Politics are the authoritative allocation of scarce resources.
I recently bought a copy of Health, Harapan and Healing Malaysia by Dr Sean Thum, a new release published by Gerabudaya, because I thought the special functions officer to Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching from the DAP would help explain how that works in real life.
A patient’s breakdown at a Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centre in Tuaran, due to fears for the livelihood of her parents and children, triggered Dr Thum’s eventual shift from medicine to policymaking. He served as a volunteer medical doctor on the ground in Sabah from October to December 2020 during the pandemic.
Aside from that anecdote, he doesn’t dwell on his career switch from initially attempting to specialise in psychiatry to joining Teo’s office in January 2024.
