Malaysiakini Is Petpositive's Latest Friend

MORE AND MORE PEOPLE are getting all-excited about Petpositive!

This, thanks to our national, non-profit animal-assisted therapy society's newest ally: Malaysiakini.com

PET+BLOGSPOT - the daily digest of unique news and views on animal-assisted therapy, the disabled and the elderly in Malaysia and around the world - is now located among the latest listings on the highly popular online news portal's Top In Blogs feature.

 

What this means is that each time a post is published in PET+BLOGSPOT, it will automatically be available in Malaysiakini's news portal too.

This will place Petpositive's profile in par with the rest of the top blogs in the nation as Malaysiakini is recognised as "the most read news website and the most popular Malaysian website."

"We are most grateful to have our articles and stories appear on Malaysiakini as this will not only significantly increase our number of readers but also greatly help to spread our cause to a wider range of people of all age-groups," said an ecstatic Anthony SB Thanasayan recently who oversees and manages PET+BLOGSPOT. 

"We wish to break away from the current stereotypes that issues related to the disabled, elderly and animal rights and welfare are only for the consumption of charities and special-interest groups," added the President and pioneer of Petpositive. 

"By being featured on Malaysiakini, we are delighted that the issue of animal-assisted therapy, as well as concerns for the handicapped and seniors will also rank among the many hot topics covered by the local news portal from human rights to freedom of speech and good governance.

Our first day on the news portal the number of readers had trebled in our Blog from 50 to 150 visitors. 

As a big "Thank You!" to Malaysiakini, Petpositive would like to encourage all our readers to become a Malaysiakini reader too.

For details on how to do it, please click HERE.

Incidentally, PET+BLOGSPOT also appears regularly on the following blogs: Malaysiakita, Yogadating and http://sopo-sentral.blogspot.com/

You may also visit us on our official site HERE 

Please note that PET+BLOGSPOT will now be published daily at 7.30am. If there is a news-breaking story, it will appear as soon as we hear about it. 

PET+BLOGSPOT is the official online blog of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our contents are ACCURATE, RELIABLE and THE LATEST. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is 40,000 hits and counting. PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my

Malaysiakini: PETPOSITIVE PERSPECTIVE - Make Bus Fares FOC For Disabled Malaysians

Bus fares: Fully exempt the disabled
Anthony Siva Balan Thanasayan| Feb 11, 08 3.32pm

Petpositive is relieved and happy that Rapid KL and Rapid Penang have both decided to accept identification cards for disabled citizens issued by the Social Welfare Department in order for them to qualify for discounted bus fares.

We are especially delighted that the elderly can also have access to discounted rates for their travel by producing their MyKads as announced by Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop last week.

The move to accept the government-issued ID cards will now make life for the handicapped much easier and more sensible. This will create even more incentive now for those who have not registered as disabled to do so in order for them to enjoy discounted bus fares.

Having said that however, we are puzzled as to why the handicapped are being charged at all for using Rapid’s services.

This when you consider the fact that the disabled are currently given full discounts when they apply for road tax, international passports and public hospital treatment all upon just producing their disabled ID cards.

Furthermore, it seems highly improper to us that after having been denied access to public buses for over half a century because of society’s neglect, we should even think of slapping the disabled with fees overnight.

Most disabled people have no jobs. They are unemployed mainly because they can’t get to their places of work because they have never been able to take our public buses.

Another compelling reason why Rapid should not charge the disabled for now is because its current buses equipped for wheelchairs are not fully disabled-friendly. They are also dangerous to the user as well.

There are various types of buses available today -which are much more disabled user-friendly and safe for handicapped and elderly passengers. RapidKL and Rapid Penang should make these buses available to us instead.

Only until Rapid can get all of this right and when the disabled are on par with the rest of our citizens in terms of rights and equal access, should the bus company start to charge the handicapped.

The writer is president, Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive).