Petronas’ pricey foray, Bakun nightmare, bumi par value

 Accountability, Energy resources, Environment, Health care, Poverty  22 Responses »
Jun 272008
 

Three issues I would like to raise: Petronas hospital – undermining the public health care system Why is Petronas setting up a private hospital – the Price Court Medical Centre? I don’t supposed they named it after its pricey price tag of RM544 million… In the first place, what expertise does Petronas have in health care? Why is it jumping on the health care and medical tourism bandwagon? Shouldn’t it be supporting our government hospitals, which are badly underfunded and understaffed? By setting up a new hospital, wouldn’t it be encouraging more doctors to leave the government hospitals?

Australian health care consultant shown the door

 Accountability, Civil society, Health care  20 Responses »
Jun 192008
 

Chalk up another victory for civil society groups. The Health Ministry has terminated the services of Australian health care financing consultant Karl Karol, it was revealed on Sunday in Penang. A senior Health Ministry official, Dr Lim Kuan Joo, told a ‘Malaysian Health Care Financing Scheme’ seminar organised by the Penang Medical Practitioners’ Society that Karol’s services were no longer needed because the Health Ministry felt that his proposals to fund health care were not appropriate for the country.

Why the generous subsidies for IPPs?

 Accountability, Development issues, Energy resources, Environment, Health care, Malaysian finance/business, Public transport  17 Responses »
Jun 092008
 
Why the generous subsidies for IPPs?

Oil price hike protest in Ipoh (Source: Unknown; forwarded via email) So Petronas and the Malaysian government says subsidies distort the market. Of course, the withdrawal of subsidies will encourage conservation of a scarce resource – which is a good thing. It might even reduce pollution and congestion. Roads were noticeablly less congested in parts of Penang and KL today. Traffic on the Penang Bridge heading to the island at 5.20pm – peak time – was smooth; the usual bottleneck after the toll plazas, as the mutiple lanes narrow down to two lanes, was gone. But has the government given much thought to the impact of the removal of oil subsidies on the poor – and even large segments of the middle-class, who are rapidly moving down to the ranks of the poor in terms of real purchasing power? One key question has not been answered: why a sudden complete [Read more]

Two Suaram activists still held, five others released

 Accountability, Democracy, Health care, M'sian politics, Marginalised groups, Media, Poverty  21 Responses »
May 112008
 

9.00pm – Five of the activists are released. But Suaram’s Teh Chun Hong and Lau Shu Shi, who is also Penang coordinator of the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), are still being held. Shu Shi in particular has been actively involved in organising a number of well-attended forums after the 8 March general election. Both are expected to be produced in court in Penang tomorrow morning for possible extension of remand. This reflects badly on the BN federal government’s stance on basic rights and is not likely to win it new friends. Malaysians are not going to be impressed. 7.00pm – Blog reader Kah Seng reports: MP Liew Chin Tong (Tg Bungah, Bukit Bendera, DAP) was reported there in the afternoon. You reported PKR DUN Ravi was also there. I was a busy body there from 5pm to 7pm. The police handling was very slow. Went in afternoon, and still taking [Read more]

Utter fiasco! Here’s why CCTV cameras won’t work in Penang

 Accountability, Civil society, Democracy, Health care, Human rights, M'sian politics, Malaysian elections, Malaysian finance/business  9 Responses »
May 072008
 

Now this is why the Penang state government should not go ahead with its plan to install CCTV cameras in crime-prone areas. The only people to benefit will be the camera and equipment suppliers. The UK has the most CCTV cameras – but it has been an utter fiasco as this report from This is London: reveals: Billions spent on CCTV have failed to cut crime and led to an ‘utter fiasco’, says Scotland Yard surveillance chief Last updated at 11:22am on 07.05.08 The billions of pounds spent covering Britain with CCTV cameras has been an “utter fiasco” and failed to slash crime, Scotland Yard’s surveillance chief has said. Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said a Metropolitan Police pilot project found just three per cent of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images. He claimed the vast swathes of money spent on cameras had been wasted because criminals [Read more]

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