Wildlife and dogs are here to stay, like it or not

Wild life and dogs are here to stay, like it or not

It is indeed very pressing that Wildlife patrol unit is planned by the Sabah Forestry Department in the Danum Valley-Maliau Basin-Imbak Canyon areas as the area will soon be patrolled by a 50-strong team on rotation basis and possibly armed to tackle the serious problem of poaching as is done in wildlife parks in other countries.

Maybe that is albeit a bit too late but nevertheless that is really positive action to allow wild life’s population to increase in number.

At the International Conference on  Heart of Borneo – “A decade of Heart of Borneo (HoB) Initiative: Accomplishments and the Way forward”, very well attended recently, one of the very concerned and passionate speaker Dr. Petra Kretzschmar – Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research/ Rhino and Forest Fund started her paper on securing, restoring and connecting habitat  for large mammals in Sabah, Malaysia calling for moments of silence (very unusual) when she presented on the screen issue of extinction of large mammals especially Rhino left with 2 in Sabah and possibly 5 in Borneo.  The impact of that silence is obvious. I was heart broken.

Yes, we are indeed very sad with that extinction of very exotic,   precious and rare animals in the wild in Borneo especially in Sabah after many decades of neglect, omission and “deliberate” action to make quick money by some trading in wild life.  Even the banned item like turtle eggs are still very much traded and consumed in dinners with a court case now in progress. Any excuse of that?

Now many may not be aware that our domestic animals like dogs and cats in our residential areas are now dwindling fast due to a whole range of reasons such as the laws enacted, by-laws of local authorities and enforcement of local authorities, religions, culture and eating habits, caring habits (cruelty), and attitudes etc.  

We may question who are the people who made those laws and bylaws on our domestic animals especially our so much considered the best friends of human being the domestic dogs. We have observed that some recent laws on them were meant to be “anti-cruelty” against the dogs. We have also observed actions to deal with dogs especially strayed ones with trap, neuter and spey and such as socalled “legalised” action.  Would such positive action contribute to extinction of dogs?

Be reminded that God had created all animals first before human beings and that human beings are expected to look after them according to Genesis in the Bible.  So can we review how we treat domestic dogs?

Why are dogs going extinct in Sabah?  It is going extinct in Kota Kinabalu city for all sorts of reasons already briefly mentioned above and the impact of that is taking roots to reduce the number of dogs in all residential areas.  That is the observation if we move around all residential areas.

There is smoke of the extinction of the dogs in Kota Kinabalu and many may not regret it when “extinction” does arise although our best friends are very useful and helpful in solving certain crimes in illicit drugs possession, emergency aspects in search and rescue (SAR) operations, as blind guides, security at homes and farmers and rubber tapers in facing snakes in the fields and the endless list. My first dog Magi in KK saved me from a cobra in 1992 about a few feet from me when Magi just went in the middle space in split second in between that snake ready to attack me at my front door at about 7pm.

DBKK had once complained that very few dogs were licensed in Kota Kinabalu?  Why when the fees were low?

Stray dogs are unfortunate and city life can be nourished by some natural sound from the wild and the once kampong life.  Many in this generation have come from once rural areas when we wake up to the crows of cock greeting us “good morning”. Now we don’t hear any more cock crows except some rare ones in transit meant to be cooked for festivals in KK.

Dogs and strayed ones do bite to send an appropriate message in society to attract good attention.

Now we do appreciate many birds come to our homes in search of food and singing in the early mornings.  Some may detest the droppings left by them. Pigeons etc are now aplenty in KK and what a sight?.

Like the extinction of mammals in the wild now colourful tourism assets now attracting much attention after decades of harmful action by human inhabitants, and we are now aware that it very expensive or possibly impossible to reverse the extinction of the priceless wild mammals and please don’t make this happen to our dogs that may make much noises at time especially evil and demonic doses arrive in our homes.  Dogs can deal with unseen “intrusion” by howling at such evil spiritual manifestations. Is that one of the reasons for those advocating destruction of dogs as man’s best friend as it is known so far?

Lets us be more humane and tolerant with our dogs in the big picture of animals in general including those in the wild which are not touchable by human beings except those few ones that can be “tamed”. Dogs are by nature so tame and friendly and so handle them well.

Joshua Y C Kong 27/10/2017

Burden of the people in over stretched health facilities

Burden of the people in over stretched health facilities

According to the Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani , Malaysia’s economy is doing well (DE page 8 – 18/10/2017). I hope this is genuine.  With that the people of Malaysia especially in Sabah would not be burdened unnecessarily in various basic facilities.

In this particular instance, I would like to highlight the status of the health and medical facilities in Sabah especially in Kota Kinabalu.

I must say there had been much improvement in the health and medical services in recent few years so much so that the three major establishments namely Luyang Health Clinic (LHC), Hospital Queen Elizabeth 1 (HQE1) and Hospital Queen Elizabeth 2 (HQE2) are crowded and in some department over crowded with patients especially out-patients.

I would not know why the three establishments are much patronised every day and hardly any parking spaces-legal and illegal- available.  There must be a range of reasons that there are so many patients coming to seek help at such Government hospitals even there are a few more private hospitals/medical centers in Kota Kinabalu.  I would not like to speculate on those reasons but only satisfied patients keep coming back for treatment. 

There are a few observations.  Some departments are really over crowded most times daily and the staff is hard pressed to provide good service.  Just a few very congested cases I would like to mention here are as follows:- The first time I went to the blood tests unit at the Luyang health clinic and had to wait for some time and it was there that I had an headache for the first time in many years. Another case of congestion with out-patients is the eye clinic in HQE1 especially in the early morning daily where many patients have to be on their feet standing for some hours and patients on wheel chair would be hard to move around. Would such environment be healthy in such congested enclosed rooms?  Some patients may have contagious sicknesses or diseases undisclosed.

The pharmacy units in all the three major establishments would be very congested or over crowded with patients to collect their prescriptions and a long wait in the queue would be inevitable.

It is at the pharmacy units that you can see at a glance as who are the out-patients as representation of the society seeking treatment and regularly repeated over a long term for various long term diseases or sicknesses. Largely such out patients would be in higher age groups of all races.  Such service are only available in Kota Kinabalu.

Such congestion at the three establishments can be evident as it is linked to the excessive parked cars in the roads around the hospitals.  Normally the car parking would peak from 9am to noon daily and at most times if you pass by HQE1, even at the late hours in the afternoon, there are still plenty of cars parked there. How would such hospitals perform with such “clientele” in pressing health problems?  I hope the hospitals or establishment concerned would assess or review its own shortcomings itself if any as why outpatients have to wait so long for consultation/ treatment and prescription of medicines delivered? I also understand some units work extra long hours daily to fulfil the needs of the many outpatients. Are these observations attributable to hard times of the patients and the medical and health services and the personnel of the three establishments? Patients at most times just cannot complain but be patient for their turns even for very long wait.

With all the constraints, the medical professionals can be accredited for some very good works at times in dealing with the crisis of the patients. There is still some hope for treatment to be accomplished. My wife and I are very appreciative that she had an urgent and delicate eye operation more than two years ago at HQE1 or she would be blind.  It was a very low cost operation as compared to the market scenario. It was done by the special skill of the top eye surgeon in Malaysia in Kota Kinabalu. Today her eye is more than perfect without any post operation complication but need regular review for performance and care.  It is for this hope that many people flock to the eye clinic or is there any other similar possibilities?

Another observations in recent years is that the prescription of medicine for most treatments in the long term are delivered and collected in monthly instalments.  I do not know when it is introduced.  Whether the patients like it or not, they just have to accept it and come back monthly for the medicine. Such practice may make the crowd at the pharmacy units bigger daily while it may “solve” the three establishments to deal with the supplies and distribution thereof.  Recently, the health ministry did ask patients to return unused medicine to be recycled as sort of wastage avoided and saving to others in need.  What this really mean we are not aware of.

There are sort of rumours which may not be confirmed.  I hope such rumours are not true when the economy is doing well as shortage of supplies of imported medicines etc. I highlight this so that the authorities concerned would address them accordingly in shortest time possible as to not be a burden to the sick and very sick patients. Any shortage of some critical medicine can mean death and life for some people. Sick eyes can lose their sight.

If patients and outpatients have to go back to the pharmacy units to get their regular monthly supplies as in a quarterly prescription slips for various long term treatment, such patients would incur much costs in travel/transport and time of patients and their families. Some patients maybe from outlying areas of Kota Kinabalu and as far as some west coast towns in Sabah, which is very inconvenient to make such repeated trips and not to mention the costs and burden on such patients already under much stress.  

It is unfortunate that not all treatments can provide cure to various diseases or sicknesses but only mitigate the impact of such age related cases like blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes etc hence a great drain on the resources of the patients and the health department alike. I hope the medical and health fraternity would find or discover complete cure for such cases so elusive of conclusive cure.

We are also aware that they are not many Malaysians with perfect health hence a drain on the medical and health annual budget.  With increasing people getting sick and going to the Government establishments, the financial needs can be infinitive although such establishments do charge nominal fees for some people.  I would not know the short falls in the annual budget allocations to the medical and health ministry nationwide and that Sabah would get its fair share of it in the face of much depreciation of the Ringgit Malaysia in the exchange when the supplies are imported. 

Does it convey a pressing message that the crowds in the three establishments are getting bigger and more concerted effort by the relevant authorities to resolve it by lessening the burden of the patients and people seeking help from the medical and health department? 

With drastic climate change and associated health hazards like floods, fire/haze, excessive heat, hazardous environmental pollution and rising scourge of mosquito related menace, the flogging can add environmental damage to residential areas.  Maybe we need to address such crisis with simpler direct and positive approach with reliable herbal deals rather than dealing with some sort of invisible creatures like mosquito like now you see and then you don’t.  What about the issue of water quality we consume that can be ‘harmful’ to our body largely made up of water? Not many people can afford the dubious and expensive water filters in the market. Health hazards are aplenty around us. 

With such critical scenarios, much financial needs could be diverted and exacerbate the dwindling resources towards health enhancement physically.  What is the chance of a balance in resolving health and medical status in society?  Red flags are everywhere but little is done to address the root causes from the cradle to the grave.

Lets brainstorm for a transformation in the areas of health for a strengthened society. 

  Joshua Y C Kong  19/10/2017

Can such belated red flags on corruption avert doom?

Can such belated red flags on corruption avert doom?

It is “mind boggling” at times that such massive corruption is now exposed by none other Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).  What about those internal audit or the Auditor General “sort of silent” on this exposed embezzlement?

An estimated RM1.5 billion allocation by the federal government was siphoned from a ministry to implement projects in Sabah from 2009 to 2015 said Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (Operations) Datuk Seri Azam Baki.

He said the amount was part of a RM7.5 billion government allocation which was channeled through a ministry to implement rural projects in Sabah.

“The projects were related to water, electricity and road development and some of the projects may not have been implemented properly.

So it is just tip of the iceberg as many more billions are “stolen” from various other projects worth hundreds of billions annually for some decades in the nation especially in Sabah.

However, in October 2016 MACC had declared that “only 40 percent of federal allocations for water infrastructure projects in Sabah reached the projects that the money was earmarked for, according to a Malaysiakini report. That report also stated “almost RM2billion was siphoned off from the water project in Sabah.”

So how do we reconcile the figures given by MACC, when the amount of almost RM2 billion on the water project when it is now stated that RM1.5 billion was part of RM7.5 billion for water, electricity, roads and other rural projects in Sabah.

If 60% is siphoned off as it is the norm here, then more than RM4.5 billion would have been “stolen” and where have all those money gone even for one ministry? 

I also understand that it is standard practice of implementation of all development projects that money is siphoned off  and so MACC, please provide a more appropriate figure of embezzlement of all fund allocated to Sabah for decades.

While we may have to appreciate the strenuous job of MACC despite lack of the number of staff to handle so many cases of corruptions including embezzlement as was seen in a recent department in Sabah.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) hopes the government would consider allowing the commission to employ more staff to boost its manpower.

Its chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad said MACC manpower currently stood at roughly 2,100 officers when ideally it should be 5,000.

"MACC has conducted a study and we found that ideally we need at least 5,000 personnel and this has been approved by the government in 2008.

Given the worsening scenario of corruption over the recent decades, MACC should have all the resources since 2008 to put the nation on proper footing.

Nevertheless from my personal experience dealing with MACC (ACA prior 2008) since 2005, I believe MACC is very selective in handling cases from the whistleblowers.  I had lodged more than 30 Police Reports and many of which had been referred to MACC for attention and action, but nothing was forthcoming.

I also wondering what the Auditor General had been doing for the massive profligacy including corruption and mismanagement of public fund and yet Sabah has been classified as very good financial management for some years especially so much money had been lost in the implementation of projects.  Now that MACC has such glaring exposure, I hope Auditor General and Treasury would review its performance and where they have failed to curb such “evil” development in uncontrollable leakages.

MACC should also tell us where have all the confiscated/frozen fund and assets of millions or even billions of Ringgit gone to from the corrupted officials?  

Another unusual development is that isn’t it the rural rail infrastructure and service in Sabah part of the former Minister of Ministry of Rural development?  This ex-minister pledged to improve this if come to power in GE14 after encountering some travel disturbances.  Was not he aware of this earlier as such complaints are rampant in the mass media and social media? Was it another job approved but not properly implemented by his ministry?

On the national/international front, almost RM1trillion of national debts had accumulated over the decades with the accelerated amount in recent decade.  Isn’t it the duty of various regulatory authorities tasked with overview of financial development to ensure such debts are justified and repayable within our means?  Otherwise, who are going to repay such debts without burden on the people already stretched to limits unbearable in rising daily living costs?

Against such massive national debts, we have little/none at all of sovereign fund as reserve to help the nation in financial crisis already in our midst.

The people must speak out now albeit a bit too late now and the spiral of national debts is still obvious with many major financial commitments we can ill afford.

Raise the red flag now or we are all doomed.

Joshua Y. C. Kong 11/10/2017