Political Blackmail

I have to say this before I go off for the weekend. I was enjoying my favourite 'wan tan mee' this morning (actually I was a little upset that the lady raised thr price to RM3.00 per bowl now instead of RM2.70; the wan tan still looked microscopic despite the price increase); and I was browsing through the newspaper (browse is all I can do these days, no time to actually read).

What caught my eye was the report of another minster in one of our East Coast state asking the Federal Government to compensate them for not logging!!! Last week, another chief minister of an East coast state caused a furore in the Parliament by telling the media to 'go to hell' for their alleged misreporting of him asking the Federal Government for similar compensation. The reason they claim is that they need an 'alternative' source of income.

These people said they are all for 'conservation' but....only if they are compensated!!! To me, this is nothing more than political blackmail. It's like telling some one, I won't pollute your air/water/environment if you will compensate me. Pay me and I won't destroy your life. Soon, rapists will say, pay me and I won't rape your children; or thieves will say, pay me and I won't steal your stuff. A little too harsh I know, but you get the picture.

That's stupid. It makes my blood boil. I say, go ahead, cut down ALL your trees for all I care and someday you shall pay for it. All these people are just morally corrupt with no vision. All the Federal Funds cannot ever compensate for the loss of our fragile ecology. It just makes my blood boil.

And it makes me madder still to know that the little boy who throws his used plastic bag out the school bus window, causing whatever beverage he was drinking to splash onto my windscreen; or the idiot who throws all kinds of rubbish out their car windows (haven't they heard of an ash tray?), might eventually be a policy maker sitting in our parliament. I shudder to think about this.

One thing I saw in Beijing (and Kuching, in Malaysia) was how clean they were! You can't find rubbish on the road. I once saw a man in Beijing puffing on his cigarette and after every 2 or 3 puffs he walked to the nearest rubbish bin to deposit the ash. In a city of 17 million people, they had the will power to keep the place clean. In preparation for the coming Olympics, they are planting trees by the millions!

And here we have politicians asking to paid not to cut down trees. Shame on us.

CHURCH CAMP AND A NEW ADDITION!

Ward round is done for the day. It was a 'tsunami' round. Heh heh! No, patient care was not compromised. Thankfully, there was only 1 new patient admitted under my team last night. So the rest of the patients were pretty stable and even the new admission did not have a life threatening ailment.

I am going to take a slow drive to Port Dickson after this to join my family and the whole church there! The church camp has started last night. I am supposed to be the church doctor...I just hope that no one fell terribly sick last night. But then again, my wife is pretty apt at dispensing medications....heh, heh, being married to a physician helped.

In the wee hours of the morning, Cheryl, my new niece was born! Weighing at just 2.13 kg... a tad tiny, much like my boy last time. And like Ryan (my son) she has neonatal sepsis and is now in the NICU for observation. I am sure the parents are anxious. Please pray for them. Ryan stayed for 7 days in the NICU and those were some of the worst days of our lives. But, I am sure that the kid and parents are in the best of hands...especially our Father's hands.

Am looking forward to the church camp. I want to hear some solid teachings and have a fresh encounter with God there. I can feel myself running out of steam here and I think this retreat will be good.

Have a great weekend everyone! God bless y'all. :-)

May's Roster and an Invite

Just took a look at my roster for May. Three calls (it's to be expected), one on a public holiday. I will be posted to the Geriatric ward. I have mixed feelings. It will be a challenge to treat the elderly folks. I think the patients are ok generally; much of the time it's the patient's relatives who give us a hard time. Many of them are so wracked with guilt that they take it out on the poor doctors and nurses, all in the guise of being extremely concerned about the patient's well being.

Anyway, it's just a month long posting; so I guess I can weather it out. I will also have to cover the cardio clinic as expected as well as the geriatric clinic and the chest clinic!!! Looks like I won't be free from the chest clinic for some time yet. Actually it's rather enjoyable, if only there are not so many patients and the clinic is not so long. It's a lot better now. We used to end the clinic at around 9-10pm!!!! Now we smile when we get off at 6 pm.

I also received a phone call while eating at 'Rumahku', my favourite haunt for a quiet lunch. It was from Bayer. The rep asked if I could help them out next weekend at the KL Tower. Apparently they are having a booth there in conjuction with Women Health Day and they wanted me to assist them in explaining to the male patients about their product, Levitra, a potent drug for Erectile Dysfunction.

I had to decline. Not that I was not interested (the money is not the issue here), it's because my weekends are sacred! It's my only time with my family, at least for now anyway, and there is church on Sunday. I am not willing to sacrifice these for a less important (to me) cause. :-P

Chest clinic starts in 10 minutes! Gtg...

Why I didn't want to be a Paediatrician...

This pic taken from my favourite comic strip (Calvin and Hobbes) says it all.

A humorous turn..

Life has a way of cheering you up. I think it's a kind of divine intervention. I was tired yesterday and I suppose God knew I needed a laugh. I received some cartoons from a friend and they had me in stitches!

I will share some of them here with you...

SILK

I think when one thinks of China, one thinks of silk. After all, it was the birthplace of silk. In the same vein, no visit to China would be complete without a visit to a silk factory.

The history of silk

Our guide who spoke very good English at the silk factory

Raw silk, not so good quality onesEggs of the Silk Moth. Real tiny, sneeze and it's gone!

Silk worms
Silk worm pupae Moths
Coccoons
Silk dresses on display Our former PM at the APEC meeting
Bush wore silk too Harvesting silk strands from the coccoons.
Basically you crack open the coccoon, remove the now dead pupae inside, and stretch the coccoon over a bamboo apparatus shaped like a semi-arch.
You do the process repeatedly and in the end you will end up with a bunch of silk like the one above.
A coccoon in my hand (and now on display in my home!)
You get a group of people and each pick up a corner of the silk bunch earlier and pull (evenly) to produce a thin layer of fine silk!
The end product. One of the silk quilt on display. Cost RMB 600 only.... ouch!
More silk cloth on display.

I didn't really take a lot of pics that day mainly because I was totally exhausted and having a migraine headache. I totally hate to wait for people and that day we waited 2 and half hours! The time given was actually 45 minutes but most of the ladies in our group went hysterical and berserk on seeing such fine (and cheap, or so they claimed) silk for sale. They were buying up the silk cloth like there was no tomorrow. I even came across a 70 something malay lady (not from our group) who ordered her poor (and nearly bankrupt) hubby to go borrow some money so that she can buy some more silk cloth!!!

We bought a nice little silk blouse for my MIL. It was on 50% discount (from RMB 360). Nice piece of cloth. After that we just sat and waited, and waited and waited.....

The Da Vinci Code

With all the hype about the Da Vinci Code, I think some level headed comment would be most welcome amidst the hysterics and controversy generated. Here is one from Soo-Inn.


GRACE@WORK MAIL 17/06[28th April 2006 Edition]

eCOMMENTARY: Who's Afraid of the Da Vinci Code Movie?

I am flabbergasted that some Christian groups in Malaysia and Singapore are calling for a ban on the screening of the Da Vinci Code movie (DVC movie).Why this hysteria?Is the DVC movie the Antichrist or what?(Hey, that's an idea for a book. The Antichrist is not a person. It is actually a movie starring Tom Hanks. Do you think it will sell?)

The church has experienced much more serious assaults and survived. Why this hoopla over a movie? When folks see Tom Hanks prancing around on the screen with a beautiful heroine accompanied by an exciting soundtrack, it should hit home that we are dealing with fiction here.The DVC movie may be the best thing that happens to this whole DVC phenomena where Christians are concerned.

The DVC book is just so-so. I think Dan Brown's Angels and Demons is a better written book. But the DVC phenomena took off because of the book's claim to be true and its tapping on our love for conspiracies. It also rode on feminist sentiments and the fact that the history of the church is by no means spotless.

The DVC book has already been pooh-poohed by any number of reliable authorities. The continuing controversy only serves to make Dan Brown a very, very rich man. It has also provided Christians an excellent platform to talk about the faith with folks who normally wouldn't give Christianity a second look.

But does the DVC movie warrant the high profile we are giving it?Should we ask the government to ban the movie?

First off it is virtually impossible to stop people seeing a movie if they really wanted to. They can download it online. Friends will bring back copies from their travels. And in Malaysia you can buy pirated DVDs of any movie you want.Banning it will only increase people's curiosity and may lead to even more interest in the show as people wonder what the church has to hide and why the church is so frightened.

Secondly censorship is always a double edged weapon in the fight for truth. Once you encourage the government authorities to wield this weapon, there is no telling where they will stop. It might be a movie that offends the church today. It might be a show deemed anti Islamic tomorrow or one deemed dangerous to the social order.

If we encourage the powers that be to wield the sword of censorship, especially where ideas and concepts are concerned, it might be a weapon used against the church tomorrow. I'd rather take my chances with a society committed to an open market for ideas.

The bible says that we shouldn't be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good (Romans 12 : 21). The best antidote to things like the DVC is to faithfully teach and model the truth in our churches. Healthy churches where the truth is both taught and experienced should be able to shrug off attacks like the DVC. And healthy churches should have enough credibility in society to be trusted when they clarify false claims about the faith.

Therein lies the problem. Many churches today are not paying the price of teaching our people biblical truth and teaching them how to think biblically. More concerned for rapid numerical growth, many churches focus on methods and programmes. Pragmatism rules. “What works” is the de facto battle cry taking precedence over “what is true.”

The DVC phenomena has caught us with our pants down and now we are scrambling to help our people fight off these assaults on our faith.And in our panic some of us do things like calling upon government authorities to ban the movie.History has shown that depending on government authorities rather then getting our own act together has often been a poor bargain for the church.Perhaps we can thank the DVC phenomena as a God allowed wake-up call to the church.

In a post-modern connected world, there will be many more DVC types up the road. We can't be fighting fires all the time.

What is needed is to take seriously our task of teaching our people the Scriptures so that they are both able to detect error and to help explain to their non- Christian friends the fallacy du jour (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).

We also need to help our people to be able to reflect biblically so that they are functioning with the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2: 16).And we need to do that in ways that show the relevance of the Word for daily life.

Too often theology has been taught as an intellectual scholastic exercise.We need to help our people see biblical truth as something that is part of the warp and woof of daily life.
Not some spiritual dogma removed from life.

I am glad for all the effort going into refuting the false claims of the DVC. For example I am very proud of grass roots apologetics initiatives rising up, like my Agora friends in Malaysia and Singapore, who are working with more established church groups to counter the false claims in the DVC. Agora Malaysia is also trying to produce DVC countering materials in Chinese and Malay.All this needs to be done.

But I can't see us putting the same kind of effort against every popular fallacy that erupts in the entertainment media. We will end up with a very reactive agenda. Some of this will have to be done. But I'd rather the church be more pro active and giving the appropriate attention to grounding our people in the truth.

And lest we forget what is involved, this is no high school debate.We fight to protect the veracity of God's Word because, as Peter said:“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”[John 6 : 68 TNIV]

Your brother,Soo-Inn Tan
Write me!At: sooinn@graceatwork.org

Done with China

Or just about anyway. I have been talking too much about China I think and I think it's time to stop. Maybe one or two more postings and that's it.

My next stop? Port Dickson Beach Resort Club this weekend (for our annual church camp) and there after Colmar Tropicale Bukit Tinggi sometime mid-May.

Gotta go for locum now. The job's boring but the money is needed (read: I didn't say good... in fact I think I am being underpaid) and most of all, I have time to enter all the messy data I accumulated today and maybe even catch a movie on my notebook (have been carrying the 'Capote' and 'Crash' DVD in my bag for weeks!!!!

Ciao!

Crossed 400 today

The cardiac clinic was chaotic today. 195 patients excluding those who walk in; 4 cardiologists either on leave or MC and you get an idea how horrible it was. I didn't feel too good, it takes me at least 3-4 days to recover from an on call duty. Another sign of growing old (other than dreaming about prunes, according to one radio advertisement from a local bank).

The clinic wasn't quite over yet when I left some 15 minutes ago but they have already run out of male patients. I have steadfastly declined to see any female patients mainly because they are not the subjects of my thesis study and secondly, seeing them would delay the progress of my thesis.

Some nurses were quite pushy, trying to get me to see this or that woman as an exception. Initially I used to comply but after a while I had to put my foot down. It just took up too much time and I end up not getting many patients for my thesis. I don't think I am being selfish, after all, I am still seeing patients. Let the female patients see other doctors.

And today I broke through another barrier...it's been a while since I crossed the 300 patients mark. Today I crossed another significant mark...the 400th patient! It's significant because this will be the last mark I cross before reaching my target of 500 patients. From now onwards, the count down will be in double digits instead of triple digits.

I feel a certain amount of satisfaction. The grand total now is 402. Another 98 patients to go. I think there is a good chance I can get this number by the end of next month. I can't wait to start analysing the data and write up the thesis. It's going to be challenging.

I have locum later. I am looking forward to the day when I won't have to do locum anymore. It's tiring and a bore. :-P

The Imperial Garden & The North Gate

As time was short, we practically brisk walked through the Imperial Garden towards the North Gate! If we had a little more time, I would love to have lingered in this part of the Forbidden City and admire the trees there that were a few hundred years old!

In the distance is a bare tree known as the 'Dragon Palm'. This was because the twisted mangled branches closely resembled the arms and claws of a dragon.

A closer look at the 'Dragon Palm' tree. That's the top of my wife's head! :-P

Lots of old old trees. Some some old they looked petrified. They even felt like solid rock.

The royal study. The guide told us that this was where the Emperor and Empress would come to enjoy the view of the garden and gaze at the moon at night. Totally romantic!

That's me. It was getting cold again and I had to add on a scarf!

Exiting one section of the Imperial Garden into another large section of the garden.

A pavilion in the midst of the garden.

Pink magnolia flowers.

Tree trunks so old, they looked and felt like rock. The white stuff was probably frozen bird poo.

Inching closer to the North Gate (Shen Wu Men) after leaving the Imperial Garden.

The last emperor of China, Emperor Pu Yi, left by this gate when he fled the city.

You can read about the gate on the sign above...if you have very good eye sight. :-P

Finally exiting the Forbidden City after a 2 hour walk. It was about 3 pm then... we were all very tired and very hungry. We eventually had lunch at 4 pm!!! More like thunch! (tea + lunch)

The moat surrounding the Forbidden City.

One last look before we left the place for good. The experience was great!

So Tired

I feel so tired and sleepy. My initial hope was that the clinic would end early (fat chance actually) and I could go to the gym and maybe just sit in the sauna and relax. I have not gone to the gym the whole of this month and I felt it's good money wasted.

Unfortunately, the clinic was packed! 50 listed patients and 41 unlisted ones. So that was a total of 91 patients not including those who walked in with a referral letter from wherever they came from. I didn't have much energy to start with, having slept badly last night while on call. By 6pm, I felt like I had no more energy left. So I did the unthinkable....I left the clinic! There were about 5-6 folders not seen yet. Sorry my dear fellow colleagues, I just didn't have the energy to see another patient!

Usually seeing patients is a breeze. Not today, most of the patients I saw were new referrals. That would mean taking a long detailed history from each of them, examine them thoroughly and finally formulate a plan of action, and then...explain to the usually bewildered and ignorant patient what I think is wrong with them, and my next plan of action. Long, tedious, tiring....

I saw a young chinese man today. He had this neck swelling that wouldn't go away. So, he went to a private hospital and they took out some of the swelling and subsequently diagnosed him with tuberculosis. He was promptly started on anti-TB but he defaulted after he felt better and the lump disappeared. The lump came back with a vengeance within 2 weeks. Back he went to the private hospital, he was restarted on the anti-TB and was asked to go for a blood test.

Blood test came back last week....he has HIV. He came today with his mum and sister. His wife left him last week, taking along the 3 children they had together. He was a drug addict. Sigh! I think deep inside, he must be a very broken man.

You know, I really feel for him. I have great concern for patients like this young man. It's one of the reason why I want to be an ID physician. A lot of people I know would have turned away in disgust. Some will say he totally deserves it.

I beg to differ. It's not for me to judge him. It's a challenge to get him back on his feet again and to offer hope. He is admitted now. I wish him well. I know that he will be in good hands. I also hope that he will have his family again; maybe not now, maybe someday, eventually. No one should go through this alone.

It's been a long day and I am tired. But I feel happy. I believe I have started some one on the path of recovery. I like to think that now he feels a glimmer of hope.

The Inner Sanctum and Imperial Consorts

We are entering the inner court of the Forbidden City. This big yellow wall was the first sight we saw.
The 'Hall of Mental Cultivation'. This is the place where the Emperor conducted his state affairs and private meetings. See the picture (Yang Xin Dian) below explaining the history behind this hall.
Another huge vat, this one was made of iron.
The buildings here were rather poorly maintained. The paint work hasn't been touched up for a long time.
Roof architecture. This was the place where the Emperor held private meetings.

Ancient furnitures, taken through a glass pane (that's why there are reflections)


The throne. Notice another larger throne behind the first smaller one? The two thrones were separated by a piece of cloth. Because the Emperor (Qing Dynasty) was so young, the Empress Dowager Cixi and Ci An sat behind him on the larger throne, properly veiled. From there she conducted the affairs of the state by proxy. They were known as the "Power behind the Throne".




A peculiar piece of bronze work placed outside the entrance.
The 'Room of 3 Rarities'. See the next few pics below.

Ancient manuscripts in the Room of 3 Rarities.




We left the Hall of Mental Cultivation to enter another much smaller courtyard. Here we encountered a large crystal placed in the middle of the court yard by the Empress Dowager. This area was inhabited by the Empress and the Emperor's favourite consorts. It was said that some of his concubines only had one chance of being with him before being relegated to live elsewhere. So, competition was fierce! This place was called the 'Hall of Consolation'.
The giant crystal. It was put there to 'remind' the imperial consorts of the virtues of purity, trust and loyalty. In short, 'don't even think of having an affair if you know what's good for you!"

One of the many bedrooms in the Hall of Consolation.

Another bedroom
Yet another bedroom. You can imagine how many concubines stayed here!



Ancient clocks. The place was just full of clocks!
And still another bedroom!
The Emperor's bed!
Furnishings in the Emperor's bedroom
Ancient game of chess


We left the Hall of Consolation, to enter a small alley. Here were numerous giant door ways. All of them were unfortunately locked. I think on that day we barely saw 5% of the entire Forbidden City!




From here we exited through another large doorway to enter the Imperial Garden.