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Tag: Malaysian

  • The Struggles Of a HIV Positive Mother

    The Struggles Of a HIV Positive Mother

    KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — A mother of four was forced to choose between HIV medication and her children.

    Norlela Mokhtar, 50, was diagnosed 14 years ago as being HIV positive and three years later, she was in dire need of medication but medical care for HIV patients was not free.

    “It cost about RM1,000 a month and I did not have that kind of money because I was working as a clerk at that time,” she said.

    “I had to choose between myself and my children.

    “I had to choose between paying for my medication or to feed my children.”

    She avoided doctor’s visits and check-ups to avoid being asked to take the medication.

    “In 2005, I had tuberculosis and I had no choice when I was admitted,” she said.

    “Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (Malaysian AIDS Council exco member) started me on the anti-retroviral treatment, even though it was not free at that time.”

    It was then that she regained her health, along with her weight.

    “I was a skeleton of about 50kg as I lost so much weight. I was only 30kg at that time,” she said.

    Norlela was advised by a friend of hers to get tested because her former husband was an intravenous drug user (IDU).

    She believes she contracted the disease from him.

    “In that year of being diagnosed, I had no support,” she said

    “At that time, whatever they said did not have any impact on me because I was thinking about my four children, who were between two and 10 years old.”

    She went on with life without acknowledging the disease but remained a strong front for her children.

    “I made sure I was strong in front of them,” she said.

    Norlela recalled the discrimination she faced, from both family and friends, but she has no regrets.

    “My youngest child was taken away from me by my stepmother for fear I would infect my children,” she said.

    “In the office, they didn’t let me go to the canteen or use the items in the pantry.

    “However, I am not angry with them because they didn’t know how a person was infected.”

    An advocate for those like her, Norlela formed Persatuan Wahidayah Malaysia (Pewahim) and the Rumah Wahidayah, a shelter for women and children living with HIV/AIDS.

    She believes building a “zero discrimination” nation towards those infected with HIV/AIDS was the first step towards building a HIV/AIDS free nation.

    “People are not able to get married, get a proper education or even get loans just because they are infected by HIV or AIDS. This needs to stop,” she said.

    “People should also be educated, instead of taking HIV tests only when required.”

     

    Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Visit By The Pope To Turkey Puts UMNO To Shame

    Visit By The Pope To Turkey Puts UMNO To Shame

    KUCHING: The just-concluded Umno General Assembly was marked by racist slurs, religious intolerance and bigotry, observed Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, while Christians and Muslims elsewhere in the civilised world are reaching out to each other in peace and tolerance.

    Anwar pointed out that Pope Francis, currently on a visit to Turkey, had been invited by Grand Mufti Rahmi Yaran of Turkey to pray at the famous Blue Mosque which was once a Cathedral when the country was part of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.

    “The gesture by the Grand Mufti is unthinkable in Malaysia under Umno,” said Anwar who was on a visit to Kuching. “Umno leaders are taking backward steps in their relations with non-Muslims.”

    Anwar noted that the media had described the Pope’s visit to Turkey as demonstrating “a powerful vision of Christian-Muslim understanding at a time when neighbouring countries are experiencing violent Islamic assaults on Christians and religious minorities”.

    “There is a need to appreciate this move. It has relevance in terms of our attitude and the Umno General Assembly’s on relations with non-Muslims in this country,” Anwar said. “Pope Francis’ visit is a gesture that would go a long way towards blazing a trail for a new chapter on Christian-Muslim relations and mending the strained relations of the past.”

    “Once we get past theological polemics, which more often than not puts a strain on inter-religious relations, the matters that bind these two great faiths could be reason enough for cultivating tolerance and respect.”

    Pope Francis was radical, pointed out Anwar, as he preferred to relate rather than pontificate.

    “That has made all the difference. He goes to Turkey not to preach but to reach out, very much in the tradition of Christ, with humility and peace to the Muslim world,” said Anwar.

    Pope Francis’ genuine desire for understanding must be received warmly and reciprocated by leaders of the Muslim world, he added, but ruled out Umno taking a positive attitude on the Pope’s visit to Turkey.

     

    Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com

  • Hearing Expert Claiming Relations With Michelle Yeoh Arrested For Filming Voyeuristic Video Of Patients

    Hearing Expert Claiming Relations With Michelle Yeoh Arrested For Filming Voyeuristic Video Of Patients

    A Malaysian doctor, who boasted that he is Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh’s half-brother, has been jailed for five years in the UK.

    The voyeuristic Dr Yeoh Lam  Hoe, a renowned hearing expert, had earlier pleaded guilty to  videotaping over 1,000 people using the toilet.

    The doctor had installed pinhole cameras at hospital restrooms, train toilets across the United Kingdom, as well as the bathroom inside his own house.

    He had used 23 secret cameras to film his victims, including James Bond-style devices disguised as memory sticks, pens, watches and hearing aid boxes.

    Over more than three years, world-renowned hearing specialist Yeoh – who worked in NHS and private hospitals – amassed thousands of hours of footage.

    5 years’ jail 

    Yeoh, 62, of Banstead, Surrey, who pleaded guilty to voyeurism on Tuesday, was given an eight-year sentence at Croydon Crown Court in London on Nov 26.

    It comprises a five-year jail term and three years on extended licence after his release during which he will be supervised in the community. He can be returned to prison if he breaks the terms of his licence.

    Victims felt violated by the doctor

    Afterwards victims said they had been left feeling dirty and violated by his abuse, reported the Mail Online.

    One former colleague, who asked to be called Sarah, said the experience had changed forever the way she behaves in public. “I can’t go to the toilet in a public place now without looking for hidden cameras,” she said.

    Another woman, who worked with Yeoh for 12 years, said he made 47 videos of her.

    She told the newspaper: “He spliced videos of me talking and laughing with videos of me using the toilet where we worked.”

     “I felt frozen. I felt dirty as though I had been raped by him. I felt disgusting.” – One victim, recalling the moment police asked her to watch the videos back to identify herself.

    “I knew the only way I could be free of him was to face him in the dock and see him vulnerable and small, just like he made me feel.”

    While sentencing Yeoh, who has three grown children, Judge Warwick McKinnon condemned his “nefarious and despicable actions” and said he had disgraced the hospitals where he worked.

    Source: Daily Mail, BBC News

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Death Penalty for Malaysian Drug Trafficker

    Death Penalty for Malaysian Drug Trafficker

    SINGAPORE: A 27-year-old Malaysian who had earlier been found guilty of bringing into Singapore 22.24g of diamorphine, the pure form of heroin, was on Monday (Sep 22) sentenced to death.

    Prabagaran a/l Srivijayan was arrested in the early morning of April 12, 2012, at the Woodlands Checkpoint after immigration officers found two bundles wrapped with black masking tape – later found to contain the diamorphine – in the centre armrest console of the car he was driving into Singapore.

    Prabagaran, who had said he was unaware that the two bundles were in his car, claimed trial on a charge of importing heroin of more than 15g, which carries the death penalty.

    He was convicted in the High Court on July 22.

    Court documents said Prabagaran had borrowed the car from a friend to enter Singapore on that day in April because he could not use his motorcycle. He had been behind in paying his monthly installment and he was afraid that the motorcycle shop in Malaysia would repossess the vehicle.

    Prabagaran had also told another friend that he had to take the car to Singapore early in the day – even though he was due to start his shift at a petrol pump station here only at 3pm – because he needed to return his work permit and gate pass to a former employer.

    During the trial, the prosecution had argued that Prabagaran was an untruthful witness and that his testimony was “unconvincing, riddled with inconsistencies and cannot be believed”.

    “If the accused (Prabagaran) had truly intended to return his work permit and the gate pass to his former employer, he has not offered any satisfactory explanation why he had to do so several hours before his work shift began,” said the prosecution.

    Prabagaran’s defence lawyer, Mr N Kanagavijayan, told the court that his client would be filing an appeal against the conviction.

    Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/death-penalty-for/1375990.html

  • Penang-born Husband Took Singaporean Wife and Two Children to Syria, Join ISIS

    Penang-born Husband Took Singaporean Wife and Two Children to Syria, Join ISIS

    A 37-year-old Penang-born man has brought his Singaporean family to Syria where they are believed to be in different locations fighting alongside jihadists or supporting them.

    His Singaporean wife was a 47-year-old widow who had a daughter and a son – aged 18 and 14 – from a previous marriage, The Star newspaper reported on Friday.

    The report quoted sources as saying the family went to Syria in November, but did not stay together.

    “The authorities believe the man joined the Jabhat Al-Nusra group and his stepson the IS (Islamic State),” the sources told the newspaper. IS is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

    “The wife worked as a cook while the daughter taught English to the children of the fighters in Syria,” one source was quoted as saying.

    The family members are believed to be in different parts of Syria, according to the newspaper. One possible location is east Hama, where jihadists are known to have set up a base of operations.

    Authorities are keeping close tab on the family and trying to find out how they were influenced to go to Syria, said the report. The sources said the authorities believe their decision had to do with the woman’s former husband.

    In July, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean disclosed in parliament that several Singaporeans are among 12,000 foreigners taking part in the armed conflict in Syria, including a couple of parents who had taken along their children

    Among the “handful” of Singaporeans is said to be a woman who went with her foreign husband and their two teenage children.

    “The whole family is taking part in the conflict in various ways, either joining the terrorist groups to fight, or providing aid and support to the fighters,” said Mr Teo, who is also Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister.

    Another man, Haja Fakkurudeen Usman Ali, 37, took with him his wife and three children between the ages of two and 11. He is a Singapore citizen who was an Indian national, the Home Affairs Ministry had said in March when announcing that he was under investigation.

    Several other Singaporeans had planned to join the conflict but were detained before they could set off, and some others were under investigation, said Mr Teo.

    The Star newspaper had earlier reported that five former Internal Security Act detainees are among 40 Malaysians who have joined the militants.

    The five named include 45-year-old former Kedah PAS Youth information chief Mohd Lotfi Ariffin, who was injured in an attack which killed the youngest Malaysian jihadist in Syria on Tuesday. Mohammad Fadhlan Shahidi Mohammad Khir, 21, from Kedah was the second Malaysian jihadist to be killed in Syria.

    The first Malaysian militant to die in Syria was Abu Turob, 52, who was killed during an attack by tanks and snipers on Aug 19.

    In Putrajaya, Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called on Malaysians to reject extremist views and protect the country’s image. He said the actions of a few individuals did not reflect the true nature of the country and its people.

    “We don’t want Malaysia to be presumed internationally as a breeding ground for terrorists (and) we must protect the image of our religion and country based on the principle of moderation or wasatiyyah.

    “This principle has to be defended by all citizens. We have to avoid being extreme left or extreme right.”

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/malaysian-man-took-singaporean-family-join-syria-jihadists-report-20