Chinese New Year Greetings

My wife & I wish all Malaysians to have a healthy & wonderful Chinese New Year & a Happy Valentine's day.

(Photos courtesy from Guanming Daily)

Faulty diagnosis nearly claims diabetic's life

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/124307 (Christine Chan, 12/2/2010)
A diabetic patient claimed that he got into an accident after receiving insulin shots due to a incorrect diagnosis, believed to be caused by a faulty glucometer - a glucose measuring device.
At a press conference today, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng (right) told reporters that 56-year-old Tan Chun Lin (left) got into an accident barely an hour after treatment was issued by doctors at Batu clinic in Kuala Lumpur. “We believe that Tan was given a wrong diagnosis which resulted in him receiving an overdosage of medication by the doctor,” Lim said. The parliamentarian claimed that due to the medication, the patient felt dizzy and experienced hazy vision while driving, causing him to collide with another vehicle. “Tan was sent to Ampang Hospital as he had passed out following the road accident,” he continued.

Low glucose level

At the hospital, Lim said, it was discovered that the patient had an extremely low glucose level of 1.8 as compared to a normal glucose level should be 3.9 to 7.8.

Prior to the accident, Tan had doubts as to the accuracy of the glucometer at the medical centre. “I have my own glucometer at home and I measure myself first before I see the doctor. However, I started having doubts in January when the device at the hospital recorded my blood level almost twice as high what I measured at home. But I thought that it could have been my own device that was faulty,” he said.
Lim then explained that Tan went for a checkup on the day of the accident and the device again recorded Tan's glucose level as twice as high. “Therefore, the doctor gave him higher dose in an injection and medication,” Lim said. One day after the road accident Tan again went back to the same clinic, according to Lim. “Again the glucometer recorded double the amount of the glucose level. “However, this time the doctor checked the machine and discovered that it was malfunctioning,” he said.

Second opinion

Lim urged diabetic patients from the clinic to get a second opinion to be on the safe side. “We will bring this issue to the health ministry and its minister as the faulty device has been in use for the past two months,” he said. Lim further said that the government should take this matter seriously. “If this can happen in a clinic with doctors, what about those 1Malaysia clinics which are operating without doctors?” he asked.
Attempts to seek clarification from Batu clinic today was not successful as the doctor in charge Dr Zakiah Yahya declined to comment and would not allow Lim and the media to enter the premises. “Any questions or complaints should be directed to my superior,” she said.

Call to sack Zulkifli

Source: http://www.mmail.com.my/ (By Pearl Lee, 5/2/10)

Pakatan Rakyat leaders were forced into damage control mode following the controversial and firebrand PKR Member of Parliament Zulkifli Noordin's blast at coalition partner DAP as a "chauvinistic party" that should be kicked out of Pakatan Rakyat. PKR and DAP politicians in Pakatan Rakyat closed ranks and lambasted Zulkifli, saying that his comments were unbefitting of a Pakatan Rakyat member. They said that Zulkifli's views were his own and called for disciplinary action against him. Zulkifli had, in a newspaper report yesterday, said that Pakatan Rakyat and PKR in particular would die a premature death if the "chauvinistic party" was allowed to execute its racially discriminative dogma and it no longer shared a common ground with PKR and PAS. He had said it was a fallacy to believe that Pakatan will lose Chinese votes if DAP was kicked out. The Kulim Bandar Baharu MP had also said that if PKR continued to give in to the antics of DAP, the people would soon reject them.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng of DAP said PKR should immediately sack Zulkifli as he appeared to not know how to handle himself. "PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should sack him by the end of the month. If not, he is going to be a big problem for us in the next general election." He said Malaysians as a whole cannot tolerate such extreme views as even the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was trying to promote racial unity through his 1Malaysia programme. "You can have a street poll and ask the people if we are a chauvinist party as claimed by Zulkifli," Lim said. He took potshots at Zulkifli's outburst, saying that this could be due to "some psychological problems". "On one hand, he is very arrogant and on the other, it seems as if he is also suffering from some form of inferiority complex as he does not know how to handle himself."

DAP Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai viewed Zulkifli's action as being in tune with Barisan Nasional's and his comments were being exploited by certain quarters. "The BN and mainstream media have always framed DAP as a Chinese chauvinistic party. This is why we have made a solemn pledge that if we come to power, we will abolish the Official Secrets Act (OSA), abolish the need for the media to renew its licence every year, introduce a freedom of information act and also prohibit political leaders from own ingequity in media establishments," Tan said. He believed that Zulkifli was being used as a tool to split PKR and Pakatan Rakyat. "He (Zulkifli) is more a BN man than a PR man." He also described DAP as a party that had always promoted and cherished the very principle of multi-racialism and "it's a principle the party is not going to change".

DAP's Klang MP Charles Santiago also echoed Tan's views saying that certain quarters were capitalising on controversial statements by Zulkifli to show that there were cracks in Pakatan Rakyat. "He (Zulkifli) is a chauvinist as his ideals are only that of Islam and Malays. Although I am not a Muslim or a Malay, to my understanding, Islam promotes Muslims and non-Muslims living in harmony with each other. "Even the constitution says that we are all equal whether you are a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Bidayuh. Everyone has a stake in this country," Santiago said. He suggested that disciplinary action be taken against Zulkifli as it appeared as if his party was unable to discipline him.

PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa said Zulkifli seemed to show no remorse despite being hauled up by the party's disciplinary committee for lodging a police report against Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad over the "allah" issue. "He is making his own future in the party more difficult and is more or less inviting expulsion." He said that although the party welcomed criticism, it had to be done properly and through the right channel. "The Pakatan coalition in Selangor is working very well. There may be differences at times, but we solve it amicably and we have a good working relationship at all levels, particularly at the State level," Sivarasa said.

Pakatan lawmakers say lack of funds no excuse for poor service

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com (By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, 2/2/10)

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — While PKR lawmakers complain of insufficient funding for their constituencies, their fellow Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs said fiscal constraints is no excuse for shoddy service. Nibong Tebal PKR MP Tan Tee Beng, backed by several other party lawmakers, blasted the Penang DAP government yesterday for being slow in providing funds for their constituencies. The complaints were made amid a simmering feud between DAP and PKR over accusations of favouritism by the former. The Penang state government, however, shrugged off the allegations and said it is not obliged to provide funds to MPs.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng called his fellow PKR MPs “jokers” for their demands, and made references to veteran DAP lawmakers like Kepong’s Dr Tan Seng Giaw who served as MP for seven terms despite no financial assistance. “These people are just a bunch of jokers. I think they should just shut up. Look at Dr Tan and other veteran DAP MPs in KL,” he told The Malaysian Insider. “They have no assistance at all from the Barisan Nasional (BN)-led Federal government at all but they have managed to serve their constituencies very well,” he said. The Federal government has been accused by PR of sabotage attempts when allocations meant for each parliamentary constituency are given to local BN leaders instead of the elected opposition representatives. This has forced PR lawmakers, particularly from PKR, to depend on state governments for funds but Lim noted that PR MPs from Kuala Lumpur (KL) are worst off compared to those from other states. “In KL, we don’t have the state government to help us as the finance is channelled through the local council and the mayor but still, DAP lawmakers have done tremendously well under these circumstances,” he said.

Lembah Pantai PKR MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, however, disagreed. Speaking to The Malaysian Insider, the daughter of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said allocations are important. “Ideally, an MP should focus on raising pertinent local and national issues at the parliamentary level, whilst being supported by assembly persons and an elected local government adept at servicing the constituents’ needs. “But (KL) MPs do not have state assembly persons. Additionally, they are mostly at the mercy of the Federal government-appointed mayor and City Hall officers who decide matters most sacred to KL like issues of licensing, enforcement and servicing,” she said.

More experienced leaders like Hulu Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad believe PAS has proven its credence as a veteran opposition giant by serving their respective constituencies without complaining of funding strictures. “Serving is not just about giving money. It’s about going down to the ground and there are ways to go around it. If you are resourceless, you have to be resourceful,” he told The Malaysian Insider. Giving an example, Dr Dzulkefly said one approach is to compile data on poor voters and provide them to existing Federal government bodies like the Welfare Department or the Zakat Department (Islamic version). Adding pressure will then prompt reactions from these organisations which will then provide financial assistance — taken from the Federal budget — to those in need. “So if you ask me is it possible to serve your constituencies without funding help, it’s difficult but not impossible,” concluded the Kuala Selangor MP.

Meanwhile, an official from the PKR-led Selangor government said PKR MPs from the state demanded additions to the existing RM150,000 allocations given to them for their constituencies. “But we too have our commitment to our voters so we can’t entertain them,” said the official who agreed with Dr Dzulkefly’s approach on the issue. “Maybe they lack experience... these MPs... as compared to those from PAS and DAP,” the official added.

House buyers in a quandary over land titles

Source: http://thestar.com.my/metro (By FAZLEENA AZIZ, 2/2/2010)
BUYERS of houses in Taman Fadason Phase 3 in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, are in a limbo due to problems pertaining to the land title for their properties.

Businessman Yong Cheng Mun, 37, wants to sell his house but is unable to do so because of the caveat. Yong said he was unaware of the problem when he bought the house three years ago.

“I asked the developer, who told me to wait because they had a case. I feel frustrated being left in this situation, without the land title to my own home,” he said, adding that he did not know how much longer it would take before the problem was resolved. According to the Schedule G of the sale and purchase agreement, the lot is encumbered by a private caveat lodged by a company as security for the loan granted to the vendor. In the company’s letter to Yong, it is stated that the original title and withdrawal of private caveat form are held by its solicitors as stakeholders pending full payment of the redemption sum due to it by the developer.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said the problems surrounding the issue involved three parties — the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the company and the developer. He said the development was a joint venture between the DBKL and the developer, whereby the land was pledged to a third party by the developer to obtain a loan. In another letter from the DBKL to the company, it is stated that from the local authority’s check, the company did not have any stake in the land belonging to the DBKL, either via a contract or a privatisation agreement. Lim questioned why the DBKL had entered a joint venture with a financially unsound company and how the third party could refuse to return the land titles. “Now the house buyers are the victims. The DBKL must pursue this matter. “If the house owners want the title to their units, they would have to repay the loan with interest,” he said during a meeting with the residents recently. He added that the developer had breached the contract as the property should be free from encumbrances before the purchasers took vacant possession of the said building. It also failed to transfer the land title from the DBKL to the buyers after 21 days. Details of the agreement between the developer, the third party and the DBKL are not known.

Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw, who was also present during the meeting, said they would raise the issue with the Public Accounts Committee as well as the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry today. He said they wanted the matter to be investigated as it involved land issues. “Many empty spaces and green lungs are being encroached in the Federal Territory. “Land is very valuable; it is important to guard against land scams,” he said.