KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — Pop queen Siti Nurhaliza clarified yesterday that she sang at a Ministry of Health (MOH) Hari Raya open house voluntarily as a guest without payment.
However, health care workers have questioned why the MOH organised such a lavish event in the first place.
In response to Siti’s Instagram post about how she sang free of charge to “appreciate MOH staff” at the Raya celebration at the ministry’s Putrajaya headquarters last Tuesday, a doctor said the event was the most “celebratory” MOH Raya event she recalled.
“But for many lower-level MOH staff who saw the depiction of the event, it felt like salt rubbed into an open wound,” said the doctor in a Facebook post yesterday that received over 1,000 shares.
“At a time when staff are complaining about not getting their OT claims, waiting for their salaries, some no longer get transfer allowances (in the name of newly absorbed contract staff), and a relatively new piece of news about specialists no longer getting paid specialist allowance during their gazettement period, seeing the minister celebrating Raya with such abandon, as if it involved large expenditure, was felt to be insensitive.
“I haven’t even talked about the shortage of equipment and lab reagents and staff that is increasingly worrying year by year. The people are asked to save money, but it looks like the opposite message is being delivered to the people.
“I hope that the MOH’s top management will not make such an event an official annual occurrence. Yes we need to be entertained every once in a while, but an event that is meant to lend the meaning of gratitude should not be showy or extravagant.
“MOH staff will surely appreciate the contributions of upper management if there are efforts to restore allowances that were withdrawn or efforts to retain and prevent staff from quitting or moving.”
A medical assistant alluded to another top artiste, Jamal Abdillah, who said he had agreed to perform at the MOH’s Raya open house for a small token of “several thousand ringgit”, as he said he was a friend of the ministry’s secretary-general, as reported by Malaysiakini.
“After this, if finance cuts an hour of OT from 14 hours’ work or a double shift, ask them if this is to pay their friend ‘several thousand ringgit’ to do the performance or to pay for food at feasts.”
Another MOH staff, presumably a dentist, acknowledged that health care workers were wrong about assuming that Siti had been paid to perform at the MOH’s Putrajaya event, but said some of them may have never heard of artistes attending events free of charge.
“In the current situation, staff appointments are frozen, allowances are delayed, and every facility upgrade is put on hold, supposedly because there is no budget. So how do you think we feel when we see MOH’s posts happily celebrating Hari Raya, complete with a legendary artiste? Obviously we would question where the funding came from,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Some of us had our contracts terminated months ago; fresh appointments are nowhere in sight. Allowances that were due still haven’t been paid until today. The reason? No allocation approved yet. No funds. Yet somehow, there’s money and lightning‑fast approval for a lavish event like this?
“While we are in service, a lot of equipment isn’t available. To do a molar root‑canal, we have no rotary files, no endomotor, no apex locator. Sometimes gloves, disposable gowns, and treatment supplies run out.
“We’ve even had to ration dental anaesthetic when stocks ran out and new stocks hadn’t arrived. We had to beg a nearby clinic to lend us anaesthetics, just so that we could extract a patient’s tooth. All of this was blamed on insufficient, unapproved, or just no funding at all. But for a grand celebration like this, suddenly there’s funding.
“When we want to celebrate Raya, we just hold a pot‑luck at work. If we’re too lazy to do a pot-luck, then we chip in together, maybe RM10 each, and even that feels steep for some of us. Gatherings aren’t for relaxing or eating. If a patient arrives, we drop everything and do our duty. So where’s the appreciation for all of us?”
In a post on X earlier today, a doctor said health care workers may not care about the money involved in the Raya event organised by the MOH.
“But we are demolished with this kind of attitude where the current situation regarding the health staff issue is still not yet fixed. But yet, the whole ministry had the heart to organise this kind of lavish, some sort of ‘you are a slave, we are the king, you work for us, and we can enjoy’ action,” he wrote.
“With this, there is no surprise when the whole on-ground staff are going to quit.”
Other people expressed similar sentiments on Facebook, with one saying: “It’s not about it being FOC; it’s not just about the money. In the current situation, how insensitive can top management be to hold a grand event like that, seriously.”
Before Siti’s clarification was reported by the media, the MOH’s official Facebook page deleted a video of its controversial Hari Raya event that was held last Tuesday afternoon.
In a post on X last night, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said “the person”, presumably referring to Siti, had attended the MOH’s gathering as a guest and performed without payment to honour Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and health care workers from MOH’s headquarters and facilities, including guests from other agencies, ministries, universities, and the private sector “that have been part of the country’s health care ecosystem.”
He did not mention Jamal, who earlier said he was paid a “small token”.
“Criticism received is fair. Let this be a reminder unto all. We’ll continue working to address systemic issues for our health workers — that’s my commitment,” said Dzulkefly.
Dzulkefly’s post received plenty of negative comments, including by a doctor who called out the MOH’s “hypocrisy”, saying: “Staff on the ground are prohibited from organising gatherings to eat during working hours, yet those on top can have jolly fun during working hours.
“If you guys have that much time, come do on-call with us. Come and help us in the field. In specialist district hospitals, specialists are on-call 15 times a month, MOs (medical officers) eight times.”
The MOH’s Facebook post announcing the launch of a National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2024 report this morning, to be officiated by the health minister, was flooded with more than 200 comments and received more than 600 reactions, mostly the laughter emoji.
Many Malaysians mocked the event, asking the ministry to invite various local celebrities for entertainment.
