Aliran Monthly, Vol 25 (2005): Issue 4

---

Please support our work by buying a copy of our print publication, Aliran Monthly, from your nearest news-stand. Better still take out a subscription now. If you prefer to read our web-based edition, please support our work and make a donation.

---

Can we afford to fall sick? That�s the question Subramaniam Pillay raises in this month�s cover story as he discusses the proposed national health financing scheme announced by the Health Minister, who provided few details.

Accompanying his piece is the outline of the Malaysian Medical Association�s favoured healthcare financing model, which should be government run and never privatised.

Similarly, Charles Santiago says water management should remain in the public sector. Privatisation, he points out, would only benefit the cronies. More than that, Noam Chomsky warns us that the privatisation of services can lead to the erosion of our democracy.

What�s more, it can also erode workers� rights, a theme taken up by the MTUC�s Syed Shahir on Labour Day recently. Wong Soak Koon reminds us that shopping mall workers - whom we take for granted - are subjected to rigid control and work under difficult conditions.

Spare a thought also for the natives of Sarawak, whose traditional lands have been increasingly encroached upon. They have called for the establishment of a free and independent National Native Land Commission.

We also focus on neighbouring Sabah in our back-cover story. G Lim says that if Sabah is asked to relinquish its immigration controls, a first step must be to undo the economic neglect of the state so that economic growth can take care of both Sabahans and other Malaysians.

Read George Orwell�s �Reflections on Gandhi� - a review of the Mahatma�s autobiography written over fifty years ago. His observations remain as poignant today as then.

Get your copy now! Available at leading bookshops and news-agents. Or better still, subscribe now.