Dear friends,
Just a quick post to share how easy it is to donate blood here in Malaysia.
The best place to do it is at the National Blood Bank/Pusat Darah Negara. Why PDN and not some hospital round the corner of your house? PDN is the center where blood supply is distributed to hospitals that actually need it. Donating blood directly at a hospital (especially private ones) will only be used for it’s own consumption and this includes private patients being able to pay for priority. Even if you’re not in KL, PDN has blood donation drives around the country all the time. Look out for announcements in their website or in your local paper.
Firstly, are you a suitable donor? If yes, then read on.
The process is simple at PDN in Kuala Lumpur. There is free parking for donors located on the left as you pass the guardhouse by the entrance. Make your way in and head to the counter to fill in the necessary forms. You will be given a little red book if it is your first time but if you’re a returning donor, just hand your book over and they will do the rest. You will also have to go through a painless blood group, hemoglobin level and hepatitis testing - with just a teensy prick on your finger to get a large drop - each time. Next, the staff will get you to weigh yourself and will give you a waiting number. This number is for a brief consult with a doctor who will basically ask you to answer a few questions like if you’ve had a meal before donating, did you sleep enough, previous blood donations etc and get you to sign the rest of the documents.
After that, walked through the door and head to the blood donation ward. You can’t miss it - you’ll see plenty of beds and giggly nurses. Make your way to any bed and a nurse will come over to start the procedure. The procedure itself is straightforward and well, all you can do is watch what she does :)
She will locate a large vein on your arm using the blood pressure machine, disinfect the area, jab a needle in the vein and hand you a ball/pipe to ‘pump’ the blood into the donation bag. Watch as your deep crimson blood travel through this tube and fill up the bag. You might start to feel a little woozy, so best to just relax. When the bag is full, the nurse will take some blood samples, remove the needle, put on a bandage and get you to pressure the needle puncture spot on your arm. Use some strength and keep it pressured well to avoid swelling later. Don’t get up yet. Rest and keep that spot pressured for the next 10-15 minutes in bed. The nurse will tell you when you can leave after checking to make sure you’re not feeling dizzy or nauseous.
Congrats! You’ve just donated blood that will last for 42 days in storage and hopefully save someone’s life!
Next up, make your way to the replenishment area and fuel up to prevent dizzy spells. You will have a choice of Milo or coffee with fried noodles, sandwiches, bananas, biscuits and cakes. Eat what you think you can finish and pick up some iron pills on the way out.
That’s it. You’re done. You can donate blood after every 90 days. Better not do it any time less because this can cause low iron levels and prompt your body to produce abnormal blood cells which may result in health complications in the future.
The aftercare is pretty simple. PDN’s standard advice can be found here. Just take the iron pills after every meal but taking a multivite and your current supplements should suffice. Eat more spinach and red meat as part of your long term hemoglobin level maintenance. There might be small bruising on the puncture wound but it will heal after a couple of days.
Good luck and get your friends, family and colleagues involved! :)
Oh and feel free to pledge your organs for donation as well.
Source: polytikus
Hyper-partisanship & Friendship
Back in 1999 when I was attending college I had a friend named Bob*. We used to hang out with mutual friends; watch movies at the cinema; play pool etc.
Then the Reformasi period happened - Anwar’s trial; PKR’s formation; preparation for election etc. I became an Opposition (PAS) supporter - then after its formation, a PKR member.
When Bob found out I supported Anwar, he immediately ended our friendship. Apparently he and his family hated Anwar with a passion. His brother even mimed sodomy with another guy in the college compound, saying ‘Look at me! I’m Anwar!’.
Bob refused to speak to me. Whenever I said hello, even when bumping into him years later, I would just get a cold hard stare.
Bob’s response is an example of hyper-partisanship.
In American politics its a phrase commonly used to describe partisan politics that focus on helping fellows and destroying the enemy, where the enemy is anyone who disagrees with your position.
In Malaysia I feel that its a form of extreme partisan thinking where not only are opinions, policies and events somehow linked to a political side, but anyone who disagrees is ‘placed’ into the opposing side. There’s less focus on helping fellows, and more focus on attacking the enemy.
When dealing with hyper-partisan people, there is no option to remain neutral, support an alternative view or support a balanced view. You either strongly support their view or you are their enemy. And sad to say, like Bob, they only socialise with people who agree with their political views.
Why should friendship depend on, or be affected by, political affiliation? Its not like I personally wronged him. I wasn’t bothered by Bob supporting BN or hating Anwar, because until today I don’t see why it should affect me. But for some reason he saw it fit to cut ties with me.
I think deciding who to be friends with based solely on political views is just plain silly. A difference of opinion should not lead to such action.
I wonder if any of my friends today have this mentality.
*not his real name
Jon Stewart on “Fox News Sunday”: Bro had to take some tough questions from Chris Wallace, who took the opportunity to dump some fairly strange clips on Stewart. Come on, what was up with the Comedy Central clip? Stewart, as always, defended himself reasonably well. We like Chris Wallace generally, but we don’t know if this was one of his better moments.
Source: shortformblog
Is Islam The Official Religion?
There is a debate going on now regarding the status of Islam in Malaysia. Is it the official religion? Some experts say that Islam is the ‘religion of the Federation’ and the word ‘official’ is not mentioned in the Federal Constitution. Some NGOs and political parties disagree. I’m just confused.
Nobody bothers to explain what ‘official religion’ even means. Honestly, what’s the difference if Islam is or isn’t the official religion? I interpret it to be a question of whether there is a relationship between the government and Islam that accords Islam special treatment. It sounds analogous to the debate over ‘separation of church and state’ that is sometimes brought up in American politics.
To answer the question, I look at the relationship between our government and Islam. Some points to consider:
- Taxpayer money is used to build Muslim places of worship, and Islam-related activities
- There are government departments dedicated to the administration of Islam-related matters, such as morality checks on Muslims e.g. close promixity (khalwat), adultery (zina), consumption of alcohol etc.
- We have an Islamic judiciary (Syariah) existing in parallel with the civil judiciary
- The individual states maintain legislation in regards to Islam, and control the appointment of imams and the content of their sermons
- There is legislation forbidding the use of certain Islam-related words by non-Muslims, e.g. Allah. This also led to the ban on Bahasa Malaysia bibles.
- Practitioners of other faiths are forbidden from proselytising to Muslims
- There are limitations to the size and look of places of worship for non-Muslim faiths
So in practice, the government supports Islam and applies limits to other faiths. There is a concept of state-endorsed religion in practice, therefore Islam is the official religion. The religion does not control the state, so it Malaysia is not a theocracy. But neither is the religion separated from government, so Malaysia is not secular.
Some groups have tried to link this official religion concept with the position of the Prime Minister. But there is no link. It remains a complete fabrication. PERKASA’s claim that the phrase, ‘agama rasmi’ is used in the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Federal Constitution is false. PAS’s Nik Aziz claim that the PM must be Muslim is false.
There is only one reason why this issue is being brought up, which is to scare people away from voting for DAP. Being a pre-dominantly Chinese party with the potential of winning more seats than its partners, there is a chance Malaysia will have a Chinese PM should PR take over. But in order to do that, PKR and PAS have to agree or DAP has to win 112 Parliament seats so it can form a government without Pakatan Rakyat. Is either event likely? No.
If you imagine a situation where all our citizens see each other as equals and don’t care about racial or religious differences… then yes, in that situation we could have a non-Muslim MP that commands the majority of the House of Parliament and can be made the Prime Minister. But our society hasn’t evolved to that point yet. So why waste time and energy on this non-debate?
Did anyone watch Raja Petra’s interview with TV3? I just saw part 1 and I was stunned. Like, at the starting where he’s walking by the sea..and again when he’s in the hotel room continuing the interview. I never knew it would come to this for RPK.
I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
I kept staring at my monitor, it was so unbelievable.
He’d become FAT!
And not just a few extra pounds, but OMG so incredibly fat! I mean, I’ve been chubbier before, but for me I started having bulldog-face besides the tummy bulge. But in RPK’s case, from behind he looks ok, his face looks ok, his arms look ok, but the tummy..I couldn’t even move, it was that shocking!
I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Horrific ideas flew thru my head. Could this happen to me one day? How did it happen to him? Why did it happen? Was it on purpose? What can I do to stop it from happening to me?
The interview continued but I couldn’t hear the words anymore. There was just the bulge staring back at me. It almost seemed to speak inside my head..”watch out Gerdih..one day you’ll have one just like meeeee…..”.
The horror will continue tonight. I just know it. Time to put in some extra miles on the treadmill…
***
I hope you enjoyed that, politics can be so serious I figured we could use a laugh. But I must admit, that tummy was a shocker for me.
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Last time petrol cash rebate!
I miss Badawi.
Professional people cannot work in political parties. That’s because they are more interested in getting the job done, whereas a majority of party members want titles and position and actively engage in betrayal and intrigue to get it. Because the professional-minded can’t survive, political parties remain unprofessional.
Act of cruelty?
But those birds were so angry,
Their deaths set them free.
We’ve seen many things,
But its time to say goodbye,
My credit card..*snip*
Writer. Artist. Analyst. Coder. Committed to fighting inequality, racism and religious intolerance, or at least making noise about it.
