More Malaysians are being declared bankrupt!

JOHOR BARU: Young Malaysians are being declared bankrupt because they spend more than they earn, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri (pic).

This trend was worrying because most of them had just started working but already had debt problems, she added.

“This younger generation are supposed to be the next leaders. Instead, we have those who are already facing financial difficulties at a very young age,’’ she told a press conference after opening an information programme for young people at the Home Ministry complex at Setia Tropika here yesterday.

Quoting figures from the Insolvency Department, she said there was an increase in the number of young Malaysians being declared bankrupts in the past five years.

She said there were nearly 22,000 cases last year, an increase from about 13,200 in 2007.

Within the first six months of this year, more than 12,300 young Malaysians had been declared bankrupt. They include 3,680 women.

“On the average, 70.22% of the cases are men,” said Nancy, adding that most of them have outstanding debts of RM30,000 or more and could not afford to settle their dues.

She said the high bankruptcy rate among Malaysians at a young age mainly resulted from defaulting on instalment payments on car, housing and personal loans.

Nancy said there had been celebrities who were also declared bankrupt but most of them declined to seek assistance from the Insolvency Department.

She added that aside from the department, those who have problems managing their finances could seek advice from the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency.

The Star/Asia News Network

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There’s no place like Penang, said Briton

Briton lured by multiracial culture to settle down in the Pearl of the Orient

Home sweet home: Makins, in his Scottish kilt, posing for a photograph with several hikers during a recent hiking trip up the Moon Gate Point Five trail in the Penang Municipal Park.

BRITON Jonathan Makins has travelled far and wide and lived in various places around the world but Penang has a special place in his heart.

Makins, 59, born in Italy to a Scottish father and an English mother, has been living in Penang since February 2012.

He hopes to continue staying in George Town, which he now calls home.

Currently enrolled under the ‘Malaysia, My Second Home’ programme, Makins has lived and worked in Africa, London and Sweden.

The avid traveller, who considers himself a global citizen, also spent four years in Bangkok before coming to Penang.

“I wanted to stay in an Asian country as I love the climate here, which is better than in Europe,” he said.

“Besides, my Thai visa was coming to an end and I was also not very happy in Thailand.

“I visited Penang about four times before settling here, and I find that it is the right place for me.

“I visited Kuching, Sarawak, once but it is very quiet, while travelling to other areas there takes long hours. I have also been to Kuala Lumpur a few times but it was too noisy and dusty,” he said.

After he was born, Makins’ parents briefly brought him back to England before taking him to Tanzania when he was two.

“After Tanzania, I was raised in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, when I was about six, before I left for school in England at the age of 10, while my parents remained in Kenya.

“After university, I worked as a civil and structural engineer in South Africa and Botswana for about nine years before becoming a cabinetmaker in London, England, for seven years,” he said.

Makins then went on to become an English teacher in Sweden for nine years before settling down in Thailand, where he spent the following four years.

“Having been to so many places, I consider myself a citizen of the world.

“As of now, I hope to continue staying in Penang. I love how it is so multiracial and everyone has friends of different races, religion and beliefs,” he said, adding that among his favourite delicacies were Indian vegetarian meals and simple home-cooked Chinese dishes.

Makins, who lives on his own at a condominium unit in Tanjung Bungah here, said besides the unique culture and heritage, he also found it easier ‘to make friends’ with the locals in Penang.

“The people here are friendlier and more hospitable when compared to some in other places that I have been to,” he added.

To keep fit, Makins goes hiking at the Moon Gate Point Five trail in the Penang Municipal Park at least twice a week, and recently he drew curious stares from hikers when he went there dressed in a Scottish kilt on Christmas Day.

“I also swim and keep in touch with friends through the Internet during my free time. Music is my main companion.

“I play the flute and am teaching myself the piano,” he said.

Makins, who was born in the Year of the Horse, added that he travelled to Bedong, Kedah, for the Chinese New Year celebrations with some friends.

By  Cavina Lim The Star/Asia News Network

Old and abandoned by children like trash !

The forgotten: Foong with an elderly inmate of Rumah Kasih in Taman Mutiara Barat.

PETALING JAYA: Each week, at least 10 elderly Malaysians end up in old folks homes and that is just the official average, based on centres registered under the Welfare Department.

According to department director-general Datuk Norani Hashim, an average of 536 elderly persons were placed in registered centres each year between 2009 and 2012.

“The actual number could be much higher as some privately run homes are not registered with the department,” she said.

She said between 1993 and last year, a total of 4,968 senior citizens were placed in 211 centres nationwide.

“Perak has the most number with 1,339 in 56 centres, followed by Selangor with 860 in 45 centres but only nine of the centres are under direct supervision of the department,” she added.

In Kuala Lumpur, Foong Peng Lam, the coordinator of Rumah Kasih, which takes in old folks and patients found abandoned in government hospitals, said at least one person was admitted each week.

He said most of the patients were abandoned because their families claimed they could not afford to take care of them.

“Their family members do not provide any form of financial assistance and do not come over to visit,” he said.

The home has taken in over 600 abandoned individuals since its inception in 2000.

“Weak elderly people who had collapsed by the roadside were also brought in by strangers.

“There were also those who were brought in by family members who never return to visit or take them home,” he said.

Foong said the number of abandoned patients had been increasing steadily – from seven in 2000, to the 60 at present.

Apart from Hospital Kuala Lumpur, the home has been taking in patients from Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Hospital Selayang, Tung Shin Hospital, Hospital Seremban, Hospital Sungai Buloh, University Malaya Medical Centre, Hospital Ampang and Hospital Kajang.

He said the hospitals would first try to contact the families, who would usually promise to take the patient home, but never turn up.

“This can go on for up to two months before they bring a patient in.

“Even when we manage to contact the families they usually refuse to take any responsibility,” he added.

Figures from the National Population and Family Development Board, an agency under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, show that about 675,000 elderly parents did not receive financial support from their children in 2004 when the Fourth Malaysian Population and Family Survey was conducted.

 Abandoned by loved ones after becoming ‘worthless’ 

KUALA LUMPUR: S.K. Cheng, 65, spent three months at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), waiting for his family to take him home.

The diabetic collapsed while walking by the roadside in September last year.

He woke up in the hospital and was told that his left leg would have to be amputated below the knee.

“I did not take care of my children when they were younger. That is why they do not want me now. I could not afford to take care of them well because I did not have enough money,” he lamented at the Rumah Kasih in Cheras, his current home.

Cheng said he used to work in a coffee shop and lived with his wife and three children.

He said his wife passed away 10 years ago and his son and daughters soon moved on with their lives elsewhere.

They came to visit him at the hospital once, but that was the last time he saw them.

Another inmate, also surnamed Cheng, said she was also left at HKL for nearly three months before she was sent to the home.

The woman, in her 70’s, was bedridden after suffering a stroke.

Her son, in his 40s, did not want to take her home because he could not afford the medical bills.

“She used to work odd jobs and was living with her son before she became ill.

“Her son just dumped her, expecting the hospital to care for his mother,” said a caretaker at the home.

While most Rumah Kasih patients are elderly there is also a 36-year old woman known only as Chan.

She spent six weeks in Hospital Selayang without anyone in her family visiting her.

“I used to be happy. I was working as a cashier and was married with three young children.

“When I suffered a stroke and became paralysed, my husband left me at the hospital and left my kids with my father,” she said.

“He said he could not take me. Now that I cannot work anymore I am worthless and they do not want me.”

Contributed by  P Aruna, Farik Zolkepli, Zora Chan, and Vanes Devindran The Star/ANN

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 Go see your parents... or else!

Go see your parents... or else!

Malaysians are still divided on the need of a filial piety law, but many countries in the world are already enforcing it.

IF you are disrespectful to your elders, you will be tortured and killed - that was the law during the Han Dynasty in ancient China. Although the death sentence is no longer mandatory for such behaviour in modern China, it is still a crime under its newly revised law Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly.

Enforced in July last year, the Act lists nine new clauses that stipulate the duties of children - finacially and emotionally - towards their elderly parents. A main clause requires family members living apart from the elderly to “frequently visit or send greetings to the elderly persons.”

And if that is difficult for those living far away, a provision was included requiring employers to allow their employees time off to visit their elderly parents. However, no punishments were stipulated for those who neglect their parents.

The law allows senior citizens to sue their children and get a court order for financial aid, care and visits.

It was introduced due to the growing number of cases of the aged being abandoned in China in the last few decades, despite the deeply ingrained filial piety belief in its culture. In 2011, it was reported that nearly half of the 185 million people aged 60 and above live apart from their children.

An ageing population was also the impetus behind India’s 2007 filial piety law which states that adult children have an obligation of fulfilling all their parent’s needs including housing, food, and medical care. Failure to do so is punishable by hefty fines, and jail.

Closer to home, Singapore has enforced a Maintenance of Parents Act since 1999. The law also allows parents to sue their grown children for an allowance and care; or face six months in jail.

What many will find surprising is that filial piety laws are also practised in the United States, or rather in 30 American states. What is more surprising is that they are based on a law dating back to 1601, the Elizabethan Poor Relief Act, which stipulated that “the father and grandfather, and the mother and grandmother, and the children of ‘every poor, old, blind, lame and impotent person’ being of a sufficient ability, shall, at their own charges, relieve and maintain every such poor Person.”

The American filial piety laws differ from state to state but each generally describes the responsibility of children to provide financial support to their parents.

Many of the laws enable nursing homes to sue the adult children for their parents’ unpaid medical bills. A dozen states stipulate it a crime punishable by jail. South Dakota allows children who have been sued to get a court order for their siblings to pitch in.

Six states make grandchildren accountable.

As many have found out, living in another state does not protect them against a lawsuit – in 2007, Elnora Thomas from Florida was reportedly sued by her mother’s nursing home in Pennsylvania for unpaid bills. When she was unable to cough up the money, she was told they would put a lien on her house.

In France, the filial piety law allows senior citizens to get cash and care from their children-in-law too. Other Western countries that mandate financial support from adult children to their aged parents are Canada, Ukraine and Russia.

Can you legislate filial loyalty and love?

ONE of the cases that pushed the government of China to mandate filial piety was in Jiangsu province where a local TV station reported that a farmer had kept his 100-year-old mother in a pigsty with a 200kg sow.

94-year-old Zhang Zefang won her suit against her four children for financial support and care.

Last December, 94-year-old Zhang Zefang won her suit against her four children for financial support and care. They were ordered to split her medical bills and take turns to look after her. Due to their own financial problems, the siblings asked the youngest brother to take her in. He put her up in his garage - which was in a condition arguably worse than a pigsty.

Whose responsibility is it to look after the aged?

A CRITICISM of the filial piety law is that it is an attempt by the government to pass the buck of elderly care to the people with the growing size of the ageing population and escalating costs of healthcare, property and general living.

Another concern is for those who were abused by their parents when they were younger – should they be legally bound to care for the abusive parents?

Recently, the father of K-pop idol group Super Junior leader Leeteuk hanged himself after killing his own parents.

He reportedly suffered from depression due to the overwhelming financial and emotional burden of caring for his elderly parents who had dementia.

The high publicity case has sent the republic into a national debate on the public support system available for carers and relatives of the elderly suffering from serious illnesses, especially Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

In New York last week, a group of 70-something Korean-Americans were evicted from a McDonald’s restaurant for overstaying – they reportedly hogged the tables at the eatery from 5am until dark every day, affecting its business. The senior citizens are not homeless; they just have no other place to hang out together!

Symbols of filial piety

In Japan, filial piety is embodied in various statues called kohyo no zou (filial piety statues) around its public buildings and temples. One of the most famous statues is that of Nippon Foundation founder Ryoichi Sasakawa carrying his elderly mother up the stairs of a temple.

In China last year, Guangzhou Daily highlighted the filial heroics of a 26-year-old man who pushed his disabled mother for 93 days in a wheelchair for a holiday at a popular tourist site in Yunnan Province.

Filial tradition

FILIAL piety is a key virtue in cultures rooted in Confucianism such as that of China and South Korea. It is defined as respect for one’s parents and ancestors. However, the concept is well-ingrained in many other cultures too.

Known as seva in the Indian culture, filial piety is demonstrated at various traditional ceremonies including weddings where the young would serve milk to the elders and wash their feet.

In the Malay culture, the tale of Si Tanggang is used to caution the young on the consequences of filial impiety.

Si Tanggang is a poor young boy who goes off to sea in search of his fortunes. He promises to return for his mother when he makes something of himself. However, when he gets rich, he forgets her. When he returns after many years, she rushes to the shore with his favourite dish, but Si Tanggang is so ashamed of his poor mother that he refuses to acknowledge her. Worse, he orders his men to throw her off his ship. Heartbroken, Si Tanggang’s mother prays for God to turn him into stone.

For the Muslims, filial piety is asserted in various Quran verses and Hadith. A common reminder is “Heaven is at the bottom of your mother’s feet.”

Similarly, in the Jewish and Christian traditions, filial piety is asserted in various instances of their holy texts, such as the Fifth Commandment which says “Honor your father and your mother”.

Contributed by Hariati Azizan The Star/Asia News Network

Dubious qualifications, Will the real doctor please stand up?

 Many resort to buying academic qualifications and degree or diploma mills

SEVERAL years ago, I met a Penang businessman who had a ‘Dr’ title to his name. When I asked him in English about his field of study, he hesitated.

Pressed for an answer, he gestured with his hands and made drilling sounds to depict the act of digging a road. I then realised he was trying to tell me that his doctoral degree was in civil engineering.

Later, I heard about another Penang businessman who was asked by an air hostess to assist in a medical situation on board a plane because of his ‘Dr’ title.

The businessman hastily clarified in Hokkien to the air hostess, who was also from Penang: “Wah si kim siew eh loh koon. Beh heow kuah lang.” (“I am an animal doctor. I can’t treat humans.”)

The public must be getting used to reading about individuals whom they know did not attend a single day of tertiary education — and can hardly string together a sentence in English — being awarded doctoral degrees.

Instead of gaining respect from their peers, those who pay for their doctorates from degree (or diploma) mills become the object of scorn when they flash their ‘Dr’ titles.

As Penangites become more affluent, they seem to think they can buy anything including educational qualifications.

But no genuine institution of higher learning will confer degrees on ineligible individuals, no matter how much money is given.

So people turn to degree mills, those unaccredited education institutions that offer academic degrees and diplomas for a fee.

Degree mills look impressive and genuine because they often claim to be recognised by Unesco, an agency of the United Nations that promotes education and communication. However, the Unesco website states clearly that it does not have the mandate to accredit or recognise higher education institutions.

People who buy from diploma/degree mills know exactly what they are paying for and probably think they are not committing any crime. But they should be aware that the authorities will not hesitate to act.

Last July, it was reported that the police were tracking 525 people who allegedly bought fake degrees and certificates from non-existent international universities.

Some 40 individuals, including a Tan Sri and several politicians, had their statements recorded as part of the police investigation into fake academic degrees bought from an education institute in Selangor.

If Penang is serious about developing itself into an educational hub, the state government should ensure that it does not appoint individuals who have dubious doctoral degrees to sit in the various bodies set up to look into improving aspects of the economy, education, transport and tourism.

It may be customary for institutions of higher learning to confer honorary degrees on individuals for their contributions to society. It is equally customary for the recipients to refrain from using the ‘Dr’ title.

Some of these people think it is fashionable to use the ‘Dr’ prefix, but in reality it can be misleading.

Universities are concerned that the public may be confused by an honorary doctorate and the doctorate awarded to those who meet the academic requirements.

Therefore, some universities have begun awarding such honorary degrees as LittD (Doctor of Letters), LHD (Doctor of Humane Letters) and ScD (Doctor of Science) instead of the usual PhD to avoid further confusion.

- Contributed by David Tan, Pinang Points

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It's not about rights or peace

There are many reasons why crimes happen, but let us not get befuddled by the view that we have to sacrifice our rights in order to live in peace.

Murder victims: Police personnel bringing out the bodies of the five men who were gunned down at an apartment in Sungai Nibong.

It is quite nice to hear the Prime Minister declare that any future development in criminal laws will not infringe upon human rights. Well, let’s hope that is true.

The thing is, by this statement there is an unsaid implication that human rights and crime are something that are somehow related. One retiree for example said that the price for more freedom is higher crime.

I wondered if this is true. After all, in our country, we respect the old, so perhaps there is some wisdom in this octogenarian’s statement.

So, I decided to poke around the information superhighway (Hah! Bet you haven’t hear that term for a while), and I chanced upon a study done by the United Nations office on drugs and crime in 2012. The study was a comprehensive survey of homicides around the world.

If greater freedom equates with greater crime (here the crime in question is murder), then we should see countries with the greatest civil liberties leading the pack. Crickey, a place like Denmark should, theoretically, be littered with dead bodies everywhere. You shouldn’t be able to walk to your corner shop to buy your poached cod or whatever is eaten in those parts, without having to step over cadavers riddled with bullet holes.

After all, they have ratified about thirty human rights treaties (including one against the death penalty); their criminals must be running around high on Carlsberg and whacking every Thor, Dag and Hagen that they come across.

But, this is not the case. They have one of the lowest murder rates in the world. 0.9 per every 100,000 people. To give that some sense of perspective, our murder rate is 2.3 per every 100,000 people. In fact, looking at the study, we see that there is simply no correlation between civil liberties and crime. The regions with the highest homicide rate tend to be those which are desperately poor.

Now this is of course a cursory amble of the Internet on my part and not some serious academic study, but it seems to me that it is very clear that to equate more human rights to more crime is simply not supported by the facts.

The reason I raise this is that we are often faced with the argument that it is one or the other. Rights or peace. This is simply not the case.

In the light of the recent spate of high profile and horrific crimes that we have faced and the police force’s “war” on gangsters, let us not get befuddled by the view that we have to sacrifice our rights in order to live in peace.

There are a myriad of reasons why crimes happen and these must be examined and studied so that any “war” on crime has to be fought on the correct “battlefield”.

For example, poverty and the vast disparity of wealth between the haves and the have not’s seem to be one of the things that the world’s most murder ridden nations have in common.

It sure as heck is not their observance of human rights principles.

So, yes, let us make all efforts to ensure that this country of ours has the least crime possible, but leave our rights (what little of them we have) well enough alone.

 Brave New World by AZMI SHAROM
Azmi Sharom (azmisharom@yahoo.co.uk) is a law teacher. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

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‘Super’ slimming pill harmful to health

Coming forward: (Seated, from left) Chong, Wong and lawyer P.Y. Leong. Looking on are two other people who had also used the product

.

KUALA LUMPUR: A 32-year-old housewife was overjoyed when she lost 6kg in less than two months after consuming slimming pills she bought online.

She then spent almost RM15,000 purchasing the pills for her friends and family before realising that it contained a harmful substance banned in Malaysia, called “Sibutr­amine”.

“When I first began consuming the pills, I had palpitations, headaches and difficulty sleeping.

“The distributor of the product told me I was experiencing this because there was caffeine in the pills,” said Irene Wong, who started taking the pills after it was recommended by her friend.

Wong had asked her friends, including a woman living in Hong Kong, to buy the product as it was offered at a cheaper price when purchased in bulk.

The woman in Hong Kong had sold the pills to her friends there and one of them was admitted to hospital after suffering from severe palpitations. It was then discovered that the product has been banned in Hong Kong.

When Wong discovered this, she immediately sought the help of the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department, which wrote in to the Health Ministry.

The ministry, in a letter made available to The Star, confirmed that the product was not registered with the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) and prohibited from being sold in Malaysia as it contained Sibutramine.

The ministry said the substance, which is an appetite suppressant, increased the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Wong said she had contacted the distributor of the product via Face­book many times to inform them about the dangers and to ask them to stop selling it.

However, she said, the product was still being sold openly, for RM160 per bottle, and many seemed to be purchasing it.

Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, in a press conference with Wong yesterday, cautioned the public from buying the product, and urged those who had already bought it to stop consuming the pills.

He added that a police report would be lodged over the matter soon.

P. ARUNA The Star contributed to this post