A Christmas Message from Sibu

Salute to A Courageous Lady
Posted by Dr Clement Chen (Sibu)

L.C. presented to my clinic in 2007 with a raised serum tumour marker CA 19.9 .She was in her earlier 30`s . There was a strong family history of cancers . Two siblings had already died of cancers . Two nieces died of leukemia before their 12th birthdays . One other sister subsequently diagnosed to have cancer and died shortly after diagnosis . .

L.C. was completely asymptomatic . Subsequent investigations found a lung cancer . There was the beginning of her long battle with cancers till her death 2 days ago . She was referred to KL to have part of her lung removed , followed with Chemo and radiotherapy . Unfortunately , in 2009, she was found to have another primary cancer in her right breast . She went through surgery , chemo , radio again . Life had not been fair to her , she was soon found to have metastatic lung cancer and have more chemo till she died 2 days ago .

It all sounded like just another case of cancer . Ya , she was a bit young but so many young ones had died of cancers . The WHO had already announced that 38% of us will die of cancers and certainly more will have cancers but survive with treatments .

The amazing things about this lady were:

1) throughout all these years , she continued a very active life : raising few children ( her husband was overseas most of the time ) popped in and out to have the ' killing ' treatment in hospitals in Sibu and Kuching in between her routines . Never saw her complaining . So many times , I had no good news for her : cancers growing , serum tumor markers rising ... She would just bow her head for a second or two and continue living !

2) she had been a very active volunteer with our cancer counseling group ( part of Sibu cancer society ) , visiting all the cancer sufferers . She wore head scarf most of the time as she was bold most of the time . The hair never had a chance to grow back with almost continuing treatment ! You could see her always smiling , laughing , joking . She lightened up many lives and had given great hopes to them too ! Last year , she wanted to join our trip to Similajau in Bintulu . She rush back from Kuching immediately after her Chemo but too weak to join us at the end .......... . .

3) I often looked at her with amazement , admiration and highest respect ! How could someone dying from cancers could still go around smiling , laughing , giving , helping ..... I was sure she was in pains , was crying .. but I just could not see a trace of that in her ..... She was a real fighter!

4) Her fighting spirit was extra ordinary . So many times this year , she had been admitted with shortness of breath ( lungs replaced with cancers ) and put on Oxygen etc ...Every time , I though this was going to be her last admission ! Before long , she was discharged and I bound into her around in town , gatherings .. walking around without oxygen !

5) Few days ago , I came back from overseas and was told that she was admitted again and was very sick ! I saw her , she was really in distress , gasping for breath . I put her on morphine to ease her sufferings . She asked " is this drug going to send me to haven quicker ? " I replied " Are you scared ? " She laughed through her Oxygen mask ,in between coughs ..and choking .......I could not hold back my tears , I knew her answers .................... Actually , she was such a brave soul throughout her ordeal ...She died at 6am the next morning .

Her funeral is tomorrow . she had lived and would be remembered by many for a long long time . Her soul would sure rest in peace in Heaven !

Dr. Clement

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The above notes were posted by Margaret at the Kuching Toastmaster's web-group

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Religion & Patriotism: What is the Virtue of Life?

CAUGHT-IN-ACTION - ACT 1, SCENE 1:

Girl Holds Umbrella for Disabled Old Beggar in Rainstorm

In the middle of a rainstorm, a thin frail girl was seen holding an umbrella for a handicapped old beggar while she herself was soaked in the rain. This scene was captured by a netizen in Suzhou who happened to witness the precious moment with his camera.

In Malaysia, we, the diverse society, the various races and the two sides of politicians, are busy and working hard to find fault with each other and one another. If we can't find the real faults, we create them so that it looks real. We are still busy with: (1) whether we are Malaysian First or Malay First, (2) whether Nasi Lemak 2.0 is seditious, (3) whether the church is evangelizing the Muslims, (4) whether Rosmah has bought the $24mil diamond ring, (5) whether Anwar was in Thailand prostituting, (6) whether ........... , uh, too long to narate .... but the nation is hardly concern: (1) whether recession is imminent, (2) whether another economic crisis similar to the American sub-prime crisis is imminent, (3) whether & why our universities are not on par with the top 500 universities international, (4) whether & why our graduates are unemployable, (5) whether we will become the next Zimbabwe, (5) whether our banks will collapse with piles of debts unserviced, (6) whether & why ..... uh, too long to narate ....

Love, care, charity and co-existence, we hardly can observe!!! Oh, Malaysia, what had happened to us??? Religion? Religion didn't teach us to find fault with others; Religion didn't teach us to hate others; Religion didn't teach us to be evil? Oh ya, Satan is part of religion too.

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SOURCE: posted by Fengniao “金桥tj” & XiCi netizen “林听海安”

COURTESY: BAYISINGH

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A passionate plea for help

I am extremely touched by Raja Petra's plea in his article: "A Passionate Plea for HELP". I take this opportunity (without permission) to publish the said article here and I hope Raja Petra won't mind.

A Passionate Plea for Help
by Raja Petra Kamarudin

Last night, I had dinner with some friends at the Italian restaurant in Centerpoint. When it came time to pay the bill the three of us fought for the honour. We almost became un-friends because of the ‘argument’ as to who should be allowed to pay for dinner. But when we summoned the headwaiter over, he shook his head and informed us that the bill had already been settled. And he pointed to a smiling family sitting inside the restaurant.

It is ever so often that I never get to pay for my meals. And I am not even taking into consideration the free meals the Malaysian government serves me in the Sungai Buloh Prison and the Kamunting Detention Centre. Total strangers just pick up my bills and after splurging myself silly I walk out of the place with my money still intact in my pocket. And many a time my hosts end up being guests of these strangers as well.

I have to admit that it is most touching and sometimes I find it difficult to smile. It is hard to appear cheerful when one is holding back the emotion of happiness to the point of tears. I suspect many a well-meaning stranger probably went away with the impression that I am not really that friendly after all, seeing that I appeared unhappy at their kind gesture. I certainly cannot cry in public. This will destroy the macho image that I am trying to portray. But even men cry when touched in the heart and I have so many times been touched in the heart by people who I have never met and who hug me and want to belanja me a meal.

I thank you, all you Malaysians who walked up to me to shake my hands, asked for my autograph, requested my permission to take a photograph with me, and much more. I know it is not me per se that you idolise -- because I certainly do not want to be idolised (it is un-Islamic to say the least) -- but that you feel you are contributing to the cause of making this a better Malaysia. And that is all that I am seeking, not to be put on a pedestal and hero-worshipped.

But, today, I am going to ask you to support me on a personal mission, which I am adopting as my latest cause.

There are many out there who have contributed to the cause of making this a better Malaysia. Many are faceless and nameless Malaysians who work quietly and aggressively behind the scenes in the effort to bring changes to Malaysia. One such family is, today, in need of help themselves.

This particular family is now going through their own crisis. Nevertheless, in spite of their predicament, they are still very much in the thick and thin of the struggle. But health problems, and financial problems brought on by their medical predicament, have brought hard times upon them. And it is time that fellow Malaysians rally to their side and assist in any small way that we can to help this family out of their predicament.

The mother of this family has been diagnosed with third-level cancer of the colon and rectum while, simultaneously, the father of the family has suffered a severe heart attack. But they do not have the financial means to seek proper medical treatment and we all know how much this can cost in this country. The total medical cost will be in excess of RM100,000 and, even then, the doctors do not guarantee anything because their cases are quite advanced and the doctors can only hope for the best and leave the rest to prayer.

The family borrowed heavily from friends and relatives for the mother’s operation in September 2008 (around the time I was detained under the Internal Security Act) and now she is surviving with a colostomy bag. But she is not out of the woods yet. She still has cancer. And over the next six months until April 2009 she will have to undergo 12 sessions of chemotherapy followed by five sessions of radiotherapy. The total cost will come to RM86,000.00.

The father of the house, who suffered the heart attack, has undergone an angiogram because, at that point of time, his heart was still very weak and the doctors felt he would not be strong enough to survive surgery. Furthermore, he needed about RM30,000.00 for the Angioplasty, Stent, bye-pass, etc., and he did not have the money for it.

In total, the family will need RM116,000.00 for their medical costs and there is no way they can manage this on their own. I appeal, therefore, to all Malaysians to come forward and help this activist family who did so much and worked very hard these last couple of years to contribute to a better Malaysia. They have done their bit for this country. It is now time we did our bit for them.

I am not asking you to break the bank or to go into debt. Do what you can within your means. The amount you give is not the issue. It is the thought that counts. Just give what you can afford and no need to do more than that. Let it be the cost of a glass of beer or a packet of cigarettes or whatever. So drink one glass less this week or smoke one packet less -- it may be good for you anyway -- and send the money to the family instead.

To Muslims, I have this to say. It has been narrated that the Prophet said: charity is not about giving away what you don’t need but what you treasure. And I leave it to you to decide if you want to give away what you don’t need or what you treasure in the spirit of the true teachings of Prophet Muhammad. Maybe the ‘no pain, no gain’ slogan most aptly describes what the Prophet meant. So, can we, as Muslims, ‘give till it hurts’?

Muslims have just celebrated the Festival of the Sacrifice (Hari Raya Korban) while the Christians will soon be celebrating Christmas. When better than now to live the spirit of Korban and Christmas in the real sense of the word? Let us demonstrate what stuff Malaysians are made of by raising this money in the soonest possible time. I shall later publish copies of the bank statement to show the amount of money that has come in plus copies of the hospital bills to show how the money was spent. It shall all be transparent and above board.

To those who desire to contribute to this cause of mine, the bank account of their son, KEVIN A/L MICHAL JOS, is 1124-4704-3083 (Maybank).

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Please help; I will also do my part.

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Datuk Anifah stunned BN MPs in Dewan Rakyat

"What good is a leader if the people are no longer with him?"

This question was posed by Datuk Anifah Aman to the BN parliamentarians at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

This is what he had to say:

"What is the point of persisting with leaders who have deviated from the right path? Do we stick with them?"

Anifah then pondered about the price of blind loyalty to leaders and the price people would have to pay for this.

"What is the use of being loyal to leaders and, in the process, sacrificing our people's future?"

Anifah said: "Independence would be meaningless if the people could not enjoy clean running water or if children had to walk miles to get an education."

Minister Zahid Hamidi asked Anifah if Sabah backbenchers were tempted to cross over to the opposition. Anifah's reply stumped him and a whole lot of BN MPs as well as the oppositions.

"I am not saying I am crossing over. This matter of crossing over is not a serious matter. What is serious is the millions in 5-States in Malaysia who crossed over to the opposition," Anifah said.

This led Datuk Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) to ask Anifah if he would support an anti-hopping law.

Anifah replied that he was against any law that would stop members from exercising their individual rights. "That would be like a police state. What is the point of persisting with leaders who have deviated from the right path?'

Anifah said the most important thing that the government should work on now was to prevent Sabah from going the way of the 5-States ruled by Pakatan Rakyat.

"The important thing now is for Sabah people not to jump like the Peninsula Malaysians did in the 5-States."

Source: Anifah: No harm in crossing over

One important aspect that Datuk Anifah Aman exhorted is the main point of parliamentarians and the ruling regime including the opposition camp is the fact about the interest of the rakyat.

In the words of Anifah, the question of MPs crossing over to either camp is not the main issue but that the millions of voters who had crossed over to Pakatan Rakyat should be the main issue which the Barisan Nasional leaders should have pondered seriously and conduct post-mortem using an internal critical reflective attitude to deduce the fundamental reasons of their defeat and to analyze and reconstruct themselves to a position of strength and to win back the support of the people.

Instead they are spending most of their time in trying to run down the Pakatan Rakyat government and the balance of their time in trying to stopped any cross-overs of their MPs to the other camp.

This is also the same problem with the Pakatan Rakyat government who spends most of their time looking back to past records and trying to construct a devil out from the past regime; and also trying to see how to get the monies from the charitable organization previously managed by the Barisan Nasional wives' organization.

Why the monies from Balkis, Bunga Tanjung, Baiduri or Bindara were distributed to Bakti wasn't the real issue as Bakti is a renown charitable organization with proven track records. The issue can only be if the monies had gone to the pockets of the individual members or office bearers which tantamount to a criminal breach of trust. As it was, the monies from the wives' organization were given to Bakti and PR should not question the validity even if there is legal points of dispute as the action was and is noble and charitable in itself.

If the PR government representatives are sincere to do charity they should contribute monies from their own efforts and garner the public support by setting up more charitable organizations and ensure that monies donated by the people and any organizations towards the charitable institutions would be properly managed for the absolute interest of the poor and needy. There should not be any ideological and political differences between any charitable organizations as all of them are working for the common good of the people - it is about charity, not politics.

Cloned Kadi surfaced

Kadi also can clone ah???

Lebanese "billionaire" Elie Youssef Najem not only have problem with his suppliers, employees, and money lenders. He also didn't pay the security guard services since January as reported. Now he has another kind of problem unseen in ages: his marriage may also be a sham. 6 months ago, he married Farinnie Farid, the daughter of ex-deputy finance minister and she is pregnant now. However, the imam who purportedly solemnised Najem’s marriage does not exist; the identity card belongs to a woman.

State religious authorities believe the marriage certificate Najem showed the Press recently was a forgery. State Islamic Religious Council president Datuk Syeikh Kasim Saad said the serial number of the marriage certificate Najem produced — 033423 — was from the marriage certificate of a couple in Kubang Pasu. He said the certificate was issued to the couple after their marriage in Jerlun on Nov 22, 2004. Najem’s "marriage certificate" carries the State Islamic Religious Department’s seal and the signature of one Haji Ahmad Mohd Tahir, supposedly the imam. Syeikh Kasim, also the department director, said the last digit of the identity card number claimed as Ahmad’s was a "0", which is only given to women. He said the council or department had never issued a marriage certificate to Najem and Farinnie. "If there is a certificate, it could have been forged. As far as we are concerned, the couple never solemnised their marriage in Kedah." He said the council would lodge a police report on the matter soon.

The marriage certificate Najem showed the media indicated that the couple had held their akad nikah in Serdang, near Kulim, at 4.30pm on Oct 6 last year. The certificate, which carries both Najem’s and Farinnie’s signatures, did not state the venue of the ceremony.

The dowry Najem purportedly paid for Farinnie’s hand was RM100, while the wang hantaran was RM3,000 and a gold ring. Cheap-skate for a man who purportedly worth US46 billion.

ZAUYAH'S ORDEAL OVER

ZAUYAH'S ORDEAL

GOD BLESS ZAUYAH & HER FAMILY

Housewife Zauyah Md. Noor, 62, was made to believe she was HIV-positive when the Selama hospital examine her blood sample on March 16. She was then referred to Taiping hospital for a second test and the results confirmed her as HIV-positive.

On July 22, a doctor from Selama hospital inform the family that Zauyah had been wrongly diagnosed but she had already died on July 12, due to renal cancer at the Ipoh hospital.

“After the humiliation, pain and suffering, how dare the hospital authorities atone for their blunder with just a telephone call?” remarked Mohd Zaidi Basir, 39, Zauyah’s son.

ANY DONATIONS FOR THE NEEDY?

GOOD SAMARITAN

GOD BLESS THOSE WHO HELP THE POOR AND NEEDY.

2-year-old Nurizate Marzlan needs RM18,000 to undergo open-heart surgery on Sept 29. Marzlan Salleh, the father is a laborer who earns $1,000 a month, and Noridah Salim, the mother is a home-based seamstress.

3-year-old Carie On, the daughter of On Kuan Siong, 36, and Yong Sing me, 33, needs surgery as she is diagnosed with ventricular septal defect. The surgery cost RM30,000. Carie’s father is a printer earning $1,900 a month.

Donation can be payable to The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd with the children’s name written on the back of the cheque addressed to: The Donation Department, NEW STRAITS TIMES(M) Bhd, 31, Jalan Riong, 59100 KL.

400 MILLION INDIANS LIVES BELOW POVERTY LEVEL

Poverty
– Reuters picture, NSTP, August 30, 2004.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING MILLIONS FOR ELABORATED MERDEKA CELEBRATION? PLEASE PONDER!

Priyanka, three, an Indian slum girl, breaking stones next to her siblings on the banks of the Mahananda river in the Indian city of Slilguri yesterday. Priyanka earns 20 rupees (RM1.80) a day. Over 400 million Indians live below the international agreed poverty line: living on less than US$1 (RM3.80) a day. It is estimated several hundred thousand children works as laborers and beg on India’s streets.

While we spent millions to celebrate Merdeka ON 31st. August each year, in rememberance of the day we achieved our independence, over the other side of the world, hundreds of thousands in India are begging on the streets and millions more in Africa and North Korea are starving.

Back home, tens of thousands in the kampung are struggling to earn a few ringgit to keep themselves and their children alive and maybe, to sent them to schools in less than adequate conditions, while UMNO will be spending hundreds of millions in preparation for the General Assembly in September. The same goes to MCA too.

Over the last few days, The Star and NST had front-page captions & photos of "Patriotic Spirit Acts" such as the Jalur Gemilang-dressed bullock cart (that cost $2,000 to dressed-up) and a picture of a diver decked with mini Jalur Gemilang feeding a stingray at the Underwater World Langkawi on Saturday which the manager claims as'This is an ideal way of showing our love for the country - the underwater style.'

Is this what Patriotism is about? Wouldn't we consider it to be patriotic if we use the monies spent on this publicity to acquire food and basic necessities such as school bags, books & school uniform and distribute them to the poors in the kampung during this Merdeka, to show how much we care for our less fortunate people, and where possible, to contribute to the poors in India, Africa and North Korea? These apart, there are also many in urban areas that are also struggling to survive; lest we forget the Kampung Medan incident.

Would the government consider that future merdeka day celebration be centered on helping the poor? Then, it would be a truthful and meaningful Merdeka day - a day a year where we spent time with the poor, the least we could do!!!!!

LOW XUE FEN'S PLIGHT

Low Xue Fen

NEED FOR HELP!

3 ½ year-old Low Xue Fen suffers from complex cyanotic congenital heart disease since she was one week old.
She needed $32,000 for her third operation, but the parents cannot afford the cost. They are appealing for donations. The father is a vegetable seller.
Donors can send cheques made payable to: The New Straits Time with Low Xue Fen’s name written on the reverse side of the cheque, addressed to:

Cashier, Finance Department/Charity Unit,
Balai Berita, 31, Jalan Riong,
59100 Kuala Lumpur.

PRAVEIN NEEDS $250,000 FOR OPERATION

Pravein

Four-year-old Pravein Prakash underwent a five-hour operation recently to remove two tumours from his stomach at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC). He is on the road to recovery but has still to undergo chemotherapy and further treatment at the hospital.

The boy's father Prakash Naidu, who earns about RM2,000 a month working in a sundry shop. He has forked out about RM40,000 of his savings for his son's treatments and has an elder daughter to care for, too. Doctors said Pravein had advanced abdominal neuroblastoma or stomach cancer and recommended that he underwent treatment under the supervision of consultant paediatrician and paediatric haematologist-cum-oncologist Prof Dr Lin Hai Peng. Dr Lin said Pravein needed to undergo chemotherapy to make the tumours small enough for operation while his peripheral blood stem cells had to be harvested and preserved so that they could be given back to him. MIC Youth chief S.A. Vigneswaran and Social and Welfare Bureau chairman T. Mohan launched a campaign to raise RM250,000 for Pravein's treatment. The MIC Youth has already raked in RM80,000 so far,” said Vigneswaran.

We must be thankful that MIC had put in tremendous effort to raise some money for Pravein. If only UMNO had also raised the money for Nur Atiqah .... What about the Towkay MCA and Ong Ka Ting - what are they doing to help? Does MCA cares for others?
Sorry, the Government has no extra money to help Pravein as they had just given 620million to Ting Pek King. So, Chua Soi Lek cannot help and please don't depend on him as we had learned a lesson from the history of Nur Atiqah. Fortunately, Pravein is using the service of SJMC, and not University Hospital which traps Nur Atiqah for 6 months that was the sole reason and cause of her death.

Those who can help, please make out cheques to “MIC Youth – Pravein Fund” and send to the bureau at 12, Jalan PBP 5, Taman Industri Pusat Bandar Puchong, 47100 - Puchong. They can also contact Mohan at 019-211-9547 or Prakash at 019-763-3615 or 03-5882-3060.