a burden?
Find out more about 1Care at this public forum, officiated by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Menteri
Besar, Selangor.
Speakers:
1-Care for 1Malaysia – why and what is it? (Ministry of Health Malaysia)
Healthcare-what the rakyat want?: YB Dr. Xavier Jayakumar, State Exco Member for Health, Selangor
The Doctors’ Perspective: Dr. Ng Swee Choon, FPMPAM
The Patients and the Consumers’ Perspective: Dr. T Jayabalan, Patient Health and Safety Advisory Organization, Penang/Citizens Healthcare Coalition
Moderator: Mr. Philip Koh Tong Ngee, FCIS, Senior Partner, Mah-Kamariyah & Philp Koh, Advocates & Solicitors
Organised by: Pakatan Kesihatan Rakyat (Citizens’ Healthcare Coalition)
With invitation to:
• Ministry of Health Malaysia
• Selangor State Government
• Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations of Malaysia (FPMPAM)
• Private Medical Practitioners’ Association Selangor/KL(PMPASKL)
Admission is Free.
Date: Sunday, 12 February 2012 Time: 4.00pm–6.30pm Venue: SUNFLOWER ROOM, GLOBAL BUSINESS & CONVENTION CENTRE No.8 Jalan 19/1; Section 19. Petaling Jaya 46300
For more information, contact
Dr. T Jayabalan
Tel: 6012 4027 445
Email: drjayabalan@gmail.com
As the saying goes, do not believe all that you see nor half what you hear.
Always tell the truth. If you can't always tell the truth, don't lie.
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king. May he rot in prison for all the lies for misleading the innocent!
Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the addiction is narcotics, alcohol, sex, internet, Facebook or idealism...
Choose your path and destiny correctly by answering the very basic questions of who am I, why am I here, and where am I going?
PETALING JAYA: If you prefer to interact on Facebook rather than have a normal conversation, you could be suffering from a psychological disorder, an expert warned.
Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur neuro-psychologist Dr Nivashinie Mohan said that Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) continues to go undetected because most addicts do not realise or want to admit that they have a problem. With Malaysians spending more hours and having the most number of friends on Facebook, many had become addicted to it, she said.
"A lot of people do not see it as a real problem because they don't think it is as harmful as addiction to tobacco or drugs. "But it is a problem that needs to be treated like any other addiction that prevents you from going on with your daily activities," she said, adding that the disorder could cause anxiety and depression.
The disorder term FAD was coined by American psychologists to describe the addiction to Facebook. Dr Nivashinie said that Facebook addicts had difficulty carrying on a normal conversation with people as they preferred to "poke", "like" or comment on what their friends posted on the website.
She said the addicts felt the need to be connected to their Facebook friends all the time. "They fear that they may miss out on something important if they don't constantly check the website," she added.
On average, Dr Nivashinie said people spent about an hour each day on the website. "But if you are cancelling plans with friends and family so you can spend the time on Facebook, it is a clear sign that you are addicted," she said. She added that addicts usually lost interest in school or were not productive at work because they were constantly on the website.
Stressing that the problem could be very serious, she said: "Sometimes these addicts don't even enjoy logging on to Facebook. They just feel they have to. "Some people even break into cold sweat at the thought of not going on Facebook for a day or two. And they feel depressed when nobody communicates with them or responds to something they posted on the website."
To overcome the disorder, she said addicts must first acknowledge that they have a problem. "It may not be possible for them to quit Facebook immediately or completely," Dr Nivashinie said. "They can begin by reducing and limiting the hours they spend on the website daily."
PETALING JAYA: Social networking can be addictive and stunt personal interaction, say experts. People frequent websites like Facebook due to easy access via mobile devices, but "such convenience is distracting people from having real social interaction with another human being", said psychologist and counsellor Adnan Omar.
"For example, a couple missed an opportunity to have true interaction with each other by going out for dinner, only to be surfing the Net or checking e-mail on their mobile devices," he told The Star recently. It was reported on Jan 10 that a nationwide study showed that Malaysian mobile web users on average spend 20% of their time on social media like Facebook and Twitter, 18% on music or videos, 17% on playing games, 14% on searches for general information and 13% on e-mail.
Adnan was concerned that society might lose its ability to connect with the people within. "We may know people in Russia but we do not know our own neighbours although they are just one wall away," he said. "If you're spending more than 25 hours per week social networking for other than work or academic reasons, you're addicted to it. It does not help that the Internet is readily available and you don't have to turn it off."
Adnan said addicts had the urge to check their phone constantly and felt "empty deep inside" if they did not do so. "When people post their pictures and updates, they are waiting for compliments to make them feel fulfilled. The other reason is that they need to kill time and would feel useless or uncomfortable if they do not do anything. "Technology creates activities but not necessarily productivity although it makes us feel that way," Adnan said. Psychologist Dr Goh Chee Leong said the phone has become an important companion for "in between" times like when a person is waiting for someone.
The dean of HELP University College's Behavioural Sciences Faculty said people who often network generally have an active social life although "there are extreme cases". Clueless condition: Many Malaysians may not be aware that they have Facebook Addiction Disorder.
PETALING JAYA: Facebook addict Lim said her life now revolves around the social networking website. Lim, who is in her 50s, admitted to psychologist that she no longer had normal conversations with her family as most of her free time was spent in front of the computer.
She said she was addicted to Facebook games "Farmville" and "Baking Life" and would plan her daily activities around the website.
Lim said she would start her virtual "crop planting" or "baking" in the morning before work to make sure that it was completed in time for her to resume the game during lunch break. "I have not had a good night's sleep in a long time as I can't log off until the wee hours of the morning," she said.
Another addict, who wanted to be known only as Satish, said he logged on to Facebook every half hour. "If I can't go on Facebook for some reason, I feel uneasy and can't concentrate on my work," said the 30-year-old engineer. His addiction became worse after he bought a smartphone.
PETALING JAYA: Employers are increasingly faced with the problem of employees wasting their time on Facebook and other social networking websites during office hours.
"Many companies have blocked their employees from accessing Facebook in the office, but this measure is not always effective as many of them can still access the website on their smartphones," said Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan.
Although most employers wanted to stop employees from chatting or playing games online, he noted that companies in fields such as entertainment and media needed to access the social websites to keep up with the latest trends and news. How the problem of time-wasting on websites was handled depended on "the nature of business" of the companies concerned, said Shamsuddin.
He added that young people might not be interested in working for companies which were too strict and did not allow them to log on to Facebook.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said that Facebook users were "inviting trouble" if they constantly updated their status with information on their whereabouts and what they were doing.
"There are young girls who even update their status to say that they are going to take a bath," he said. He added that 14 female Facebook users had reported to the department that they were cheated and blackmailed last year.
JAN 15 — We may have only just begun the new year, but some things remain the same. Take the report on last week's Friday khutbah regarding street rallies.
Now, whilst I appreciate the fact that demonstrations and rallies invariably cause disruption to our everyday lives, I don't for one moment think that such activities are inherently bad. In fact, I would argue that demonstrations and rallies are fundamental to a healthy democracy: citizens should have the right to peaceful assembly without interference from the authorities. I would go so far as to state that the authorities are duty-bound to facilitate the staging of such events by ensuring people's safety and good traffic management.
What I found most interesting about the khutbah, however, was equating patriotism to loyalty towards one's country and its rulers. Loyalty to the country, yes. Loyalty to a country's rulers? Err, no.
What some of our fellow citizens don't seem to understand is that the government (that is, our rulers, since the role of our Sultans and the Agung is largely ceremonial) is there to serve us, the rakyat. The government rules in our name. The current government was given the mandate to to rule during the last general election. Though BN has won this mandate since Independence, it does not necessarily follow that BN will always be granted this right.
If therefore the rakyat thinks that the government is not doing a good job and a better alternative exists, then it is perfectly within our rights to vote in the party or parties that we feel would do a better job. Actually, I think it's our duty to vote for the people who we think will do the best job of governing our country. After all, governing a country and representing its people is a big job. Why should your vote go to someone just because their father was a leader, or because they are the same race as you?
That being the case, why should the rakyat feel any loyalty to a country's rulers? If anything, it should be the other way around — surely a patriotic leader is one who always strives to do what is best for the people, not what is best for himself, his family or his party.
Besides, if a leader has blatantly abused his or her power, then should we, the rakyat, blindly continue to support them to prove our patriotism?
Then there is the case of the overseas six. What, I ask, is more patriotic than demanding the right to vote even if one is no longer residing in Malaysia? As a citizen residing overseas, I would do my civic duty, but once again I and others like me are defeated by process and procedure. I ask you: who is more patriotic in this instance, the overseas six and people who want to vote but can't, or bodies like the High Court which dismissed the application and the Election Commission which continually cites logistics as one of the reasons why certain overseas Malaysians are disenfranchised?
Personally, I think there are many ways to show that you are a patriot. Simply leading a productive life, for instance. Supporting unfashionable causes because you think they are good for the country. Supporting the people who you think will be the best at governing the country, whether they are BN or PKR or PAS or DAP.
The fact of the matter is, what is best for the country is subjective. If you are a Perkasa-type, then it's probably likely that you see everything that the DAP does as being dangerous to the country.
What's depressing however, is the way that the authorities — be they Jakim, the police, or the government — automatically assume that their thinking is right. It's 2012 already. It's quite likely that we're in an election year. I know there are still plenty of conservative Malaysians, but surely the authorities know by now that there are also a number of Malaysians who just don't buy the same old arguments any more.
As I've said before, many Malaysians no longer unquestioningly accept everything that we're told. We are no longer deferential towards our leaders. We no longer hold fast to the old certainties.
Like the government, organisations like the Election Commission, the police, religious bodies and others are there to serve us. To some extent they represent our society; isn't it time such organisations acknowledged that Malaysians now hold a variety of outlooks, and started reaching out to all Malaysians instead of peddling the usual lines?
Wouldn't that be the patriotic thing to do, instead of lecturing the rakyat about what we need to do in order to be patriots?
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
1. Heboh bila mana FB seorang anak malaysia kita yang sedang belajar di luar negara dicerobohi, gambarnya yang kurang manis dijadikan bahan perbincangan semasa di sana sini. Boleh dilihat di mana2 masyarakat kita memberikan komentar yang berbeza2, ada yang positif dan ada yang negatif.
Malahan yang lebih banyaknya berbunyi sindiran dan negatif. Lebih menarik muncul ramai yang menyatakan rasa concern yang tidak putus2 terhadap pelajar hebat tanah air kita ini.
Cuma yang peliknya, kurang pula kedengaran mereka2 yang concern ini, terhadap gambar2 dan aksi artis tanah air yang saban hari mewarnai muka depan majalah dan akhbar utama tempatan, yang saya percaya aksi dan pemakaian mereka jauh lebih menjolokkan serta tidak cukup kain berbanding pelajar kita di atas.
2. Heboh juga bila mahasiswa tanahair yang mengadakan demonstrasi menuntut kebebasan akademik. Ya benar, tindakan mereka kurang bijak jika mengadakan demonstrasi dan tunjuk perasaan yang beremosi serta kurang sabar.
Namun lupakah kita bahawa mereka semua ini adalah produk hasil sistem yang telah kita adakan..
Melalui kongkongan sistem sebegini, kita pelajar secara umumnya telah dibekukan minda untuk berfikir secara hemah dan mengamalkan HIDUP SECARA TEORI.
- Pelajar ekonomi tidak boleh berbincang di dalam kelas secara langsung mengenai isu fidlot samada pembelian kondominium sebagai salah satu pelaburan yang dilakukan akan berjaya atau tidak. Ke mana hala tuju ekonomi negara yang mengalami defisi hutang selama bertahun2 melalui laporan audit negara juga sukar untuk dibuat case study sebagai perbincangan dalam kelas.
- Pelajar fakulti Islam tidak boleh berbincang fakta kes wang zakat yang digunakan untuk membayar peguam.
- Pelajar fakulti sains politik dibataskan untuk membincangkan tentang polisi dan pentadbiran kerajaan.
- Pelajar fakulti senibina tidak boleh meneliti kes stadium runtuh secara telus.
All forms of knowledge is not open freely for discussion.
Lalu, mengapa tidak kita hentam dan geram kepada sistem berteori sebegini yang sebenarnya membentuk siapa kita hari ini?
3. Heboh juga bila soal akademik dijadikan isu dan alasan untuk menghalang pelajar berpolitik dan menuntut kebebasan akademik.
Cuma tertanya-tanya juga dalam keadaan sekarang ini yang banyak akses disekat, tidak pula pelajar2 ini kesemuanya cemerlang dan universiti tanah air tidak semuanya termasuk dalam ranking cemerlang setiap tahun.
Malahan adakah mungkin lebih baik mereka melayan konsert muzik, KPOP, shuffle, bincang gosip artis daripada berpesatuan secara aktif dan terlibat dalam kepimpinan.
Apakah mungkin mereka lebih cemerlang jika mereka lebih banyak berFB, chatting dengan GF/BF, dating, tengok wayang dan shopping daripada mereka anak muda ini lebih tonjolkan idea dan berpolitik secara sihat di kampus.
Idea ini kelihatan sungguh ralat.
4. Krisis sebegini masih terus berlaku di sekeliling kita saban hari. Sebagaimana yang orang selalu sebut, krisis ini disebut sebagai MASALAH CARA BERFIKIR.
Apa yang salah itu tetap akan salah, dan apa yang haq kita kena benar dan tegakkan. Tiada siapa pun boleh mengambil jalan tengah atau bersikap neutral, apatah lagi jika ianya sudah melibatkan perkara dosa dan pahala.
Cuma ramai yang mengambil sikap memilih dalam menyatakan suara dan pandangan, atau lebih teruk lagi, memilih untuk bersikap kurang peduli..
Apatah lagi pandangan yang berkaitan politik pula pastinya mahu tidak mahu akan ada kecendurangan ke mana2 pihak, maka sesiapa yang sentiasa neutral bak kata UZAR hanyalah akan membentuk ciri munafiq berpendirian lalang.
5. Realitinya hari ini kita khuatir jika kita hanya layak menempelkan diri untuk tergolong dalam menjadi pasukan tukang sorak sahaja, sebagaimana di dalam sukan bola sepak inggeris EPL.
Kita bukan main hentam habis-habisan apabila team itu kalah dan salah, mengalahkan jurulatih. Akan tetapi pabila menang tidak semena-mena kita yang akan sibuk claim berjuang mengalahkan pemain.
Maka di mana sebenarnya kita? Terus menjadi TUKANG SORAK? atau pun pemain utama?...
The road to democracy let alone the 'world's best democracy' is a road far less travelled when it is peppered with potholes of corruption and the authorities are selective who they prosecute.
The unfailing flow of public corruption scandals involving government politicians has reached a crisis. The government cannot afford to brush them aside in the face of compelling evidence of improper , even culpable conduct, and risk eroding its credibility further.
They say the devil is in the details and the Auditor-General has provided the smoking guns of financial misfiring that should provide the leads to successful prosecutions.
It is this failure to bring those culpable to court that makes the Auditor-General's reports appear like a serial horror show as similar irregularities recur year after year.
Malaysians no longer are fooled by the dangling carrots of jaw-dropping projects and pie-in-the-sky promises that are pure spin and as unreal as an mirage in an Arabian desert mirage. They believe in concrete results.
Even the devil can tempt and make false promises.
Malaysians have to stop short-changing themselves because the corrupt politicians won't desist from cheating them.
I qualify 'the corrupt politicians' because not all politicians can be tarred with the same broad brush. Not all politicians or law-enforcers are corrupt.
They should know bad company corrupts good character unless they purge the corrupt whoever they are from their midst.
Those who are exposed for their wrongdoings but tell fibs to intelligent Malaysians or those who cover up for them are not very clever or honest.
I am reminded of the noble Malay man who dobbed his son's illegal activities to the police. He was a simple villager but believed in the age old adage that 'honesty is the best policy.'
We need more honest politicians and more honest law enforcers.
The police and MACC can start enforcing this ethos among their troops and go after the big fish and we will believe they are sincere in seeking public feedback.
The public will stand behind them. Otherwise they will be accused of false pretences and passing the buck to the public or desperately running out of ideas when they have refused the Royal Commission's sound recommendations. Not long ago Idris Jala warned of the country's impending bankruptcy only to tell Malaysians today that the country will now not go broke.
Maybe we should export this 'miracle cure' to Europe. Jesus can change water into wine but can a country change imminent bankruptcy into a high-income country overnight? Perhaps the government can for the select few. Politicians say too many contradictory things and confuse the people.
They should just stick to the truth even if it is a bitter pill because truth never hurt a good cause. Malaysians love the truth but the politicians keep telling them lies.
You can't say 'we will abolish the ISA' and then jail some people without trial and damn them as 'terrorists.' The late Colonel Gaddafi said 'everybody loves me' and called his people 'rats' but instead of leading at the front he died like a rat.
Doing the opposite of what you say is too much like the the lying and delusional dictator.
The Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 is yet another anomaly for a country on its way to being the 'world's best democracy.'
If it sounds like the usual hyperbole the facts back it. Delusion, deception, hallucination, they all belong to the category of lies because they are far from the reality.
The moral and political awakening taking shape in the country may not be enough to see structural and regime change unless those that prop up the leaning tower of a dishonest demagogy seen in practice, within a democracy promulgated in theory, realize that what awaits is not the Promised Land for every citizen but a plundered nation misappropriated by the thieves that you put into power.
Sadly I am preaching to the converted but I can vote.
And no one distorts everything as well as the man history will record as the Father of Lost and Stolen Opportunities besides other ignoble epithets, who continues to poison his country with his venom despite having done it for longer than any leader, from the dark shadows of his vain, wasted and tainted existence.
It is like a Shakespearan tragedy. The country lay at his feet to make great but instead he trod on it and still parades like the Emperor with no clothes and no scruples. When the elections are drawn along the battle lines of truth, justice and morality, in the light of the exposes of corruption and abuses of power, it should not be hard for conscientious voters to realize who has the antidote and who has been making them drink from the poisoned chalice.
Antara disiplin sosiologi mengenai tatacara perhubungan manusia dan politik, ada beberapa adab dan MANTIQ mudah yang perlu kita benar-benar kuasai dalam menyampaikan dakwah kepada circle of concerns and influences kita. Antaranya ialah berHIKMAH.
Apabila membicarakan soal pendekatan HIKMAH, ramai yang mempunyai tanggapan umum bahawa ianya tidak lebih daripada sekadar pada perkataan dan bahasa yang lemah lembut sahaja, umpama memijak semut pun pasti tidak akan mati.
Sebagai contoh, pihak polis yang menangkap seorang pencuri, apakah mereka akan berbicara dengan lemah lembut? Ketika serbuan dilakukan ke atas pusat-pusat hiburan/arak yang melibatkan orang Melayu/Islam..masih lembut jugakah arahan yang dikeluarkan ketika itu?
Bila difikirkan secara mendalam, adakah di situ letaknya kedudukan hikmah?
Ketika Saidina Umar yang terkenal dengan perwatakan dan peribadinya yang begitu keras dan tegas pada sifatnya. Beliau pernah memberikan cadangan agar dibunuh sahaja pemimpin kafir yang ditawan semasa peperangan Badar. Apakah Saidina Umar tidak berhikmah jika kualiti "lembut" itu menjadi asas kepada hikmah?
Jika begitulah asasnya, mengapa pula dalam Islam kita dibolehkan untuk merotan anak yang tidak mahu sembahyang apabila sampai usianya 10 tahun? Tidakkah itu bertentangan dengan konsep Hikmah di atas?
Makanya, hikmah itu tidak semestinya bersyaratkan approach yang lembut. Adakalanya ia memerlukan keTEGASan dan kekerasan kerana yang paling utama adalah mencegah KEZALIMAN. Apatah lagi dalam isu menegur pemerintah atas kezaliman dan penyalahgunaan kuasa, perlu ada ketegasan kerana yang lebih menjadi keutamaan ialah menegah kezaliman yang akibat dan kesannya lebih besar adalah kepada rakyat, serta mengundang keMUDARATan yang lebih hebat. Maka perlu difahami maqasid dan tujuan pencegahan.
Jika mahu potong pokok besar guna kapak, Jika mahu potong pokok kecik guna gunting.
Kesimpulannya, ada ketika masa kena KERAS, dan ada masa kena LEMBUT. Ada yang main peranan tegur secara KERAS dan TEGAS, ada yang main peranan tegur secara LEMBUT. Perlu sesuaikan dengan tempat dan keadaan.
All concerned parties should evaluate with objectivity, the action of lowering a flag bearing Prime Minister Najib Razak's portrait by Legasi Mahasiswa Progresif (LMP) during its march for academic freedom, and call for the abolition of UUCA and not counter it with threats of intimidation and violence.
When Adam Adli, the undergraduate who took down the flag, went to Bukit Aman police station to lodge a police report in the company of coalition members after receiving death threats suspected to have originated from a political party, he was attacked outside the police station. Such an incident should not have occurred but what was utterly shocking was that the police took no action to stop the attacker.
According to news reports, Umno Youth members could be involved in issuing those threats. However, if Umno feels that the undergraduates' action of lowering a flag bearing Najib's portrait as inappropriate and insulting, then the Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng should also be accorded the same respect from Umno as previously, Umno's hired guns have insulted him by burning and stomping all over his portrait.
In July this year, during the protest from Jalan Kaki Kelapa to Komtar, not only did the protestors trample on, tear up and burn copies of Lim Guan Eng's portrait, they also assaulted the reporters who were covering the event.
In fact, not only did Umno members vent their anger at Lim Guan Eng, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon's portrait was subject to the same treatment by Umno members in September 2008.
In allowing its party members to deface Lim Guan Eng and Koh Tsu Koon's portraits, and issuing such a vile and extreme rebuke to the undergraduates, Umno has exposed itself as a hypocrite and practises double standards.
Even Deputy Minister of Higher Education Ministry, Saifuddin Abdullah, who was on hand to receive the memorandum from the graduates became a target of crude and vile insults by Umno bloggers, who demanded for him to resign from his ministerial post.
The intimidation by Umno bloggers is a clear attack by the ultra/conservative elements on the reformists within Umno. Saifuddin should not be asked to resign from his post, as he is after all one of the few rare, progressive and open-minded deputy ministers in Barisan Nasional and I hope he will continue to be the bridge between the government and undergraduates.
Our undergraduates are becoming increasingly mature. Not only they are standing up for their rights but they know the appropriate time and place to table protests against oppressive and dictatorial polices that affect them.
If the response on the Facebook page advocating support for Adam Adli is anything to go by, the Barisan Nasional should just stop dreaming about curtailing freedom of thought and expression of our undergraduates, but instead take them seriously and institute real reforms in the education system.
Teo Nie Ching is DAP Assistant national publicity secretary and Serdang MP.
