Letter To Badawi

Kepada :-

YAB, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
Perdana Menteri Malaysia.


YAB,

RE : LETTER OF APPEAL
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I wish to inform you that I'm a blind individual & my purpose in writing this letter is to request for your kind intervention in certain matters which have been troubling me for quite some time now. One of the matters which I'm referring to is with regards to equal job opportunities for the disabled & I for one have been discriminated in this respect. To give you a clearer picture of my situation, I'm enclosing some letters which I've written to the various people concerned with regards to this matter. At the same time, I'm also enclosing some fan mail which I've received during my stint at Radio 4, RTM, & also a CD recording of one of my shows for you to make your judgement as to whether I'm good enough for the job. Being the caring person that you are towards the rakyat & especially towards the handicapped, I hope that you will investigate this matter thoroughly with regards to my employment at RTM because after having written several letters to the Information Minister, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, it seems that my requests for his kind intervention in this matter has been ignored & this is certainly a sad state of affairs, where employment for the disabled community is concerned.

Having lost my job at RTM & sidelined by the RTM authorities, I'm finding it difficult to repay a loan which I took from Maybank Finance in having bought a flat. As such, I wrote in to the CEO Maybank Finance, i.e. Datuk Wan Ismail to either write-off the rest of the housing loan or help me find ways to pay up the remaining loan. However, nothing has been heard from him ever since & I'm glad to inform you that so far, I've not been harassed by the bank authorities, although I know that I should fulfill my responsibilities. For your information, I also wrote to Datuk SeriLim Keng Yaik in his capacity as president of Gerakan for assistance in this matter but unfortunately all my efforts came to nothing. Having failed in all aspects, I finally decided to bring my dispute with RTM to the attention of Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye in his capacity as one of the top officials of Suhakam but like all the others, he too decided to ignore my pleas for assistance.

Shortly after losing my job at RTM, I wrote in to Datuk Fong Chan Onn, in his capacity as Human Resource Minister for Socso benefits, as I had contributed towards this organization when I was working as a telephone operator at the Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang back in the 70's. As expected, my pleas to him for assistance came to zero and I was also inconvenienced by having been made to go to the general hospital twice for health checks & finally to be told by his department that I'm not eligible for Socso benefits. YAB, I would be most grateful if you could also look into this matter on my behalf, as my burdens would be greatly eased if I could get some assistance from Socso. I would also appreciate it very much if you could kindly use your good offices to help me secure a job at RTM or anywhere else, where I can be gainfully employed once again. In short, it is most regretful that the government's policy of a caring society has fallen on deaf ears & what is most distressing, is that even certain people in high places have decided for reasons best known to themselves to deprive employment to people who are disabled.

Finally YAB, speaking on behalf of the disabled community, it is my fervent hope that under your abled leadership, employment prospects for the handicapped will be greatly enhanced, so that we can also stand up as proud Malaysians. I wish to take this golden opportunity to congratulate you for having been appointed the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia & may you bring our nation to greater heights. At the same time, I wish to take this golden opportunity to wish both you & your family, a very Selamat Hari Raya & thank you for inviting us to celebrate Hari Raya with you on this very auspicious occasion. I have every confidence that Barisan Nasional will be swept back into power in the forthcoming general elections, with you being at the helm.

I hope that you will give this letter your kind attention & I would be most honoured should you wish to meet up with me to know more about my present situation. Thanking you for your kind consideration & I look forward to a response from you in the near future.

Yours sincerely,
Alfred Ho


note/ no response from prime minister at all.