Two days after the last general elections, as a big thank you for the solid endorsement of Sabahans for the Barisan Nasional, it was announced that the price of low-cost houses in large towns would be increased from RM32,000 to RM42,000.

Money politics is old hat in Sabah. In that elections, the price of a vote reportedly included sacks of rice, zinc sheets, fibreglass water tanks, generator sets or just a good old RM100 note. But as the old adage goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. In effect, for an initial investment of RM100, the politician later manages to force a Sabahan voter to cough up an extra RM10,000 for a basic roof over his head. Indeed, politics must be the best form of business in this country!

Perhaps it was pay back time to the shadow bosses, those businessmen and developers who bankroll politicians. One might even ask, did Sabahans elect wakil towkay or wakil rakyat ? What, one wonders, are the heavenly rewards for the six PBS state assemblymen who crossed over to the Barisan on Easter Day in "a plan of God for the resurrection of development"?

Urban West Malaysians, especially the non-Muslims, were definitely more "educated". What? Sacks of rice? Zinc sheets? We didn't accept all that old-fashioned stuff in exchange for our votes. The Mahaguru of political silat promised us loftier things like development, progress and stability.

Indeed on Aug 8, 1998, two years before the elections (and three weeks before Anwar Ibrahim's sacking) Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad pledged that Malaysians would, "in the near future", be given a minimum wage of RM1,200 a month if the people were "united with the government" in reviving the economy.

He said then that there was a plan to increase salaries but without resorting to industrial action such as strikes; adding that the country was lucky to have such a "disciplined" workforce. Five months after the elections, the story is different. On May 1, 2000, as a Labour Day reward for the loyal support of such "disciplined" (read: docile and obedient) workers, Dr Mahathir announced that he had been, in effect, misquoted on the RM1,200 minimum wage thing.

Now, if ordinary mortals such as you or I were misquoted, we would call up the newspapers straightaway so that a correction could be printed the next day. But, when the political silat is at Mahaguru level, it takes one year and eight months to clarify matters. Zainal Rampak, president of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has implicitly accused the Prime Minister of going back on his word and is threatening a picket to press for workers' rights.

What does all this mean? Well, in backwater Sabah, price hikes are crudely announced three days after elections. But for supposedly smarter, more sophisticated West Malaysians, promises, or at least public relations impressions of promises, are only broken five months after the rakyat have voted for "development". We are like clever Americans who were told by Bill Clinton that "oral sex is not really sex". Right. And RM1,200 is not really RM1,200.

After all, since Umno leaders wear smart western suits, shirts and ties, they sure look more "advanced" and "moderate". We brainy people of the Peninsular know that people who wear that ulama skullcap and gown stuff must be radical, fanatical and maniacal in every aspect.

Of course, the moment party politics is mentioned, this article will be dismissed as the draft copy of an opposition ceramah. It is not. But it does scrutinise what Malaysians elected into power last November. Or are we so stuffed with curry chicken rice and so weary with traffic jams that we have half-forgotten that any government, whether Barisan Nasional or Barisan Alternatif, must be held accountable for its promises and actions?

So tell you what, let's have a look at the great development and progress that has been happening over the past one month - hey, as reported in the mainstream pro-Barisan newspapers and not some crazy, untrustworthy and biased-for-the- rakyat website. We start by examining the bright future of our health services.

Profits first, health second

On April 11, the Barisan government announced the establishment of a national welfare trust fund with contributions from the private sector and individuals to finance healthcare costs for the poor. Is this the sugar-coating meant to cover an upcoming bitter pill of hospital privatisation?

Whatever it is, the move is surely in line with the caring society concept: where the government gradually abandons its responsibility to care for the poor and throws it over to caring society. The trust fund looks good on the surface but, in reality, the wakil towkay are declaring: "Hey, there isn't enough public government money to care for the poor. It's not our job. It's the job of society. Yes, that means you, the Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu in the street."

As Health Minister Chua Jui Meng proudly related, "I was inspired to set up the fund after a visit to the Mayo Clinic in the United States where an individual donated her life savings to the non-profit clinic." You Barisan supporters out there. Are you ready?

And why does the government lack money for poor patients? Why is it that the public healthcare system is being left to rot slowly as talented but underpaid and severely overworked doctors/nurses leave for private hospitals? Why do kidney dialysis patients have to go begging in the newspapers for money in this great Formula-One-World-Record-Breaking-Malaysia-Boleh country of ours?

Read the article "[#1] Private healthcare, public expense [/#]" ( Malaysiakini , April 1) written by a government doctor about how tens of millions are used to feed parasite cronies in the almighty name of privatisation. Well, what the hell. Government hospitals are only for losers. The progressive Barisan voter is a winner who can afford to use private clinics and hospitals. But hey, here's the news. The quality of your healthcare even in the private sector is being compromised because new parasites known as Managed Care Organisations (MCOs) have latched onto them.

On March 30, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) complained that MCOs have ordered doctors not to exceed RM30 per patient when treating chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. MCOs have threatened doctors with removal from the panel if they did not cut costs.

"It appears that MCOs want healthcare costs to be reduced at the expense of treatment quality and the well-being of patients," said MMA president Dr P. Krishnan. Moreover, even in emergency cases, MCOs do not allow things like X-rays and ECGs unless there is prior approval. They are also pushing their own drugs and insisting that doctors prescribe them.

"It is a dangerous trend for MCOs to give out their own drugs," added Dr Krishnan. So what's new? Once again, it's profits first and the rakyat second.

Who is sucking out the money? For centuries, healthcare has been a simple matter between doctors and patients. What is the Health Ministry's motive in allowing an extra layer of politically-connected middlemen to come into the picture?

Service or commodity?

Two basic questions have to be answered. Is healthcare a responsibility of the government or a financial burden that they must shake off through privatisation? Is healthcare a service for 20 million Malaysians or a commodity to enable a few millionaire Datuks and Datins to go on shopping sprees in London?

Why is it that nowadays the term "health industry" is used instead of "health service"? Even health insurance is being plundered for profit. After years of study, the Health Minister admitted two months ago that the National Healthcare Financing Scheme (NHFS) is still far from reality. The NHFS was supposed to cover the medical costs of all Malaysian in a fair, equitable manner. This is called non-profit community health insurance, something that countries like Australia have. Everybody is covered from womb to tomb and pays the same premium regardless of age, sex or health condition.

But Malaysian health insurance schemes, MMA president Dr Krishnan, pointed out in an analysis in The Sun on April 2, are a for-profit risk-based system. What that means is that if you're already sick, or too old, (read: unprofitable) sorry you Barisan supporter, no insurer is going to cover you. And even though complications from pregnancy are the number two cause of hospitalisation in government hospitals, sorry Mrs Malaysia Boleh, insurance tak boleh cover you.

Has the community-based NHFS been sacrificed because of political pressure from the for-profit insurance companies? Has there been ugly scheming over our insurance schemes? Five months after the general elections and wow(!) what a lot of development and progress has been reported.

More than two years ago, the medical examinations of foreign workers were privatised away to Fomena, which, so what's new, charges more than normal doctors do. Have they done their job well? If so, why is it that the current outbreak of malaria in Penang started from foreign workers? Hello. We've gone beyond talking about money here. It's lives.

Is the decline of the public health system not linked to previous outbreaks of cholera in Penang and Coxsackie (they're not even sure it's that virus) in Sarawak? People died because the Health Minister gave the wrong advice for the wrong virus, saying it was OK to keep on pig-farming with long sleeved-shirts and mosquito repellent. Confidence has dropped so low that despite assurances to the contrary, Sarawakians recently rushed to check up on hand, foot and mouth disease just as they (at least the rich ones) evacuated their children from the state during the Coxsackie episode.

What is the Barisan government's response? Hip Hip Hooray Malaysia Boleh! Don't think negative! Before elections, remember how we have climbed Mount Everest, parachuted a Proton Wira on the North Pole and sailed solo around the world.

But why is our public health system bleeding? Let's face it. Ultimately it's all about power. If, hypothetically, the Americans conquered Malaysia one day, it would not be surprising if they gave out special contracts and privatisation deals to friends and cronies from the US of A. Nobody would be surprised if our natural and labour resources would be exploited for American benefit. It's the kind of thing that happens to banana republics. There is a term for this. It's called colonisation.

Only problem is, when it's done by the white guys, it's condemned by our magnificent Third World champion as unfair, unjust, imperialism, racism, etc, etc. But when local parasites suck the economic juice out of Malaysians, it's called preserving National Unity. Great.