A patient at the KL General Hospital (HKL) shares his experience:
I am a patient of our Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) and visit two specialist clinics regularly. It used to be four. I was warded in two different wards for biopsies and can attest that our hospitals are terribly overcrowded and rundown. The HKL is an old hospital, and I was born in the maternity section. Guess I will probably die there too.
Activist S H Tan reports:
I have received an alert from a resident in Bayan Bay near Queensbay Mall concerning a proposed new development next to their Gold Coast condomimium. The proposed development consists of four tower blocks with a total of 1900 Soho (small office, home office) units.
Hopefully, the Penang state government will put in place a large public park and other free recreational spaces, vegetable farms and fruit orchards for food security, and planned sustainable transport infrastructure, including bicycle lanes and top quality pedestrian networks in Batu Kawan.
While political groups play on ethnicity and religion to strengthen their grip on power and divert attention from critical social issues, price hikes and corruption; while some political leaders seek the best medical treatment for themselves; while five-star ‘medical tourism’ is being promoted for better-off visitors; many Malaysians from the lower-income group and middle-class are silently feeling the strain of inadequate public health care infrastructure.
This was the scene that greeted me when I visited a friend at the Seberang Jaya Hospital on 4 January. A cubicle in a medical ward designed for six beds is now forced to accommodate 10 or 11 beds, making the whole cubicle congested.
This letter by Dr Kam Suan Pheng was sent to The Star but it has not (yet?) been published.
A briefing for those interested in participating in the tender exercise for the bicycle sharing system in Penang will be held in Komtar on 10 January.
While certain people are getting hot under the collar over the use of the word Allah, Proton, which was privatised to Syed Mokhtar Albukhary’s DRB-Hicom in 2012, continues to receive close to RM200m in “government R&D grants” (public money), according to reports.
The convoluted saga of the compensation-in-kind for building the Penang tunnel continues.
The Penang state government plans to hand over land to the tunnel developer, Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) as part of a swap deal for building the cross-channel tunnel. And now Consortium Zenith has entered into a 40:60 joint venture with a subsidiary of Ewein Bhd to develop 3.7 acres of that land (Lot 702 at Bandar Tanjong Pinang).
Several dozen journalists and activists gathered in KL yesterday to call for greater media freedom. Among those who addressed the gathering were Ambiga Sreenevasan and Malaysiakini’s Fathi Aris Omar.
1334: “Okay, nak balik, tamatlah kisah cinta di pagi Ahad,” says the Muslim who has turned up to express solidarity. Once again, the tables have been turned, and the Muslims who have stepped forward to express solidarity with the Christians have given us real hope of an alternative, more inclusive vision for the future, in which the children of the light will overcome those of darkness.
1333: The priest says it is a historic day and thanks everyone who has come including the police. The large turnout this morning has made it almost like the attendance at Christmas. He mentions something about “kebebasan menyembah tuhan”, which sounds more poetic than freedom to worship, notes an observer at the scene. “You know, Malay is such a beautiful language, fit for any faith,” adds the observer.
