The tale behind the old wound...

HUSM, Kubang Kerian, 1986

Ask any medical student in HUSM Kubang Krian around 1986-88. Invariably, everyone would have learned everything there is to know about fistula-in-ano from one particular patient. He was a chronic long-staying in-patient with an intractable condition used in many surgical medical student final examinations. The chap was so knowledgeable about his condition that he would coach medical students on the correct questions to ask.

This patient had quite an engaging story about how he acquired his debilitating condition. He was a peasant in the interiors of Cambodia during the civil war. He was apprehended by the soldiers and underwent unspeakable tortures. Traumatic insertion of blunt objects into his posterior end eventually led to his situation.

A patient is not just a person with a medical condition but the sum of the ups and downs of his existence. Hence, a medical student should never fail to paint a composite picture of his whole being. We knew he was not a Malaysian but a Cambodian, but he carried a Malaysian 'blue' identity card (ID) with him. Naturally, we probed as proud inquisitive Malaysians who do not like others to have access to anything.

What we found is illustrated precisely in this old Filem Negara propaganda footage. PERKIM, the Malaysian Islamic Welfare Board, as part of their dakwah, a mission to help out fellow members of the Ummah who were in trouble, oppressed by non-believer rulers. It did not matter that their own backyards were in tatters or that their own kind in the Muslim kingdom was suffering. They took it upon themselves to meddle in other people's affairs, unsolicited, to reinforce the state pity-seeking victimhood of its members. These Cambodian refugees were rescued at sea, given a new lease of life, a new name, a new religion, maybe, and a new identity as citizens of a generous charitable Muslim government.

All of these were done with the active participation of the leaders going through the usual due process. Everything was hush-hush and fast-tracked under the cloak of secrecy.

RETROSPEKTIF : BERLINDUNG DI MALAYSIA (PERKIM) (1976)

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