This is from an email forward which I sent out to all my friends today. I decided to put it here on my blog because it riles me a lot that we still hear of these incidents happening in Malaysia.
“Dear all
Am forwarding an article which appeared on malaysiakini to you. I think medical care is a basic human right, no matter if you are a Penan in the Sarawak jungle or not.
I’ve always wondered why there hasn’t been a major highway link-up over in Borneo like what we have here in Semenanjung (our PLUS highway).
But highways aside, development is not something you get if you vote for the ‘right’ party or allow the ‘right’ timber company to come into your land.
If we’re talking about Merdeka, let’s talk about Merdeka of these people. Aren’t they the real bumiputera, the sons of the land? Why are they often neglected if they don’t throw a fuss?
Even if they do throw a fuss (mild by our city standards) they still don’t get the right help or
attention.
I get very pissed at this for many reasons.
If you have been to Sarawak, you will note that these people are kind and easygoing. Perhaps these traits are the cause of their downfall. They’ve been too kind and easygoing, so trusting that outside people exploit them! (In the case of timber companies, it is also their own people who exploit them!)
And talk to any Sarawakian and the vocal ones (my husband included) will tell you that the oil money is theirs YET it is used for development projects here in the Semenanjung. None or very little for their own home state.
No wonder the Sarawakians call the Semenanjung people ‘leper’, a derogative term for cockroach!
Anyway, do read this letter and if possible, tell others this story.
The story of a Penan woman who died of post natal bleeding in today’s day and age!” (You need to be a Malaysiakini subscriber to read the full story).
Or you can read a response to the story. This one fills you in on what happened to the poor Penan woman.
As it was first published in The Nutgraph before it got into Malaysiakini, I will re-route you to read the Nutgraph (original) version as you won’t get the full Malaysiakini story if you aren’t a subscriber.
Read and contemplate….I did and it made me so angry I had to blog about it!
Good heavens!! I read the nutgraph article and just….just….dunno whether to burst into tears or just burst!! Really…how can the friggin’ nurse be so…lidat??!!! never mind, karma. it will come back to her, no need to get so angry….it’ll all come back to her and people like her.
That is very distressing – it was probably the drop that killed the baby more than anything. It is a darn shame that the nurse or the appropriate authorities cannot be held responsible for their negligence.
Marsha, yes, it’s happening to fellow Malaysians. Right here. In this century when we can enjoy wifi, have a cuppa Starbucks, watch Barack Obama on TV and…. not far away we have stories of Penan women dying just because some nurse decides if she lives or dies! The Penan woman is not important because what we cannot see, we cannot feel. It’s bloody ridiculous. We’re so bloody third world in our mentality, our outlook, our actions that it’s no wonder Americans still think we live on trees. Perhaps we do…. because we sure act like orangutans! I know karma will come bite her in the ass but until then, this story needs outrage, this story needs to be told and retold so we don’t forget that people over in Sabah and Sarawak are still Malaysians.
Lol… I wrote something about Malaysia tak boleh a few days ago too… =.= Malaysia boleh? Yeah right, name one thing we tak boleh, i will be laughing my head off to the next life.
http://cleffairy.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/malaysia-boleh-tak-boleh/
Hi Grace: Yes, it’s sad isn’t it?
Hi cleffairy: Read your piece. Yes, so many things tak boleh. When our PM said we can have a non-Malay PM in the future, I almost choked. Don’t give people false hope. It’s not true and everyone knows it. It’s just too sad that we have so many spin doctors who try to trick us into believing something that’s like so impossible. We cannot even settle our little differences and little differences are blown out of proportion by racists so what hope is there for real unity? Love your piece woman!
To blame the peninsular Malaysian is simply not fair. The two governments (state and federal) are to be blamed. The state government receives RM11billion or so from oil royalties by Petronas since 1990 excluding the allocation given for each state on their expenditure. Penang, with a population of 1.5 million only receives RM380 million annually.
It really depends on how the state government acts actually. Seeing Taib Mahmud rule unopposed for 28 years is simply enough. All mega projects are given to his family company, CMS and other cronies. And whom to blame for Taib to remain as CM? The people of Sarawak themselves. But however, the media blackout by the BN government and the simple-minded rural areas in which have no other choices but to continue vote for BN. The opposition realised its very hard to capture those areas, especially campaigning funds are often a problem. As a result, they are left behind. Noticed the 12th GE, only 2 parliamentary seats in East Malaysia out of 56 falls to opposition (DAP) – in which both seats are capital of both states which are considered urban areas, Kuching and Kota Kinabulu respectively.
So…who to blame?
@ Eric: You could be right. The Sarawakians always seem to be too easygoing and can’t be bothered to fight the right way. They get sidelined and STILL vote for the same damn party. But that’s probably politics of the generation that will no longer hold true for the next general election. It makes me cringe with shame when I think how much crap they can take! People over there call Peninsular Malaysia as “Malaya” as if they’ve never been part of this country. That’s how “separated” we and they are. Listening to the local radio station, I can imagine how the BN propaganda keeps them mired in the same old, same old.