Today’s weekend read dives into two stories:
the controversy surrounding the government’s healthcare middleman Rakan KKM
is the Malaysian VC space having a quiet — to quote ChatGPT’s favourite adjective — season as we ride the second half of 2025?
As always, in case you missed Friday’s stories, including the Malaysian network of fugitive Indonesian businessman Riza Chalid👇
You’re reading a paid version of The Malaysianist, a newsletter on money and power by writer and journalist Emmanuel Samarathisa.
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That Malaysia’s public healthcare is in dire straits isn’t news. We’re short on talent, short on funds, and short on just about everything that makes such a system work.
Public healthcare has long been the pride of the nation, where for just RM1, a citizen could afford a decent outpatient consultation, and RM5 for a specialist visit.
But that policy has become untenable.
If you’re like me and occasionally rely on public hospitals for treatment, you’ll be familiar with the rollercoaster that defines service levels at these institutions.
Some days are good; others not. And that’s going by pre-Covid standards. I haven’t been hospitalised in a while, but recent anecdotes and reports suggest things have only worsened.
Healthcare is one of those topics that’s really out of my league as it’s a regulated sector with a lot of moving parts.
But there are still a few things to say about money and power — and that’s where Rakan KKM comes in.