My first post on the overcrowding at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) was posted in Apr 2008. It has been almost a year and there is still no news. Kuching residents has repeatedly called for the setting up of another general hospital to complement the present overworked SGH.
Many complaints received are about the lack of facilities at the SGH, which were the cause of many a frustration among the people.
SGH also lacked certain facilities and this has somewhat caused patients to endure longer appointment dates. Members of the public also had to go through the hassle of getting a parking space in the cramped hospital compound.
So while millions has been thrown into the space program and to buy frogs in Perak, the federal government is still closing their ears and eyes.
Related posts:
* Sarawak General Hospital badly overcrowded, Part 2
* Sarawak General Hospital badly overcrowded
From TheBorneoPost
Another general hospital urgently needed
By Puvaneswary Devindran
KUCHING: City folk are yearning for an additional general hospital for quite sometime now but nobody seems to know when it will ever materialise.
The latest one to join in the chorus is the central youth of Sarawak United People’s Party, which called for the setting up of another general hospital to complement the present overworked Sarawak General Hospital.
SUPP youth chairman Sih Hua Tong said they had received many complaints about the lack of facilities at the SGH, which were the cause of many a frustration among the people.
“They complained that SGH lacked certain facilities and this has somewhat caused patients to endure longer appointment dates,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
He said members of the public also had to go through the hassle of getting a parking space in the cramped hospital compound.
He said gratitude and appreciation no doubt should go to the health workers, and the people knew that the hospital was doing its best to cater to their needs but one general hospital was simply not enough.
“We urge the federal government through the Health Ministry to quickly set up another general hospital to provide better medical facilities to the people,” he said.
He hoped Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai would come here to see for himself the situation first-hand at the SGH.
The need for a second general hospital has been making headlines in many local newspapers of late.
Last year, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud announced the need for the city to have two more general hospitals – one to be located between the city and Santubong and the other, in rapid growing Samarahan.
He said plans for these hospitals had to be drawn up as soon as possible because by 2020, this city would have a population of about a million people.
“It is an open secret that Kuching is in urgent need of another general hospital. This is further compounded by the fact that the hospital is a specialist referral hospital in the state.
“Although the newly refurbished wings is appreciated, this still does not solve the age-old problem of having not enough beds.
It was also reported in January last year that the best estimates put the number (of bed) at around 800, which is far from adequate with the city’s population.
In May last year, the Health Minister on his visit to the hospital said the government was looking at two options to solve overcrowding at the hospital. One was to build a second public hospital and the other one was to acquire an existing facility.
Liow said the authorities were studying these options although the long-term plan was that another hospital might be needed to complement SGH.
Besides SGH, there are three other hospitals in the city; Normah Medical Specialist Centre, Kuching Specialist Centre, and Timberland Medical Centre. All are either privately run or government linked.
For the time being, remaining employees of Western Digital Media Sdn Bhd (WD), Kuching can sigh a temporary relieve as their factory closure has been postponed. WD, a harddisk manufacturer is in the midst of negotiations with an interested foreign company to take over the factory.
List of current harddisk manufacturers:
As of 2007, these vendors include Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, ExcelStor, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Hitachi. Fujitsu is reportedly selling it's hard disk unit to Western Digital.
If a foreign company were to buy WD, it would be either Seagate, Samsung, ExcelStor, Toshiba or Hitachi.
Related posts:
* Hitachi - Western Digital deal off
List of notable defunct harddisk manufacturers:
* Apple, Inc. - produced the proprietary Lisa 20MB Widget drive in-house in 1984 for less than two years before getting out of the drive business.
* Atasi Corp. - bankrupt
* Areal Technology - acquired by Tomen Corp
* Cogito Systems - bankrupt
* Computer Memories Inc. (CMI) - left industry in 1986
* Conner Peripherals - merged with Seagate in 1996
* Conner Technologies - merged with ExcelStor in 2001
* Control Data/Imprimis - hard disk drive business acquired by Seagate in 1989
* Digital Equipment Corporation - hard disk drive business acquired by Quantum in 1994
* Epson - left industry
* Hewlett Packard - left industry
* IBM - hard disk drive business acquired by Hitachi in 2002
* Integral Peripherals - first 1.8" rigid HDD, bankrupt in 1998
* International Memories (IMI) - spun off by Memorex in 1977, left industry in 1985
* Iomega - left industry
* JT Storage - bankrupt in 1999
* JVC - left industry
* Kalok - bankrupt in 1994
* Kyocera - left industry
* LaPine Technologies
* Maxtor - acquired by Seagate in 2006
* Memorex - acquired by Burroughs 1981 and then merged into Unisys 1986, HDD division shut down in 1988.
* Micropolis Corporation - bankrupt in 1997
* Microscience International - bankrupt in 1992
* MiniScribe - bankrupt and then acquired by Maxtor in 1990
* Ministor - bankrupt in 1998
* Mitsubishi - left industry
* NEC - left industry
* PrairieTek first 2.5" rigid HDD, bankrupt in 1991
* Priam Systems - product line acquired by Prima International in 1991
* Quantum Corporation - hard disk drive business acquired by Maxtor in 2000
* Rahm Rotationals - renamed/merged in 1994 to Tamir Tech (purchased by Quantum 1995)
* Rodime - first 3.5" rigid HDD, shut down manufacturing in 1991, licensed its patents until the patent business was sold for $1.5M in July 2003. The company was then the subject of a reverse merger and became Sportech PLC
* Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK) - left industry
* Syquest - bankrupt in 1998, some patents acquired by Iomega. Re-emerged selling cartridges for their previously-discontinued products.
* Tandon - acquired by Western Digital in 1988
* Texas Instruments - left industry
* Tulin Corporation - bankrupt
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From TheBorneoPost
Western Digital closure postponed: Dr Chan
By Chin Kee Leong
KUCHING: The closure of Western Digital Media Sdn Bhd (WD) has been postponed because the company is still in negotiations with an interested foreign company, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan.
Dr Chan said when contacted, the outcome would only be known in the weeks to come.
However, Dr Chan declined to reveal the name of the foreign company interested in taking over WD’s operation.
“I was told that WD is in the midst of discussion with an international company interested in buying out the operation. Perhaps that is why WD postponed the closure date of the factory and did not want to retrench their employees just yet.
“If the negotiation is successful, the remaining employees will still be needed to continue with its factory operations,” explained Dr Chan, who is also Industrial Development Minister. Dr Chan said that negotiations would take time because it involves a large investment and must be done carefully.
He added that his ministry is trying its best to convince the potential buyer to take over WD’s operations.
Dr Chan advised WD’s employees to be patient and not take hasty action before knowing the fate of the company, which operates at the Samajaya Industrial Free Zone.
“If WD is closed later and the employees are retrenched, I believe the workers will be paid appropriate compensation – that is the requirement,” he stressed.
Dr Chan was responding to comments by WD employees that the company is putting off the actual date factory operations will cease to delay paying compensation to them.
On Monday a WD employee, who declined to be named, had complained about a letter dated Feb 3 announcing compensation would be paid on Feb 20.
The employee concerned claimed that it was the management’s strategy to pressure the employees.
“When the employees cannot stand the indefinite suspension they will quit, which means that they will not be paid compensation,” said the employee.
WD had earlier been expected to close its factory operations here next month, leaving about 1,500 employees unemployed.
Teachers going mad teaching subjects in English, yelled TheStar. Well, uncommitted teachers can surely go mad. No problem with me. This stemmed from some Malay teachers who are "going mad" for not able to handle teaching the Mathematics and Science subjects in English.
If the kids can learn English, why it is so difficult for the adult teachers to learn English. In fact Chinese and Indian kids can conversed in their mother tongue, Bahasa Malaysia as well as English. Don't tell me, the Malay only want to conversed in Bahasa Malaysia. Do they want to stay under the coconut shell forever? Bila lagi nak landing kat bulan.
Back to the school. Initially when the government announced the policy of teaching English in Maths and Science subjects, most Malay teaches are not supportive or committed to the project. Hishammuddin Hussein has spend millions of Ringgit to buy multimedia PCs, notebooks, printers and other electronic devices, including capital cost to upgrade the human resources, so that teachers can upgrade their English proficiency. Enough time were given. Even allowances were allocated.
Most of them however were reluctant to attend courses, workshops and seminar to improve their command of English. A few years down the road, they were left behind by Chinese, Indian and East Malaysian natives teachers in term of English proficiency. Hence, it not blind leading the behind as far as Malay teachers are concerned, it was their ego and mentality that put them in the current spot. Don't blame the government, don't blame English language. Blame themselves.
Prof Abdullah Hassan (the Malaysian Translators Association president) meanwhile suggested that the English subjects should be dropped as he argued that it will pointless since there will be no enough job openings that demand good English due to the current economic situation. For a person who qualified to be called a Professor, he is very short and narrow minded. The government policy is to benefit our future generation. Prof Abdullah however, has run out of idea that he now use the weakened economy as an excuse to propose the cancellation of the English subjects. I think he got his Professorship from some cheap Internet site.
Related posts:
* Teachers letdown in teaching Maths and Science in English
* Malaysia Education System Going Backward - Part 3
* Malaysia Education System Going Backward - Part 2
* Malaysia Education System Going Backward
* Mastering second language does not make Malay less Malay
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From TheStar
Teachers going mad teaching subjects in English, claims rep
By RASLAN BAHAROM
TAIPING: Some Malay teachers in Bagan Serai are “going mad” as they cannot handle teaching Mathematics and Science subjects in English, claimed a state assemblyman .
Dr Khalil Idham Lim Abdullah (Titi Serong) said the teachers themselves had to take English classes to improve their command of English.
While they are still grappling with the language, they are required to teach their students as well, said Khalil, who was chairman of the Perak Backbenchers Club in the former Pakatan Rakyat-led state government.
“The teachers themselves have a poor command of English. How do we expect them to teach their students?” he asked in his speech after a briefing on the subject at the state PAS headquarters in Jalan Air Kuning on Tuesday.
Some teachers, he said, “have simply gone crazy” because of this, likening the matter to the blind leading the blind. He claimed the minimum passing mark for both subjects were lowered to ensure that only a rosy picture was painted of the move.
Earlier, the gathering was told by Malaysian Translators Association president Associate Prof Abdullah Hassan that a big gathering is scheduled to be held in front of Istana Negara at 2pm on March 7 to protest against the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English.
Prof Abdullah said the argument that the usage of English would provide better job opportunities could only hold water if there were plenty of job openings.
Idris Jala or rather Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has barely pass the test in the financial report card submitted to Bursa Malaysia. MAS make fewer millions for last year.
Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS), despite the challenging times that has seen a number of airlines going bust, has posted a net profit of RM46 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 (Q4).
Profit was 81% lower than the same quarter in 2007 due to the challenging environment compounded by volatile oil prices and slowing demand.
Revenue came in at RM3.70 billion.
For the corresponding period, it had reported a net profit of RM241.92 million on the back of RM4.07 billion in revenue.
The company reported Thursday that Q4’s profit was the tenth quarter of profits for the airline after it instituted changes backed by dynamic pricing, managing costs and innovation.
Related posts:
* Moment of truth for Idris Jala
I don't really bother about personal advertisement but this is a full page ad bought by a fellow Malaysian in the STAR today. I am proud of a Malaysian called Anas Zubedy who dare to speak. I'll give it a 110% marking for her initiative.
Dear Malaysian Politicians,
Please stop the power chase, call for a truce and focus on the economy.
I do not claim to speak on behalf of all Malaysians, but I have strong convictions that many share my sentiments. Our concern today is not who rules the country or heads the state governments but the looming bad economy.
Whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat leads, it is meaningless if Malaysians have no job to go to, no money to pay rent and no means to put food on the table.
I am a business owner, like other business owners and managers of corporations I have a responsibility to ensure people under my care and payroll continue to have jobs and a decent income to take home. We work hard and willing to go the extra mile to make sure our nation not only survive this crisis but come out stronger and wiser. We need your help.
Let me explain. I am in the business of Training, Development and Consultancy and have 20 people in my team.
Saedah is 42. She keeps the office clean and helps organise the training rooms. She has four children and her husband is unemployed. She was first hired on a part time basis, because she is very hard working and has a great attitude, we offered her a full time job to help provide a stable income for her family. Even then, when her third child started school this year, it was a struggle for her to buy new school uniforms and other necessities. Saedah lives on a ‘kais bulan, makan bulan’ basis, so, if she is jobless, her tap runs dry.
Samsuri is 27 years old. He lives with his sister and her family in a low cost government flat in Sunway. He does our despatch, helps with various clerical works and occasionally acts as a driver. During the first week at zubedy, we learned that he not only did not have money to buy new clothes and shoes for work, he had no money for lunch. Like Saedah, if he has no job, his tap runs dry too.
Alicia in Client Servicing turns 26 this year. She lives with her dad who is 71 years old and retired. Her mom passed away when she was little. Alicia is a hard-working team member, has a gentle caring outlook and fun to be with. (We like to poke fun at her as she blushes easily). Last May her dad went through a major operation, thank God he has recovered well. Alicia needs a job, both for herself and her dad.
Sudesh, 38, is one of our facilitators. When his father passed away last year, he moved back and lives with his mother in Seremban. He shuttles between Kuala Lumpur and Seremban daily, leaving home sometimes as early as 4 in the morning and returning late at night. He is no stranger to hard work and sacrifice, he knows what he needs to do to survive and to care for his mother, but he too needs a job.
Like fellow Malaysians, every one of us in zubedy needs employment, those that live from hand to mouth like Saedah and Samsuri and others like Alicia and Sudesh with family to care for. We Malaysians need the Malaysian economy to be strong. We need you, our leaders, to work hard and to work together to make our economy viable.
So this is my plea.
Pakatan Rakyat, please stop your attempts to take over the federal government and persuade BN’s lawmakers to join you. Stop all legal proceedings, no more 916 and let go, just let go. The nation can wait till the next general elections if they want change. By doing so, Malaysians will see your party as caring, unselfish and gracious and give you their support in the next elections.
Barisan Nasional, please stop any attempts to take over PR states and win over PR’s lawmakers. You have proven your point with Perak. The nation can wait for the next general elections if they want your party. Focus all your talent, energy and hard work in steering the country out of an economic downturn. By doing so, Malaysians will see your party as caring, unselfish and smart and give you their support in the next elections.
BN and PR! Call for a truce. Get together and compromise. Someone has to give in. Or has hate consumed your heart till it blinds you? You can do it. You have enough intelligent people between you. I am sure you can find solutions. Take the nation to heart. That is why you are in politics in the first place.
Focus on the people.
Focus on the economy.
Anas Zubedy
Managing DirectorZubedy (M) Sdn Bhd
Source: zzzdreams
Just shortly after the passing of Batang Ai state assemblyman Datuk Dublin Unting, the Internet rumour mills have been on overdrive churning out combo lists of potential candidates for the Batang Ai by-election (expected to be held within these 60 days).
For the BN, two names have surfaced even before the death of Dublin. The two potential candidates from BN coalition are Nelson Mujah and Nelson Naga Alam. Nelson Mujah, Lubok Antu district officer is the brother of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Douglas Uggah Embas. Nelson Naga Alam is the private secretary to the late Dublin Unting. Nelson is a local, while Mujah is from Balingian.
For the PKR side, the likely candidate is Nicholas Bawin, a veteran politician in Batang Ai. In the last election, despite his handicap such as the lack of money and logistical support, Bawin on a SNAP ticket did quite well securing 2,489 votes as against Unting’s 3,298 votes, a majority of 806 votes.
Bookmark this page for future updates.
UPDATES:
* Mar 04, 2009 - Batang Ai by-election on April 7 simultaneous with Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau
For more news, check out Broken Shield - Batang Ai by-election: more than a litmus test of support.
Checking for the latest news on slow Streamyx Internet connection? No news is good news? It's the opposite for Streamyx subscribers. No news meant no progress. Same old story. Streamyx still suck. Screamyx is driving me crazy lately!!
Connectivity for ping sensitive things like online gaming, streaming, ventrilo, etc. will suffer. Websites taking forever to load. Downloads were not possible.
Restoration time not known eventhough TM has announced that their restoration has been completed in Jan 2009! Insiders from TM suggested it is not. The connection restoration to normal bandwidth will "probably" be completed by end of this month.
In the meantime, forget about logging to Facebook, uploading photos to your Flickr gallery. Forget about Torrent, BitComet, LimeWire, YouTube Downloader for a while.
I for one, is really tempted to ask Steamyx, please roll over and die asap.
In doubt or just plain curious on the religion of Idris Jala, the Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines? You come to the correct page. I post this page since MalaysiaDigest got a lot of queries on Datuk Idris Jala religion.
Idris Jala was born in 1958 as a member of the Kelabit tribe from the Bario highlands in Sarawak, Malaysia. His name sounds like a Malay name but Idris Jala is not a Malay. He is a Christian. Yes, a man with a Malay name is a Christian. Surprise ? Not in Sabah or Sarawak, whereby the native with their first name in English is a Christian but a native with his or her first name in Malay is not necessary a Muslim.
