Things are not so bad

My mother and most of her side of the family are in Singapore now celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival.

I'm supposed to be there too but can't make it because of my ailment.

I'm still wearing this koyok my mother bought me when she was in Japan last year.

It's quite good. Very warm for the aching parts of my body.

Anyway, I need to save my energy for work.

Well, it's a bit silly to celebrate mid-autumn when we have no such season here, but what the heck, it's fun to be with the family, have big makan, play mahjong etc.

My mother's side of the family celebrate almost everything they feel worth celebrating.

My father on the other hand is the opposite of all that.

He hardly celebrates anything.

Not even his birthday.

He doesn't even seems too enthusiastic to celebrate Raya.

That's just the way he is, being brought up in a quite poor family.

Celebrations are luxuries and he's simply not used to them.

Anyway, I think I prefer the way of my mother's family.

Much happier.

It's good that we can still celebrate things like the mid-autumn festival.

It reminds us that things are not so bad and there are still reasons to count our blessings.

Better than those in other places where people have no luxury to celebrate anything.

War, famine, natural disasters, etc....well, at least we don't have those nasty things here.

To learn more about mid-autumn festival, you can watch this video,

 Okay, I need to get ready now for an important dinner tonight.

Have a good weekend guys.

Too much painkiller

It's quiet and peaceful where I am now.

Still resting.

I can hear birds chirping outside the window.

Half of my body is still aching.

Wish I don't have to ever get up.

But I have to go to work tomorrow.

Need to earn a living.

It's the bottom line for me.

As I previously wrote, all the nonsense that are happening actually don't really matter to me.

What really matter to me are survival and living a good decent life.

Why should I care about some self-serving politicians trying to tell everyone how to think and behave.

Fuck off to them, okay.

I'm not going to listen to them.

As if they really care about my well being.

End of the day, I will vote for those I think can make my life better and improve things for the future.

Plain and simple.

Those selling all the rhetoric can shove those up their ass.

I'm not buying them.

Bloggers, myself included, who are they? Are they any better than you all that they are qualified to tell you how to think?

I don't think so.

I'm writing just to express myself and putting my thoughts on record.

That's all.

It doesn't really matter to me whether you agree or disagree with me.

I'm not trying to teach you all how to think.

Again, let me reiterate - mine is just an insignificant anonymous blog.

I'm definitely not taking part in a popularity contest.

I don't need to show the world or a paymaster that my blog is high up in the stupid Alexa ranking.

I don't need to do that because I don't have that kind of ego or the need for lots of money.

I'm also definitely not an ustazah to teach you all about Islam and Muslims

I'm not a penyelamat ummah.

My knowledge of my religion is not much - Darjah Lima Sekolah Agama Johor.

Definitely not the credential of a penyelamat ummah.

Actually, I rather be a penyelamat nyawa, like those good doctors now hounded for allegedly not paying their taxes properly.

But I'm not qualified to be like them too.

Well, I'm not even a highly moral person to teach you right and wrong.

I'm not even trying, okay.

Most of the time I was just presenting the facts as I know and understand them.

That's all.

It's for you all to decide how to form your own opinion.



Okay, I think I'm rambling again. Can go on like this the whole day.

Maybe it's  the medication.

I better stop here before you all think I'm going crazy.

You all better enjoy this song instead,

Yup, I think I'm just stoned at the moment.

Too much painkiller :)

Cheers

In defense of good doctors (updated)

(note : Updates at the bottom)

In my last posting,

• Squeezed doctors

there were comments condemning the doctors such as this,

Anonymous12 September 2016 at 01:55

....They save lives, okay....

yes many of them save lives but with condition...and the condition is give me a lot of money or go and die because i am a DOCTOR

For all that, I would like to reproduce this post which I did almost a year ago so that you all may not think too harshly of our doctors,

Please give the good doctor what he wants 

(Note : Please click on the link above if you wish to read it along with the comments. There is also a video of the doctor performing a surgery at the link. If you watch and listen carefully to the video, you will realise that the good doctor I highlighted is a Malay.)

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

I met a handsome doctor, who is a neurosurgeon the other day.

He has a practice at one of the private hospitals in Malacca.

The neurosurgeon used to work for many years at several government hospitals.

He left to set up his own practice because of reasons I'm not at liberty to disclose here.

He nonetheless told me that he loves working in a government hospital because he get to save more lives there.

Despite the lower income compared to having his own private practice, he enjoyed having more patients at the big hospitals.

"Many of those patients can't afford to go to private hospitals, so I think I can do more good in a government hospital," he said.

The guy said he had recently volunteered to perform surgeries at a government hospital.

The problem is that the hospital doesn't have proper

Craniotomy

equipment necessary for him to perform those surgeries.

The hospital had since applied to the Health Ministry for an allocation to purchase the equipment.

The guy appeared quite excited at the prospect of being able to help out at the hospital.

"They don't even have to pay me. Just get the equipment and I will do my best in the OT (operation theater)," he said.

I hope one of the big shots at the Health Ministry will read this and help out to get the budget for the hospital to get the equipment needed by the neurosurgeon.

Please check which hospital in Malacca had recently applied for the equipment.

I don't want to give too many details here as i don't want the neurosurgeon to get in trouble for telling me all these.

Just imagine how many lives could be saved if the guy can help out at the hospital.

All those poor patients can get faster treatment.

The neurosurgeon told me the needed equipment could costs less than RM100,000.

I don't think that's too expensive considering the benefits which could be derived from it.

To the Health Ministry people who read this and willing to help, thank you very much.

Hopefully, the hospital can have the equipment as soon as possible.

The neurosurgeon performing a surgery. The guy is very good with his work.

I believe the good doctor I highlighted in that post was also caught in the tax issue.

I hope the whole thing will not discourage him from trying to help the less well-off patients at the government hospitals.

Well, saving lives is not easy after all.

There are people who don't even want to appreciate it.

By the way, I'm still down with my ailment and writing this in bed.

Feeling a bit down, actually.

Hopefully I'll be okay again in the next few days.

You all take care ya.

UPDATES

I forwarded a question by Gladiator, who is a regular commentator of this blog about what happened to the craniotomy equipment requested for the use of the neurosurgeon and this is the wassap reply from the good doctor,

Squeezed doctors

I went to hospital today for treatment.

Old ailment working up again.

Bumped into a schoolfriend who is a surgeon there.

We had lunch and talked quite a bit about what is happening ever since we last met about a year ago.

She was apparently worried over the latest directive by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) on tax treatment for doctors at private hospitals like her,

She said the directive, issued earlier this week requires tax treatment for doctors like her be based on personal basis instead of Sdn Bhd as had been the practice all these while.

Like most other doctors at private hospitals, my friend had set up a Sdn Bhd company and received her service fees from the hospital through it.

She technically provides her services via her own company while "renting" facilities at the hospital.

"What I understand is that the tax I paid via my company over the past three years since I'm at this hospital will not be counted. I have to pay a new sum on personal basis and on top of that I have to pay penalties," my friend said.

"I had done the calculations and it looks like I have to pay about RM1.3 million for the whole sum.  I'm not really sure where I'm going to get that much money, as the deadline is on December 15.

"My lawyer said I can't fight this one as I will surely lose and they will punish me further later on," she added.

She said she had always paid her taxes on time and as according to the normal practice.

"If the method of my payment was wrong, why did they only tell me about it now. I have no intention of cheating the government. It's just that I followed the practice which have been in place all these while."

My friend said the Malaysian Medical Association had told the over 3,000 affected doctors nationwide not to fight the IRB directive.

"Even our association had abandoned us. They even told us not to make noise about this," she lamented.

"Talks among my fellow doctors is that they will go after those who run private clinics after this," she added.

My friend, who is an Umno member also told me that the government's standing among the affected doctors is not very good at the moment for obvious reason.

Hopefully the IRB can come up with some sorts of mechanism so that the doctors will not be too burdened by the whole thing.

I don't think it's wise to be harsh towards those doctors at this moment in time.

They save lives, okay.

We should at least appreciate them for that.

It's also not such a good thought to have 3,000 doctors joining the rank of people who hate the government.

Especially now.

Anyway, I'm writing this while laying down on my bed.

The doctor who treated me today told me to rest my body as much as I can to avoid aggravating my old ailment.

Johor's choice to either swim or sink

A friend called earlier today to ask my opinion about the situation in Johor before these were posted in the comment section of this blog,

Anonymous10 September 2016 at 15:07

BREAKING NEWS FROM JOHOR.........

"Gelang Patah Umno permanent chairperson has announced his resignation from the Malay party during his speech at the division's delegate meeting earlier today.

"I declare that I am no longer an Umno member during my speech as permanent chairperson at the Gelang Patah Umno Delegate Meeting," Baharom Abdul Ghani posted on his Facebook page.

Baharom was a founding member of Gelang Patah Umno division which he founded in 1994 and was an assemblyperson from 1995 to 2004."

Replies
Anonymous10 September 2016 at 18:30
Kulai Umno deputy chief Tosrin Jarvanti has also exited.
- anon truly

My friend, who already knew about those developments had wanted to know whether the resignation of Baharom and Tosrin from Umno will affect the party in Johor.

My answer was - NOT MUCH

As far as I know, Baharom and Tosrin are not influential figures in the state. In fact, I don't think that they were even influential in their own divisions.

It should be noted that their divisions of Gelang Patah and Kulai are among the most problematic in Johor. Both are now DAP's territories.

Their dissatisfactions were most likely more due to infightings between factions in those divisions rather than bigger things such as the idea of saving the country by toppling PM DS Najib Razak.

I know Baharom in person, having first met him in 2002 when he was still an assemblyman of Nusajaya.

The guy, who is actually a Malaccan, is a colourful character even back then.

In an incident which was quite widely reported at that time, he dramatically tried to stop a bulldozer which was about to demolish houses during a protest against a land acquisition exercise. It was a brave but rather foolish act as the developer had done all the right things to acquire the land.

Baharom was dragged to court over the matter and Johor BN, not wanting to take a risk, decided to drop him from the candidate list of the 2004 general election.

He more or less faded into the Johor political background after that.

Baharom should be in his late 60s or early 70s now.

Well, maybe he is enjoying himself again today being once more in the limelight for dramatically announcing his resignation from Umno at the divisional meeting.

It should also be noted that Gelang Patah Umno is now headed by Khairi Malek, the political secretary of MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

I was told just the other day that Khairi is now the "king maker" among Umno people in Johor. Surely he knows how to handle the Baharom problem.

Back to my friend's query about the situation in Johor, I told him that what could really affect Umno there is actually the level of work being done by the party machinery.

If Johor Umno continues to serve the people well like during the leadership of former MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman, then it should have nothing to worry about resignations such as that of Baharom and Tosrin.

Bear in mind that 83 percent of Malay Johoreans voted for Umno and BN in the last general election.

If not for that, Johor would had been swept away by the 2013 Chinese tsunami.

Whether Johor Umno remains strong or otherwise is up for Khaled and his people to decide.

Work sincerely for the people or continue being busy enriching themselves and forgot to even do basic things for election such as the kajian sikap pengundi with less than two years to go.

The choice is simple.

Either way, I actually don't really care. I'm not an Umno member nor am I subscribing to the concept of Bangsa Johor, which seems to be so important under Khaled's leadership.

I'm making these observations and comments purely as a neutral.

The need to be careful and popular

Someone cautioned me yesterday evening that I shouldn't write yet about Johor BN's preparations for the next general election.

He said I should check properly again on that one because if I got it wrong, it would be unfair to MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin and his team.

I think that's a sound advice. I will check some more.

I had wanted to write about the matter because I heard complaints about how slow things are going on the ground.

It was made worse because there's a rumour going around that the general election may be held as early as March next year.

"Kajian sikap pengundi pun tak buat lagi, macam mana nak buat pilihanraya bulan tiga tahun depan," said a Johor assemblyman when we met earlier this week.

That's bad, with less than two years to go before the deadline.

But, I have to agree that I better check properly again before writing about it.

Anyway, that someone who cautioned me about the whole thing also told me that I shouldn't be too cocky.

"Hey, you are not very popular, okay. Someone did a research on your blog and it's very much down the Alexa ranking," he said.

"Alexa who?" I asked back. Honestly, at first I didn't get what he was talking about.

Alexa Chung is a British fashion model, television presenter, and contributing editor at British Vogue. She's a bit Chinese...like me.

Then, he showed me the links and where he got it from.

I had a good laugh when I read it.

I was like, Whoa! A research to prove how unpopular I am.

That's awesome actually.

In all honesty to Allah, I have never checked where my blog is in the Alexa ranking.

It's just an insignificant anonymous blog, okay.

A platform for me to express myself and not for me to be popular.

And of course the likes of Papa Gomo are more popular bloggers in term of hits compared to me. I'm sure they are of the same level on the Alexa ranking chart and elsewhere as the person who did that research on my blog.

But never mind lah.

That was a bit of fun, anyway.

Eh, I have a very important meeting at 10am. I better go now.

Sorry, can't hang around and layan you all the whole day.

Unlike some lucky popular bloggers, I have to work like normal people, okay.

Cheers

Headache and a little teaser

Thought of doing a proper posting this morning but I woke up just now with a very bad headache.

I really shouldn't had done what I did last night.

So, this is a short and an inconsequential one.

If you all want to read "heavy" stuff, I suggest you read the comments at my last post. There are over 100 of them. Some of you all were very rajin to write those things.

But okay la, it's quite a fair fight. All sides represented.

If those are not heavy enough, then I think you all should go and read a blog by a heavy weight blogger.

That blogger once said  I'm a light weight blogger, which is true by comparison, actually. I'm just a bit over 50 kg.

Sorry, can't say the name here :)

Okay, for now I just want you all to enjoy this music video.  It's to cheer up the mood for the day.

I watched this video many years ago when I was still very young. It was the very first time I saw Siti Nurhaliza and I remember telling myself that the girl was going to be a big hit.

Well, need to shake off this headache now, get up, and go to work.

I will try to write about what I really wanted to write later in the day if I have the time.

It's going to be about Johor BN's preparation for the next general election....or rather the lack of it.