My perspective..exploring life among OA in Tapah

I’m one of those people who moonlight in local GP (General practitioner) clinics very rarely, like for example once a month. So far I’ve seen a variety of cases in different clinics just to experience the life of a GP in various towns in Perak.









Not long ago, I’ve visited a clinic in Tapah town and realized that I enjoyed seeing the orang asli (OA @ indigenous) children a lot. There are plenty of settlements scattered along the mountains bordering Tapah town and as a result, many of them seek medical treatment and earn their living in this town. When I sauntered into the night-market during my break, it was interesting to notice the rather unique items on sale. Instead of the normal ‘Made in China’ products we see in most night-markets, I see a lot of Made-in-Malaysia products…for example, wooden/rattan handicraft, beads, embroidered crafts and unusual herbs, spices and plants.




As I browse through the interesting items, I can’t help but observe the traders. A lot of them have very big smile but poor dental hygiene. I wonder how long it has been since they last went for a dental check-up. As I glanced at their skin, I was greeted with very darkly-pigmented, loose folds and brown, coarse hair. Some have very thin limbs but protuberant abdomen.

The same goes for children. The range of nutritional deficiency and childhood illnesses that we see is just the tip of the iceberg. The stark contrasts between urban children I see daily in KL, Ipoh or Teluk Intan and the little kids in Tapah OA settlement draws me to muse about my role in life and some of my forgotten dreams. The reason why I don’t want to be a paediatrician is because I cannot bear to see ill and dying children. I love to see them happy and running around healthy. Of course I can still be a paediatric surgeon but that is something to be considered for now.

Anyway, back to the OA children. As I see very few patients in my clinic, I actually had the luxury of taking detailed history from the parents so that I could go in depth into the children’s state of health. This is very different from the usual extra-hectic government hospitals and clinics and as a result, I could even find out about their diet, daily activities and practices.

I found out that most of them eat very simple food…cassava, legumes, wild plants, fish from the river and some poultry like chicken, duck, etc. The meat products are reserved for once a week or during festive occasion. Of course they consume clean water piped in from water collected high up in the mountain stream but some houses do not have electricity or a proper sewage system.

The older children attend school up to a certain age but life begins early and hard among these community. Some teenage girls marry early and have 3-4 children by the time they hit 21 year-old. Their husbands work very hard manual work until they are way past retirement age. The older children (>7 yr old) take care of their younger siblings while the parents work hard to bring food for their many children.

While life goes on in these communities as if it was 50 years ago, the rest of us chat via Wi-Fi at Starbucks, Coffee bean and etc, drive the latest Honda or Toyota cars and eat at the best restaurants in town. Yours truly have the luxury of blogging from a nice computer in an air-conditioned room while being well-fed daily. All this makes me feel very humble and grateful for all that I have as I ponder on how certain segments of the society live in abject poverty. As we celebrate another festive season, let us examine ourselves and begin to do something for others instead of being so inward-looking. Charity begins at home...

Jittery times ahead..opinions from a casual analyst

The US sneezes and the whole world catches a cold. That’s an old saying about how big and influential a single super-power can be. The recent collapse of the US financial and investment banks raised many issues on how loans and investments should be managed and regulated as the world markets scrambled to limit the damage. The recent rejection of the US $700 billion bail-out by the US Congress pushed the crisis to hitherto unknown territory as the entire world await the latest updates with bated breath. There are many reasons for the rejection of the rescue package but on the whole, the general public is worried of the impending biggest governmental intervention in the free market since the Depression era (circa 1930s).

All this while, outsiders like you and me comprise the audience waiting for the newsmaker to reveal more as some big-timers hit rock-bottom in the stock and money market. Some people may develop depression, suicidal tendencies and anxiety disorder while others pack up and run away to start a new life. Ironically, the rich gets richer as those loaded with cash will gobble up one asset after another. As the commodity prices continue to plunge, a lot of people are putting their savings in ‘stable’ investments such as gold, real estate as currency begins to lose its value. It’s in times such as this that we begin to understand what is most important and crucial in our lives…our loved ones.

On the local front, an infamous act has been used on a single dark day in our history as a girl who is just doing her work was arrested for her own ‘safety’ while 2 others were detained for ‘seditious and malicious wrongdoings’. Many nations around the world wonder why we are still using a 1960s act formed during the Emergency era to arrest and incarcerate people without giving them the rights to fair trial in court. Is this democracy in action? Of course both the ladies have been released but there is still another famous personality languishing behind bars.

At the same time, someone is crusading to form a new government without calling for fresh elections. Is this really democracy as well? Of course we want to give politicians the benefit of doubt but the yo-yo of press conferences, delayed deadlines, jumping boats, open public threats and so on triggered another fresh round of political instability. The entire world, amused and tickled, watches the masquerade unfolding before them.

Sometimes we have to choose the lesser of two evils and after the decision has been made, we just pray and hope for the best to unfold. What normal citizens hope for is a stable, fair and strong government, one that is free from corruption and injustice with good security, low crime rates, guaranteed freedom, dynamic economy and respect for human rights. Of course I am neither a lawyer or an economist and so you could completely ignore what I just said and go to bed forgetting all about this article.

Or we should all buckle our belts and prepare for jittery times ahead?

Rounding up the tree-lovers

I'm not fussy when it comes to travelling and visiting new places as there are plenty of lovely places filled with natural wonders in Malaysia and our neighbouring countries. After being hooked to hunting for waterfalls lately, I think I'll turn to hiking to more mountain peaks and taking lots of pictures along the way. But still, i want to get out of this country at least once this year and was planning something for the past 1 month.






Initially, I have a deep worry when it comes to visiting our northern neighbour, Thailand. This so-called unfounded phobia came from the fact that I developed severe gastro-enteritis at Bangkok and vomited/purged all the way on the flight back from a visit there, more than 10 years ago. I was so dehydrated that I almost didn't make it past the Malaysian immigration. Therefore I had this impression that I'll get very ill if I visit that country again.

However, after a short trip to Vietnam last year, I discovered that travel to Indochina countries are actually very fun and affordable. This truly enjoyable trip (backpacking style) taught me a lesson that I shouldn't judge anything based on one adverse experience.

In short, I'll be travelling up north again and looking forward to partying with my friends on the beaches of southern Thailand soon. I'm giving Thailand another chance :-)...Hopefully, my gang is not going to desert me for other plans this time around as we are planning to paint the idyllic towns red! Hooray...

In the meantime, looking forward to more hiking and climbing experience in the national parks in our country!

Eating one meal a day

Some people say that Malaysians eat one meal a day..that’s because our one meal lasts for an entire day! A lot of foreigners were amazed by the sheer amount of eateries, cafes, mamak stalls, restaurants, deli and so on in any of our cities. Recently, a Japanese girl who was visiting my friend in Teluk Intan was pretty impressed with the good, cheap food at the Ramadan Bazaar here.

I was running around town (KL) sampling very good food too and there are a few photos of some of the places I’ve been. The Empress café in the Curve has pretty nice atmosphere and I loved the wall-to-wall mirrors. The apartment in KLCC also has a very nice ambience but the food is kinda mediocre.

Of course there are plenty of other places I want to talk about but I think by my next post, I’ll talk about DC instead since I will still be here for some time until more news trickle down from the state health office. Sigh…

In the meantime, looking forward to the good food at the open houses during Raya next week. I've never spent Hari Raya in a kampung before and since I'll be in D.C, I'm sure that I'll enjoy the festivities :-)

A Preview of More Daytrips to come

I'm posting this article just for the sake of the pictures.







Went to a waterfall a few days ago and it was so effortless to get to the top.







I'm sure that I'll be going again. In fact, this place is at my old kampung, Chenderiang.






And I'll shoot a lot more pictures the next time coz I wanna explore this sleepy, almost-abandoned little town that brought back plenty of childhood memories for me.






With thanks to Michelle, Pui San, Su Huey and Edward, it was a peaceful, low-intensity and happy outing with delicious food at Kampar.





More tales ahead from my little escapades in many beautiful spots in and around Diamond Cove...