Where Malaysians are one, in sickness or ill health, till politics do us part

 

I’ve been frequenting the local government health clinic lately, not out of some morbid fascination but just to recover some of the hard-earned money that went into paying taxes over 40 years.

It’s working brilliantly. Every time I meet a doctor there, I’m always asked to come back. They have even given me appointments, with dates and times, and seem sincere in wanting to see me back and in good health.

I also go to private hospitals – for health screenings, the occasional consultation and surgery etc. But I have a chronic problem for which I finally admitted that I’d need to start taking my medicine and not just lie to my doctor about my plans to exercise and diet.

So, every few months over the last year I queue up among the multitude of sick, or at least distressed, people while waiting for my number to be called, cards and records to be picked, tests and screenings done before I finally get to see the doctor.

You know how government clinics go, it’s not all sweetness and light. There is frustration and irritation at the inefficiency, coupled with staff who are overworked, and at times irritable. Had they just computerised the patients records years ago everything would have been so much smoother and safer for patients too.

But private hospitals have their issues too. Almost everybody you see there seems to be a specialist with billings to match; often you’re just a pawn in a never-ending fight between hospital owners and specialists as to who could rip you off more.

The reason I find my time at public clinics worth the while (apart from obtaining free but good generic meds) is that I enjoy watching the crowd. They’re all fellow Malaysian citizens or residents, united by the need to have somebody tend to their health.

On my last visit I sat behind an elderly, frail Malay gentleman and a slightly younger, beefier Chinese man. Both of them were clearly the types and representatives of their communities that I was prepared to dislike, for various reasons including my own innate biases and prejudices.

But I saw them chatting, in rather stilted ways perhaps, but it seemed a pleasant and friendly chat, with both parties clearly not feeling awkward or pressured, even though it didn’t last long until their numbers were called.

Lowering our racial guard

I saw them chatting, in rather stilted ways perhaps, but it seemed a pleasant and friendly chat, with both parties clearly not feeling awkward or pressured, even though it didn’t last long until their numbers were called.

Perhaps the time when you’re facing health issues (and not just scrounging around for free senior citizen medicines as I was), is also when you lower your guard against people for whom you would otherwise not care very much

I think government health clinics and hospitals are the places at which the usual racial lenses used by Malaysians to view each other is at their least cloudy. Yes, we also gather to pay road taxes and make police reports and apply for passports, but our focus there is often elsewhere, on where we’re different rather than where we’re the same.

So perhaps ill health is a great leveller. Perhaps we find comfort in sharing our fears and misery with fellow sufferers, and for a while we forget about race and religion and the usual divisions and differences that seem so important at other times.

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Perhaps misery does love company. Perhaps we all should go to government clinics more often and see that we have more in common in our frailties of bodies and mind, fears about our futures and of mortality, perhaps the lack of wealth that forces many to queue at such clinics, than we have differences.

I can’t help but think that perhaps the best way to build a true Malaysia where the various communities feel more together rather than apart, is not through loud expensive campaigns and slogans and exhortations, but rather through such small occasions where Malaysians are forced together by circumstances.

Towards a truly Malaysian nation

It need not always have to be ill health that brings us together: even the passport and road tax and police report counters are opportunities to make people feel more Malaysian.

I’ve always felt that the chances are very small of any one person or any single act solving our problems, regardless of how smart or well meaning we are. Instead, the best chance of success would come from us focusing on the many small circles we are in – the crowd at government clinics or departments for example, or our own family and friends.

It wouldn’t be the loud politician asking us to unite, which often means uniting one faction against another. It’s when we’re united against a common fear such as illness and death that perhaps we can see our humanity.

I realize I have written “perhaps” a lot in this piece. Too many perhapses, perhaps! But I can’t help but feel there are still ways forward to improve our relationships with each other, and these lie in the small acts and not the big showy ones.

I can’t guarantee anybody “up there” will care enough to do anything about this. But we all have our small circles, and if we just focus on improving the lives of those in these small circles rather than just hoping and wishing for big miracles, perhaps we can make things a little bit better.

On that note, I wish everybody a very happy Malaysia Day. May the wonderful dream that created Malaysia continue to live on, and may its rather sickly condition right now be treated and may it get back to robust health soon. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.