Day: December 17, 2017

Foreign workers to be eligible for private healthcare insurance

Intern HAKAM

Source: The Star

IPOH: Foreign workers will be eligible for private healthcare insurance from next year onwards under the Government’s non-profit health insurance scheme, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said.

He said it would be the first target group to have the healthcare insu­rance, and therefore they would be the target group first.

Dr Subramaniam said for the next phase, the ministry would go for other groups.

“We will grow at a pace that we are comfortable with to ensure the success of the initiative.

In May this year, Dr Subrama­niam said that the scheme was aimed at ensuring the cost of private medical treatment in the country remained reasonable and affor­dable.

He said that the Cabinet had approved the scheme and preparations were ongoing, as the ministry would need initial funds to launch it.

Dr Subramaniam said the ministry was also looking at a mechanism under the scheme, where purchase of healthcare services from the private medical sectors could be at a reasonable cost.  Read more →

Youth can be a political force without relying on parties, claims movement

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Source: The Malaysian Insight

Wan Hamidi Hamid (second right) moderating a forum titled ‘Dear Political Dinosaurs, Why You Still Around? Kthxbai’ with panellists (from left) Dr Teo Lee Ken, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri and Izzah Dejavu at Petaling Jaya, Selangor, last night. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Hasnoor Hussain, December 17, 2017.

MALAYSIA’S youth can be a viable political force without relying on political parties in spite of their historically low turnout at the polling booth.

A youth movement made this claim amid concerns that young adults are either not registered to vote or will opt not to cast their ballots in the 14th general election.

“Politicians on both sides fail to provide a narrative. Youth feel we need to create a new Malaysia that is just. We want marginalised voices to be heard,” Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, a 34-year-old lawyer told a forum in Petaling Jaya last night.

“Nobody cares when we talk about voting, for example. Voting can be a means to change something but we cannot (limit) our humanity to the voting status,” she said at the forum, entitled ‘Dear Political Dinosaurs, Why You Still Around?’ which was organised by Malaysia Muda.

Fadiah spoke of disillusionment with leaders from both sides of the political aisle.  Read more →

Insidious attempt to rewrite reality — Zurairi Ar

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Source: Malay Mail Online

By ZURAIRI AR

DECEMBER 17 — There are few things more depressing than celebrating Human Rights Day in a country that refuses to fully recognise the rights of some of its citizens.

Adding salt to the wound, this year saw a group’s brazen attempt to rewrite the reality lived by many in this country.

We saw the first public lobbying by a new coalition calling itself Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Process, or Macsa in an attempt to re-shape human rights in this country.

Macsa’s demands are blatant. Firstly, it wishes for limitations in freedom of speech that includes blasphemy laws.

What this essentially means is continued endorsement of the use of the State’s power to punish citizens under vaguely-defined laws that promise to protect religions against insults and mockery.

In reality though, the enforcements of such laws would inevitably just protect the status quo that already holds considerable political power, in addition to extra authority through a separate parallel judiciary system. Read more →