Funerals are for the living. I never understood that until my father died of cancer when I was sixteen.
I don’t remember much of his funeral, except for the song “Amazing Grace” played during the service. My late father had converted to Christianity after his cancer diagnosis.
Hearing that song in one of the numerous social media posts about the three Sarawakian health care workers killed in the Long Lellang tragedy brought back memories of my father’s funeral.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad attended Dr Ainul Baraah Kamaruddin’s burial in Kelantan last Sunday afternoon. Also present at the medical officer’s funeral was Ministry of Health (MOH) secretary-general (KSU) Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad.
A few hours later, Captain Zainol Afiq Bee Sham was laid to rest in Negeri Sembilan. The only VIP recorded by the media in attendance at the pilot’s funeral was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Zulkifli Hasan.
Since Dzulkefly was at Dr Ainul Baraah’s funeral, Hasnol Zam Zam should have been assigned to Zainol Afiq’s burial.
Wakes for three Sarawakians killed in the September 8 Flying Doctor Service (FDS) helicopter crash in Ulu Baram – assistant medical officer Alexson Adit Henry, and staff nurses Debra Moset and Jessie Paya Jok – were held last Sunday afternoon.
After church funeral services by noon yesterday, Debra was laid to rest in Kuching, whereas Alexson and Jessie Paya were buried in Miri.
At that time, Dzulkefly was officiating the 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting of the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Unit on Respiratory Health (Respire) in Kuala Lumpur. Respire – funded by NIHR, the UK’s health and social care research arm – is led by the University of Edinburgh and Universiti Malaya.
I find it incredibly offensive that the health minister didn’t take time off his schedule to pay his last respects to Alexson, Debra, and Jessie Paya – all of whom happened to be lower-ranked health care workers in the health service, Sarawakian, and Christian.
How could a minister prioritise foreigners over his own citizens, two days before Malaysia Day too?
Of course, I don’t expect Dzulkefly to be in three places at the same time, but he could have picked one of the funeral services to attend, especially since he didn’t meet any of the five victims’ families last week, prior to their burials, due to his attendance at an Asean health ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
The other funeral services or wakes in Sarawak could have been attended by either Deputy Health Minister Hanifah Hajar Taib, or Hasnol Zam Zam or Health director-general Dr Mahathar Abd Wahab as the top two officials in the MOH.
A 2016 statement by the Federal Territories Mufti Department states that it’s permissible for Muslims to attend non-Muslim funerals, as long as they don’t participate in religious rituals.
At least Health deputy director-general (public health) Dr Ismuni Bohari had the decency to attend the wakes for Alexson and Jessie Paya.
Zainol Afiq, Dr Ainul Baraah, Alexson, Debra, and Jessie Paya died in the line of duty serving the country and MOH specifically. The health minister attending just one funeral is an insult.
Dzulkefly still has yet to specify the quantum of the federal government’s ex-gratia payments to the victims’ families, when these will be paid, or even if all five are eligible for the payments.
According to a Treasury circular, the Ex-Gratia Work Disaster Scheme, which provides an RM20,000 lump-sum payment in addition to monthly payments for surviving kin of federal civil servants who die on official duty, excludes contract officers and Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributors.
Zainol Afiq and Dr Ainul Baraah were Socso contributors. The highly efficient Socso made funeral benefit payments to their families last Wednesday, a day after the crash.
The Sarawak state government upped its ante by not only donating RM100,000 contributions to all five families and offering full education sponsorships of victims’ school-going children, but even offering to pay for medical school for Debra’s 15-year-old daughter, Euodia Then Suling, who wants to become a doctor.
Providing financial assistance isn’t a competition between the federal and Sarawak state governments. But Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration has a duty to ensure that all five families, including Zainol Afiq and Dr Ainul Baraah, get some form of compensation from Putrajaya.
The issue isn’t only about money. Sarawak sent multiple state representatives, including Deputy Premier Dr Sim Kui Hian, to pay their respects to Debra at her wake.
Government bureaucracy related to ex-gratia payments, reforming the FDS and rural health care services, and innumerable issues in the MOH with ambulance assets, staff quarters, and health worker remuneration all take months or years to fix.
Time will tell if Dzulkefly is serious about making substantive change after the Long Lellang tragedy, in the one year or less that Madani has left in office before a general election, or if the MOH is simply waiting for the news cycle to end, now that the bodies are in the ground.
I didn’t expect Dzulkefly to make a grand speech at any of the funerals about how he would fix all of MOH’s problems or enumerate federal assistance for bereaved families of the victims, some of whom were survived by young children.
But the least the health minister could do was show up to support those grieving their loss. People remember who shows up.
I previously suggested a national memorial, with two events in Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak, for Malaysians to honour the five people slain in their service to the country. But if the health minister and top MOH officials themselves skipped the Sarawakians’ funerals, then there’s little chance of that happening.
Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran previously defended Dzulkefly against mounting calls for the health minister’s resignation over his handling of the Long Lellang tragedy.
The DAP lawmaker said Dzulkefly shouldn’t be scapegoated for legacy problems in the health care system that have persisted for years or decades.
Other Malaysians blamed administrative and diplomatic officers (PTDs), the Public Service Department (JPA), and the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Did PTD officers, JPA, or MOF stop the health minister from attending funerals? Is insufficient health care funding the reason that Dzulkefly couldn’t pay his last respects to Alexson, Debra, or Jessie Paya?
Blame for Dzulkefly’s failure to divvy up the five funerals between him, Hanifah, KSU Hasnol, and DG Mahathar lies solely with the health minister that has nothing to do with JPA, MOF, or systemic issues in the health service. (Hanifah met the victims’ families earlier last week during briefings by the authorities after the crash).
Are the lives of nurses and medical assistants less valuable than doctors? Are the lives of Sarawakians less valuable than peninsular Malaysians? Is the life of a private-sector worker who died in service of the country less valuable than civil servants?
Is the time of a minister or high-ranked civil servant more valuable than the rest of us ordinary citizens with our own lives and busy schedules? A death may be inconvenient, but funerals are a last farewell to our beloved.
Dzulkefly held a disastrous press conference on Wednesday by announcing that the MOH would “double down” in continuing the FDS service, before backtracking from his position the next day. Common sense dictated an immediate suspension, pending safety guarantees for both workers and patients.
Of course, communities living in the interiors will be affected by an FDS disruption. But that is an unavoidable price to pay in the wake of a national tragedy. If another FDS helicopter crashes, patients still won’t get health care services, like the patients who waited in vain for the September 8 mission. So, the net effect is the same.
Amid the chorus of condemnation, a doctor’s Threads post stood out to me. The doctor perceived a lack of empathy from the health minister during his press meet.
“Dr Dzulkefly, we understand health care services cannot simply stop. But where was the empathy? You could have acknowledged the five lives lost. The families grieving. The health care workers affected by this tragedy,” the person wrote.
“Instead, many of us heard one message: ‘The system must continue. We are replaceable’.”
Dzulkefly’s absence from the funerals of Alexson, Debra, and Jessie Paya hammered home that message: health care workers in MOH are replaceable.
Last respects matter. We pay our last respects by momentarily pausing our daily life to honour the dead and comfort the living. This basic gesture of humanity shows that someone’s life wasn’t in vain and that they mattered.
Zainol Afiq, Dr Ainul Baraah, Alexson, Debra, and Jessie Paya, thank you for your service. And to the three Sarawakian Christians specifically, taken from 2 Timothy 4:7, you have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, you have kept the faith.
Rest in peace.
Boo Su-Lyn is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of CodeBlue.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
