Human rights redefined
We need to redefine what we mean by human rights. My human right is being violated not only if I get whacked for participating in a protest demonstration. My human right is being even more violated if I need money to live or else I must die because I do not have money.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
When we talk about human rights we normally focus on issues such as freedom of speech, assembly and association, plus freedom of religion, lifestyle, belief and whatnot. Basically it is all about what we are allowed or not allowed to do.
We do not see the right to receive clean water, the right to receive a good education, the right to receive good healthcare, and other things that offer us quality of life as part of human rights.
We scream when we are not allowed to assemble at the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur to protest the conviction and jailing of Anwar Ibrahim. But we are not in the least moved by the plight of a family that needs to spend RM2,000 a month to keep their four-year old son alive and another RM300,000 if they want to send him to China for a liver transplant.
Raef Uqael Mohd Rosli is being denied his human right, not his right to scream at Dataran Merdeka about Anwar’s jailing, but his right to life. And he is being denied his right to life because it will cost RM300,000 to keep him alive and his family does not have RM300,000.
I oppose the government not because it jailed Anwar Ibrahim. I do not care two hoots about Anwar who is the reason why Pakatan Rakyat is being destroyed. Furthermore, PAS, a party I supported for almost 40 years since 1978, is being destroyed because PAS did not support Anwar’s wife as the new Selangor Menteri Besar.
Do I care that Anwar has been sent to jail? I do care that he was sent to jail for just five years. It should have been longer. But I care even more about Malaysians who need hundreds of thousands of ringgit to receive quality of life and are being denied their right to life because they do not have money.
We need to redefine what we mean by human rights. My human right is being violated not only if I get whacked for participating in a protest demonstration. My human right is being even more violated if I need money to live or else I must die because I do not have money.
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Funds urgently needed for boy’s liver transplant
(Free Malaysia Today) – Four-year-old Raef Uqael Mohd Rosli has only known pain all his life, having been diagnosed with liver disease from just two weeks old.
Being in and out of hospitals all his life, his condition has worsened to the point that only a liver-transplant operation in China can save his life.
Speaking to FMT, his mother Noraini Jaafar explained how Raef was diagnosed with biliary atresia after bouts of fever and diarrhoea in March 2011.
“We sent him to Kajang Hospital. There, the doctor found his faeces unusual and referred him to Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM),” she said.
He was only two months old when he underwent his first operation using the Kasai procedure. His bile duct was removed and a bypass performed from his small intestine to liver, his mother explained.
“However the operation was not a success because Raef’s body did not respond well to the corrective surgery,” she said, adding that the only other option was a liver transplant.
“I cannot donate my liver to Raef because I have fatty liver disease,” she said.
Her husband, Mohd Rosli Abdul Rani said that after the failed operation, his baby was referred to Hospital Kuala Lumpur for future observation and treatment.
However Raef’s condition became critical in June last year.
“He was vomiting and excreting blood. We admitted him to the intensive care unit (ICU) at Selayang Hospital. He stayed there for 48 days,” Noraini recalled, adding that despite all the doctors did for him, his condition worsened.
“He suffered from an infection because of conditions at the ward. He had to share his room with other patients,” she explained.
After Raef was discharged, the couple moved him to University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) to seek further treatment. “I was scared from his earlier experience and stay there. I did not want to return to Selayang,” she said.
“In UMMC, the doctor advised us to go to Renji Hospital in Shanghai, China because there are paediatric specialists there who carry out liver transplant services.
“However, the operation costs RM300,000,” she said.
Rosli, who is also the donor for his son, said they had collected about RM140,000 so far to fund Raef’s surgery.
“There is no deadline. The doctors in Malaysia and Shanghai told us to do it ‘as soon as possible’,” he said, adding that his son’s treatment and medicines already cost them RM2,000 a month.
Appealing to the public’s generosity, the couple are hoping against hope that they will be able to send Raef for the operation soon so he can begin to live a normal life like other kids his age.
“I want to see Raef recover and go to school like normal children do. This is my wish,” she said.
Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming, who paid a visit to Rosli and Noraini this morning, said, “Someone messaged me through my Facebook page. Thus, I paid a visit to the family and gave them a contribution on behalf of my constituency.”
Those who want to contribute toward Raef’s surgery can make donations by depositing the funds into Rosli’s Maybank Account 5623-8451-8559.
