Issue 1 - American Palm Oil Council

PublicationsBelieving in predictionsThe Visiting Medical Officer (VMO), Dr Leong Kon Kiew,told me that he once went to see a fortune-teller whosaid he would die on a river – so, he always came tothe estate by plane, a 20-minute flight from Sandakan airport.Normally the flight was uneventful in clear skies. Some days,however, the sky turned dark and the clouds hung low, and DrLeong would not turn up.It would be a bother. The day would have been set by Mr VTMathen, the senior hospital assistant, who would have arrangedfor selected patients to see him in the clinics, and then to checkthe workers’ houses on sanitation. Perhaps he would also attendto a timber worker from up-river who would be waiting forminor surgery. When Dr Leong missed a visit, it was his job tomake up for it.“I will not go on the river.When MAS doesn’t fly, I will continueto charter a plane. Is that okay with you?” he asked one day.The cost worried me. I would have to pay a great deal to hire aplane; the estate canoe was a lot cheaper. But there were otherreasons why I could not say ‘No’.The health of the workers was vital to the estate’s operation.There were many things that could go wrong. New intakes ofworkers could bring in diseases such as cholera, which mightstart an epidemic. Dr Leong could detect such risks very early.Problems like malaria were always below the surface in theLabuk Valley, where mosquitoes were larger than anywhere else.Many villagers had enlarged spleens due to malaria.When the floods arrived, much of the land was under water.If the children suffered from gastro-enteritis, the parentswould not come out to work. Certain drugs could run out ofstock and Dr Leong’s signature was needed to order freshsupplies.Weighed against the cost of sickness, the charter wascheap.46GLOBAL OILS & FATS BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL.5 ISSUE 1, 2008