TR EMERITUS

By Neville Spykerman from The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — MCA’s top two leaders, president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and his deputy Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, today agreed that the resolutions of an upcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM) were unconstitutional. Dr Chua said they acknowledged the rights of members to hold the EGM but any resolutions which are against the party constitution cannot be implemented. The rare agreement from the erstwhile rivals came after they both briefed divisional leaders on the party’s Greater Unity Plan. They added that all the grassroots’ members gathered today have agreed not to attend the EGM scheduled for Nov 28. However, noticeably missing from today’s briefing were vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and those aligned to him. When asked if disciplinary action would be taken against members who attended the EGM, Dr Chua said they would cross that bridge when they got to it. The deputy president — who got back his suspended membership and post after the Oct 10 EGM — ironically said the new EGM would be meaningless. Some 620 delegates from 155 out of the party’s 191 divisions attended the closed-door meeting and dialogue. Besides the EGM, today’s meeting also touched on the distribution of allocations to divisions, giving more opportunity to the grassroots to select central committee leaders and making preparations to face the next general elections. From the dialogue, Dr Chua said the grassroots want a new mechanism to select leaders, adding that MCA may adopt Umno’s methods in selecting their central leadership. However, he said such a move requires an amendment to MCA’s constitution and for this to take place, the party needs stability. A task force will look into the details and raise them at the Central Committee (CC) level, he said. Dr Chua added fresh party polls may be called within six months or a year after the successful implementation of the GUP. However, he stressed there was no deadline and the party elections could be called sooner or even later. With the GUP in place, Dr Chua said MCA was now more stable and plans should be made to face the next general elections. When asked why Liow and his faction were not at today’s meeting, Dr Chua said leaders are mature enough to know whether to come for meetings or not. In a united front, both Ong and Dr Chua also denied a report in the New Straits Times which stated they were out to fix Liow. Dr Chua said the allegations were unfair. “He is (a) minister and I am a nobody, it is more likely that he is trying to fix me,” said Dr Chua. “We don’t have time to fix up anybody, all we want is put the party in order. That overrides everything,” Ong chipped in. Ong said he was still in touch with Liow and that the latter was still an MCA vice-president. “When we talk about unity, we mean to be inclusive and we will never close the door to anyone,” said Ong, adding he was proud of the support shown by the grassroots who attended today’s meeting. - The Malaysian Insider  Read More →

Written by our Correspondent The CEO of Kandang Kerbau Hospital, Prof Ivy Ng and incidentally the wife of Singapore Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen had yet to issue a public statement or an apology for the serious medication error committed by its staff a few days ago which could potentially be fatal. Two patients - Mrs Ng L.K. and Mrs Yip Poh Hung had received chemotherapy drugs via an infusion pump in hours rather than over a few days as intended. Mrs Ng escaped unscathed only because the medication she was given is actually meant to be infused over 15 minutes. Mrs Yip was not so lucky. She received 5-Fluorouracil, a chemotherapy drug over 5 hours instead of 5 days. Mrs Yip had received antidote for the poison and is currently under close observation. According to senior medical oncologist from KKH Dr Soh Lay Tin, she is not out of danger yet. During a press conference called by KKH, Associate Professor Tan Kok Hian, who heads the division of obstetrics and gynaecology at KKH, gave a detailed explanation of how the error occurred to the journalists present. Neither he, his CEO or KKH offered an official apology to the two patients though the two beleaguered pharmacists responsible for the error had done so. Prof Ivy Ng, who also heads the Medical Board of KKH, has not given any interview to the press yet. The Minister of Health Mr Khaw Boon Wan has maintained a dignified silence so far on the matter. In other Asian democracies like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong or Taiwan, the hospital CEO would have apologized to the patients and public immediately without delay. Even the Minister of Health who is in charge of all public hospitals would be implicated. There is no culture of "taking responsibility for one's mistakes" amongst the officialdom in Singapore, especially the echelons of government organizations. Last year, a security lapse allowed Singapore's famed fugitive Mas Selamat Kasteri to escape to Johor causing inconvenience and distress to many ordinary Singaporeans. There was no official apology from the Home Affairs Minister nor the Internal Security Department in charge of the detention centre from which Mas Selamat escaped. On the contrary, Singaporeans are blamed for being "complacent" by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. A few months ago, a massive food poisoning outbreak occurred at the temporary Geylang Serai market leading to two unfortunate deaths. It was later discovered that the National Environment Agency (NEA) under the Ministry of Environment, did not give the Indian Rojak stall responsible for the food poisoning its latest hygiene grade of "C". The Indian Rojak stallholder was hauled up to court, but there was no apologies from the head of NEA or the Minister in charge. Again, Singaporeans are blamed for poor public hygiene though the exact cause of the outbreak remains unclear. The word "apology" is a taboo amongst top Singapore leaders and civil servants who consider themselves as "infallible" and thereby deserving of the highest salaries in the world. The Singapore Prime Minister is paid more than 5 times the annual salary of United States President Barack Obama. It is not known how much Prof Ivy Ng was paid, but it is unlikely that the public will hear any apology from her soon.  Read More →

By Jitendra Joshi from AFP US President Barack Obama and 20 other Asia-Pacific leaders convened Sunday at a moment of truth for the crisis-hit world economy and for global efforts to fight climate change. The leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum were to wrap up a two-day summit with pledges to fight trade protectionism and keep open the taps of stimulus spending to sustain a fledgling economic recovery. The Hawaii-born and Indonesia-raised Obama, who joined the Singapore gathering late Saturday after a visit to Tokyo, proclaimed himself the "Pacific president" and declared the United States was back as a regional player. But APEC leaders maintained a drumbeat of criticism over Obama's perceived neglect of free trade, with Congress and powerful Democratic barons in the trade union movement clamouring to protect US industry as joblessness soars. In one development welcomed by APEC allies, Obama said the United States was interested in an obscure trade pact that leaders say could become the nucleus for a massive trans-Pacific free-trade zone covering 2.6 billion people. According to their draft summit declaration, the leaders will instruct their officials to explore the viability of the APEC-wide pact stretching from Chile and China, which would encompass more than half the world economy. But they will back off a pledge mentioned in earlier drafts seen by AFP to halve their greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050, officials said following a round of haggling on the summit's first day Saturday. The 50-percent target had proven "very controversial", said Yi Xianliang, a foreign ministry official who is part of China's negotiating team for world climate change talks in Copenhagen next month. The meeting in the Danish capital is supposed to iron out a new binding treaty to avert what most scientists say is the threat of worldwide catastrophe from runaway global warming. Loathe to settle for watered-down climate commitments, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd convened a breakfast meeting Sunday of key players including Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the summit sidelines. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen flew in at the last minute to join the talks, where the consensus was that it was "unrealistic" to expect a legally binding agreement in Copenhagen, according to one US official. Deputy national security adviser Mike Froman echoed other national officials who have said that Copenhagen will instead be a stepping stone with negotiations to continue next year. APEC encompasses the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States, which are at loggerheads over how to divide up responsibility for fighting climate change in the run-up to Copenhagen. Obama meanwhile called in Tokyo for "balanced and sustained" growth around the world in the post-crisis phase, pressing Asian exporters including China to wean themselves off US consumers and build up their own demand. His comments underlined a central theme of the APEC summit -- that the world economy must be rebalanced so that voracious US consumerism is no longer the sole cylinder firing global growth. At the Singapore meetings, President Hu has played up China's role in shoring up world growth after crisis engulfed the United States, and vowed to "vigorously expand" its domestic market. However, criticism that China keeps an artificial lid on its currency to gain an unfair trade edge has flared anew at APEC. Obama is expected to press Hu on the exchange-rate row when the two leaders meet in Beijing next week. - AFP Source: AFP  Read More →