While the trip up Katibas river might have been a great experience, I've come to realised other matters as well. Matters such as poverty which was clear to see in every village that i visited. Being a state so blessed with natural resources one would expect that standard of living would have been better.

While the leaders go around in their helicopters and Mercedes Benz, the people in the long house live a life of scarcity. Most of the young children are severely underweight because their parents can’t afford to buy milk powder and so they give them condense milk instead. The normal diet consists of rice and wild vegetables. They only get meat once or twice a week because it is too expensive. I think even prisoners in this country get better nutrition in their diet.

It is now 2010. And in 10 years time it will be 2020 when we supposedly become a developed country. But yet these people live their life without electricity or road to connect them to the nearest town, infrastructures which are vital in uplifting the standard of living of these people. The difficult terrain and geography cannot be used as an excuse for not building roads or power stations. Come on, if the government has what it takes to built the freaking Bakun Dam which is the size of Singapore, I’m sure the same government has what it takes to cut through a few hills to built a road. It’s all about political will. Wait, maybe political will is not the right reason. It is about greed. Yeah thats it. If the project won’t benefit some big shot politician, then I guess it is pointless to proceed with it. Who cares about a bunch of illiterate poor river side dwellers.

These people eke out a hand to mouth existence. I’ve met some patients who are hypertensive and diabetics for more than 10 years but never had their medication adjusted or had their renal function tested and there are patients I’ve met who have not seen a doctor in their entire adult life just because they could not afford the RM20 boat fare (one way) to Song. While RM20 might be considered spare change for most of us, the amount is a big big deal for them. It is hard for them to see the logic in spending such an amount just to see a doctor when the money can be used to buy food for the family.

And even if the patient is severely ill, they still wouldn’t want to send them down to Song/Kapit/Sibu. The reason? If they die, the relatives won’t have enough money to bring the body back to the village for burial. So they rather die than become a financial burden to their next of kins.

Most of the people here are into self cultivation and do not have a fixed income. They earned extra money by hunting for deer, wild boar or frog meat. And with logging concession being given out like its Christmas everyday to certain groups/individual, soon there won’t be anything left to hunt.

It is appalling; a travesty to human kind if people are not able to receive the best possible health care just because they do not have the financial means to do so. It is the fundamental duty of the government to protect the interest of the people. Public office is not for cultivating personal wealth but to serve the needs of the people. But i am just a fool to have such idealistic thinking. The world doesn’t work with ideals. Money and power makes the world goes round.

The greatest realisation that I’ve come to realised is that, as doctors we can only do so much. We are just treating the symptoms of poverty but are incapable in curing the root cause of poverty. We just treat the symptoms and then hope that better things will happen in the future. The changes I can accomplish as a doctor are limited. What is needed is a bigger platform if you want to exert a bigger difference in the lives of those in need. And that platform ironically is politics itself.

Trip up Katibas river

last month i made a week long medical trip into the interiors of Sungai Katibas, which is tributary of the Rajang river. though im in charge of KK Song, there are 4 other Klinik Kesihatan (KK) along Sg. Katibas which is under my care and are manned by medical assistants.

During the day we will run the clinic. Patient load varies from KK to KK. It all depends on how many long houses there along the river. The more longhouses there are, the more patients there will be. During the 4 days there, i saw a total of 189 patients. Most of the cases were hypertension and diabetes follow up cases. We did pick up 2 suspected cancer cases and they were referred to Sibu for further management

At the end of the day, it was time to have fun. River swimming is the main activity. I could not believe that there are still clean rivers in Sarawak with all the over logging going on. It was simply beautiful to see crystal clear river water cascading down the rocks and boulders as the occasional fish jumps out playfully.

The water was so clear that you could actually see the fishes swimming between the rocks. It makes it easy for spear fishing. The Ibans here have their own home made spear gun. It’s a very simple device made of wood, elastic rubber band and a thin metal spear. But it is dead accurate.

Once the swimming and fishing was over, it was time to barbeque whatever that we caught. The one thing that will forever be etched in my memory is how we laughed and joked as we barbequed the fishes and wild boar meat by the rocky river bank as the sound of the flowing crystal clear river water filled the air. It was simply awesome. I’ve never experience something like that before.

And every morning, i wake up to a misty morning sky and the sound of river flowing punctuated by the beautiful chirping of the early morning bird. The air was cooling and simply refreshing as we cruise along the Katibas River early in the morning. This is simply as close as you get to the beauty of Mother Nature.

At night everyone will gotong-royong to help cook dinner. It didn’t matter what position you hold, everyone was equal and all helped out. I was of not much help though since my culinary skills are pretty limited.

It was great seeing how everyone worked together as a team regardless of position or rank. It was like one big family all working together and joking with each other.

After dinner, we had a different activity for every night. The first night in Tekalit we just sat around and drank tuak and ijok as the senior staffs recount their live stories. Got to say this, the ibans really love their tuak and ijok. And i love it to myself. Its cheap, nice and safe.

On the second night in Bangkit, i was introduced to this iban gambling game called “Holo.” Its a sort of pictorial roulette. The objective of the game is try to bet on the same picture as the dice.

The third night in Engkuah, we made a trip to the opposite bank to visit the longhouses there. The host was nice enough to whipped supper consisting of frog meat for us and, need i mention, tuak as well.

It was here that i had the misfortune of drinking one of the worst whisky I’ve ever tasted called “Cap Ah Pek.” Its some cheap whisky that is locally made and consumed by the bucket load by the locals. It goes for RM17 per bottle. Even though i just had a single shot, i was still feeling light headed the next day.

The 4^th night was spend in this place called Lanjak Entimau which is forest research centre that is not open to the public. The river here is even prettier. By this time i was already dead tired. It seems i snored so loud that the wooden floor panel was shacking ahahah....

overall it was a wonderful trip. going to make more such trip in the future.

Logjam in rajang river

all of a sudden out of nowhere, at 2pm yesterday a 50km long debris of logs and mud flowed along the rejang river and shocking the entire population in kapit. by 6pm, it was in song. all river activity came to a stand still.

shit...i've never seen anything like that before and dont think i will ever do again. logs, branches, sawn timbers and debris covered the entire width of the river. it was a river of wood. navigation along the river was impossible and people travelling in the express boat were stucked till 9pm before it was safe enough to proceed with their journey.

thousands of fish literally suffocated to death in the river when their gills got clogged up by mud and debris. people living by the rivers had a field day picking up dead fish for free. fish which would have cost rm80/kg in the market.

the source of the logs and debris were thought to have arise from logging camps along the Balleh river, which is a tributary of the rejang river, after heavy rain fall in the last 2 days. imagine how many trees would need to be chopped down in order to produce a 50km long sea of debris.

this logjam has spooked some of the local ibans. they think its a sign that a very bad disaster is about to happen or worst, that the world is coming to and end.

authorities are calling this an ecological disaster and has called for an investigation to find out what cause the logjam. pfftt....any idiot can tell you that the cause is over logging. this is what happens when you rape mother nature in the name of greed.

Things to do before i die

1) learn scuba diving

2) scuba diving with the great white shark

3) see the pyramids

4) visit Rome and the Vatican

5) see a blooming sakura tree

6) visit Greece

7) get a tattoo

8) watch Man Utd versus Liverpool/Arsenal at Old Trafford

9) write a book

10) get a superbike and ride like the wind

11) climb Gunung Tahan or Gunung Mulu

12) run a marathon

13) catching a fish more than 5kg

14) make a positive difference in this world