Odysseys of George

Two weeks ago, Lulu decided to tag me with this wonderful tribute to Malaysia’s Independence started by Nizam Bashir

As I ponder as to what I would write, many reflections of my life came to my mind. I have yet to make up my mind as to what I should write but I decided an impromptu unedited version of my thoughts and feelings for this beautiful country, my rightful birthplace, Malaysia.

I have lived two-thirds of our 50th Independence and I should say it was a blend of all colours and emotions.

As a child and a teenager, life was just about me. I grew up in a beautiful quite town up north where rice is the main produce of the country. A state where the Sultan I grew to respect and love. A state which made me who I am now. A town that despite all, thougth me to respect all irrespective of colour, race and religion. Shocking? Yes, but this was true then I suppose where racial harmony was better. I had many friends and mentors of non-Indian descent. Hailing from prestigious primary(Iskandar Primary School) and secondary school(Sultan Abdul Hamid College), I learned to look at life from various perspective. Life was bliss. I felt that I was at the helm when I left the quiet town of Alor Setar to pursue my medical degree. It was here, in this prestigious academic tower, a signage of pride and excellence, I started to breakdown as I realised how segregated races can be. I had so much difficulties coming to terms with this but as the saying goes truth hurts! However, as the years pass, the evident point was that in Malaysia, and perhaps any country, unity gives the best results.

Stepping into the the working environment, brought on more awareness! I came to realise where the fault in this beautiful country’s machinery was - the government itself! It was filled with hypocrisy, lies meant to blind the rakyat, manned by disgusting politics and politicians. Greed was supreme and the quest for power and position was reigning. It has now become a land of self importance where once everybody was a neighbour, now everybody is a potential enemy. The lack of insight and vision to bringing the rakyat together was made worse by the instant reminder of a potential May 13 by our former PM. His rule alone though brought fame to the country but destroyed the essence of Malaysia. The rakyat was forever placed under gag! - well at least now many are coming out of it!

A country filled with Malaysians? Well, this would be great but sadly with the present state of affairs I doubt this would ever be a reality. The non-Malays will always be made to feel like second class citizens despite having birth rights to this “tanah tumpah darahku”. The politicians talk of harmony and love and the need for patriotism for the country - but how is this possible when we are still fighting for our right to be counted and acknowledge as equal citizens of this beautiful country, Malaysia. Don’t you think? It is like treating the symptoms of an illness without sorting the root of the illness - will it ever resolve - never! We still have a racial based political party which should be dissolved and reformed!

To make things worse, we have racial party based universities! One of them only take in a single race into its university! All to gain votes without further thought of its outcome to the future of Malaysia!

Another thought comes to mind of how politics have infiltrated the borders into absolutely no invasion zones, the infiltration of politics into education, health, law and all else. Look closely and one is able to appreciate the deterioration in services again due to lack of focus to the root problem.

So with all this, why do I still love Malaysia?

I love the people. I work with masses of rakyat from different walks of life which gives me great joy and satisfaction. I work with masses of the rakyat from differing religious and ethnic backgrounds which in turn educates me about the beauty and intricasies of life itself. Malaysians generally are very humble, kind and understanding, traits that easily exploited by the politicians and above all the rakyat is very forgiving.

I love the beauty of Malaysia. There are many beautiful countries and Malaysia is one of them. You just need to learn to enjoy and appreciate and there are many things here in Malaysia. Diving is the most enjoyable of them, others being hiking, river rafting, caving and etc. Again, some quarters of politicians are trying to spoil this very thing that gives Malaysia its natural beauty by over commercialising and making money out of it!

I just wished that the rakyat had more voice and power. I just wished that we could all be more liberated in our thinking and acknowledge each other as Malaysians with freedom of religion. I just wished the government could concentrate on the losses of its numerous intellectuals to other countries and appreciate them irregardless of their ethnicity, as it is for the future of this country. I just wished those who have the power to not abuse and obstruct the development of progress of its workforce and be more progressive rather than being a dinosaur going extinct.

I wish we all work together for the future of our motherland rather than just ourselves. But for this to be true, then the government should assure us a good future!

With this, I pass the tag to a very good colleague and friend, Bernard to continue this task.

A journey to freedom

“Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel” or “SMART Tunnel”, was opened to public on the 14th May 2007. It is a 4km long tunnel with dual purpose of reducing traffic congestion and also to avoid flash floods. It is free for a month.

The making of the SMART tunnel was featured on National Geographic about a month ago. It is also well written in Wikipedia

As for me, I enjoyed the 4km long free ride. The tunnel is divided into three compartments by two partitions which forms the road. The upper deck is for vehicles travelling out of Kuala Lumpur and the middle deck, for vehicles travelling into Kuala Lumpur. Below this is the water irrigation channel. In the event of a heavy downpour and flooding, the middle deck would be closed to traffic and water will fill it up to be diverted faster. If conditions gets worse, then even the upper deck will be closed to traffic to enable the whole tunnel to be filled with flood water and diverted quickly elsewhere.

It is the longest stormwater tunnel in South East Asia and second longest in Asia.

Worried, yah! reminds me of the movie where Sly Stallone is trapped within a tunnel — what was the name of that movie - I forget? The other is, I wonder how much would the toll for this tunnel cost? RM5.00 one way maybe!

While attending the annual dinner for the 5th.Colorectal Weekend Conference, the topic of the food varieties came up for discussion.

My professional colleague started by saying that the Chinese has voracious appetite for the strangest things. It seems there is a famous saying among the Chinese that says that “anything that has their “back” facing the sun, is edible” This basically means that any four legged animal or being can be eaten.

From the other end of the round table, my non-Chinese medical officer blurted out a Chinese delicacy - suckling pig

It takes 2 days to prepare this dish and “because protein firms as it cooks, the pig will stay in whatever position you place it. It should resemble a dog resting on its haunches.”

Next on topic was Peking Duck, a famous duck dish from northeastern China and also known as Beijing Duck or Beijing Roast Duck.Traditionally served with Mandarin pancakes, and green onions for brushing on the hoisin sauce. Well, what is so weird is that, it is inflated with a pump or other object, separating the skin from the body (in ancient times someone with strong lungs would achieve this by blowing through a straw). Then the skin is scalded with boiling water to make it drier and tauter and brushed with molasses so that it acquires a dark, rich color with the slight aroma of caramel during the subsequent cooking process. After drying for half a day, the duck is hung by its neck in a hot oven where it is roasted for an hour or more, during which time the copious fat of the duck melts off and the skin becomes crispy.

Then the topic got even more interesting with various meals being blurted out. All this made eating frogs and snake very mild as this professional colleague of mine continued to surprise me as to what and where his taste buds have travelled.

Bear’s gallbladder is another famous delicacies among the Orientals. “China, North Korea and South Korea are now farming bears for their bile in order to meet the needs of its traditional medicine industry. The bears on the farms are milked for their bile by placing a surgically implanted catheter into their gallbladders. As many as 8,000 bears live on these farms in China alone. Although the milking process is not painful to the bears it is stressful due to the fact that the bears spend their entire lives in small cramped cages. Chinese scientists are now spending time and money on researching how to increase productivity on these bear farms and have forgotten the needs of wild bears. The demand for gallbladders from wild bears is still strong as some people believe the farmed bile to be inferior to that found in nature.”


Bear paw is a delicacy on menus in China. Some Imperial Chinese cookbooks include recipes for stewed bear’s paw and bear spare-rib casserole. Bear meat is sometimes eaten and it is believed to prevent colds, strengthen the body, provide relief from rheumatism and beri-beri. Paws, like the meat, are also considered to have medicinal properties.

Then it went to brains, monkey and much later cow’s brain.

The list continued to people from various countries and their delicacies. One of them at the table confessed to eating dog meat and claims it taste like lamb. This is a delicacy of the Indo-Chinese.

So, tell me what was the most exotic that you have eaten? Care to share?

I have always asked myself this question. Being in the medical field, death is almost an everyday event and initially it hits the soul but eventually one feels a little numb to death. Another favourite question that frequently crops up is how would one prefer to die - a swift death, a chronic illness leading to death, a painful death or a silent-in-your-sleep-kind of death? Can one confidently say that he is ready for death and he fears not death?

It was more than year ago, when my sister’s husband was diagnosed as early lung cancer. He was marathon runner and was in disbelieve with the diagnosis despite having smoking as a strong risk factor. Upon realising his rejection to treatment, I tried talking to him to change his decision. In that particular conversation, he mentioned that he is prepared to face death. The months past fast and barely 6 months later, he was already cachetic and could barely walk. He was in severe pain and was having stridor and a change in voice. The cancer had grown five times its size and has spread. He needed a tracheostomy and was fed through a nasogastric tube. The pain was crippling and despite the medications, it only made him weaker. It was then, I saw fear in his face. I gather he saw flashes of his life and suddenly he felt he was not ready for death. Fear was gripping him and he was fighting, and with every fight, he grew weaker. I motioned to him that all was fine but he had many unsettled things. He however managed to lay them out for my sister, before he gave his last breath with my sister beside him.

Another friend of mine, a doctor, whose father fell ill with a stroke. It was a lethal stroke that would render many dead. His father however, was now intubated and ventilated. Knowing the risk and prognosis involved, he calmed himself and put on courageous front. He told me that he was ready for the worst. The worst being death. Sepsis flared through his fathers veins from a chest infection as he continued to deteriorate. He kept watch over his father, but when he saw his colleagues doing the cardiac massage and the news of death conveyed, he fell to the floor and wept. He plunged into depression. It took him more than six months to just come to terms and then he said, ” No one is ever prepared for death”

Strangely though, I have come across many who request to be killed by lethal injection. Just three weeks ago, a chinese gentleman in his late 40s presented to us with profuse bleeding per rectum. He was unstable and was confused. A upper endoscopy was clean and I proceeded to perform colonoscopy. As I was positioning him, he gestured to me three times to give him an injection to put him out. The colonoscopy was not complete as it was dark and filled with thick blood. That night we actively resuscitated him and rescoped him the coming morning. He bled again in the wee hours of the morning. This time the scope was better. What I thought I saw in darkness, was correct. He had multiple colonic ulcer for which I treated endoscopically. Even then, he took the oppurtunity to once again inform his wishes for death. All this while, I flatly refused him. The following day, the bleeding had stopped and he appeared much better. I told him about his wishes, and he says he would not regret dying!

Another patient, was admitted during my internship for intestinal obstruction from an external hernia. Upon giving some anlagesics and sedation, his hernia resolved and his plan for surgery was cancelled. This is the fourth time he was faced with such a situation. He bravely told us , ” Uncle is very old, dying is ok! My children are all big and independent and I have nothing more to achieve. I just cannot bear the pain if it occurs again and am willing to take risk of dying.” This caused the department to break into two groups, the patient’s men and the boss’s men. Obviously, the boss rule stands and we had to send him home with advice.

I leave this article with a poem from Khalil Gibran, and for myself, I am not ready for death but if it has to come then either let it come swiftly or quietly in the night.

On Death
Kahlil Gibran

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

As I was doing my ward rounds over the weekend, my intern came up to me to inform me of the latest admission to her unit of care.
” A man in his 40s was admitted yesterday. There was gas leak in his house as he could smell the gas eminating from the kitchen. He decided to check out the source but the only problem was he lit up a cigaratte to smoke! He blew up in flames!”

He looked dazed probably pondering as to the hazards of smoking! Luckily, his clothes did not lit up causing a clear demarcation of the exposed and unexposed areas.

A few days ago the local daily published a statement made by a religious leader in an effort to curb the growing figures of rape and incest encouraging the female community of all ages to wear chastity belts. This was followed by a huge outcry by the womens organization against this weird and disrespectful suggestion.

Then again does chastity belt really helps. I doubt it. Furthermore, it only comes to show that the general public and especially the religious leaders fail to understand why rape occurs. Then again as long as the public votes for leaders who appear distinguished but brainless and poorly read, then these are the remarks we have to put up with.
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