M Jeyakumar should be lauded, not arrested
I came to know Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj when he was posted as a junior medical officer at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), where I was acting medical superintendent from 1983 to 1987.
Even then, he was most outstanding as a government officer of uncommon social responsibility, providing patient service unflinchingly regardless of heavy workloads. Indeed, Jeyakumar showed his concern for patients well beyond his immediate patient care responsibilities at SGH.
I recall that as a junior medical officer at SGH, he actively canvassed for:
1. The safety and comfort of patients on long boat journeys, while on referral from Kapit district hospital to Sibu Hospital;
2. Injured workers timely entitlements under the Workers Compensation Scheme; especially timely and more just awards by Medical Boards to injured workers;
3. The legislatively prescribed responsibilities of Socso in the rehabilitation of permanently disabled workers, and the weakness of Socso thereof; and
4. The occupational safety of the mostly Dayak logging workers in Sarawak, or rather, its lack thereof.
This is all the more remarkable as he comes from a comfortable upper middle class family in Penang.
I was disappointed in myself for having failed in my effort to recommend him for 'Perkhidmatan Cemerlang' award.
Nonetheless, he was a personal inspiration to me, and he will always be such.
I have no doubt that it is the highest level of humanity that made him not just a physician, but an uncommon one.
He has dedicated the last three to four decades of his life as much to his Dayak patients in Sarawak as to the Indian plantation workers, both groups being the marginalised of the marginalised in Malaysian society.
His humanity finds expression in his leadership of Malaysian socialists.
While I may not agree with all the elements of his socialist programmes, my heart is with him as he earns political political persecution upon himself, instead of recognition from the powers that be.
Even then, he was most outstanding as a government officer of uncommon social responsibility, providing patient service unflinchingly regardless of heavy workloads. Indeed, Jeyakumar showed his concern for patients well beyond his immediate patient care responsibilities at SGH.
I recall that as a junior medical officer at SGH, he actively canvassed for:
1. The safety and comfort of patients on long boat journeys, while on referral from Kapit district hospital to Sibu Hospital;
2. Injured workers timely entitlements under the Workers Compensation Scheme; especially timely and more just awards by Medical Boards to injured workers;
3. The legislatively prescribed responsibilities of Socso in the rehabilitation of permanently disabled workers, and the weakness of Socso thereof; and
4. The occupational safety of the mostly Dayak logging workers in Sarawak, or rather, its lack thereof.
This is all the more remarkable as he comes from a comfortable upper middle class family in Penang.
I was disappointed in myself for having failed in my effort to recommend him for 'Perkhidmatan Cemerlang' award.
Nonetheless, he was a personal inspiration to me, and he will always be such.
I have no doubt that it is the highest level of humanity that made him not just a physician, but an uncommon one.
He has dedicated the last three to four decades of his life as much to his Dayak patients in Sarawak as to the Indian plantation workers, both groups being the marginalised of the marginalised in Malaysian society.
His humanity finds expression in his leadership of Malaysian socialists.
While I may not agree with all the elements of his socialist programmes, my heart is with him as he earns political political persecution upon himself, instead of recognition from the powers that be.
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