Program Transformasi Minda

The thing about Program Transformasi Minda (PTM) is that

1. Its name is totally cliche and corny.

2. It takes a lot of days just to tell you things that you sort of know already.

3. It is compulsory before you can become the penjawat awam (civil servant).

So let me share with you my 5-day experience going to the PTM.

1. Don't be late.

Unless you love being late, and being late gives you earthly pleasure, which in this case you can skip this. Registration starts at 2.30 pm, and in the morning you can go to the LHDN to matikan setem hasil (see previous entry). I arrived at the hotel around 2 pm where my PTM course took place and queuing up registering to collect the hotel room card key. 

At the counter I met two Manipal graduates, I and S, who are super nice and also in need for the third roommate. I was all down for it, feeling glad there are friendly people who are willing to invite me instead of me awkwardly ask around to complete the trio. 

We quickly went to our room, put our luggage down, and went to the PTM registration place at the meeting rooms. Already there are people waiting. 

2. Bring ALL your prepared documents

You know how insufficient information brings out the anger in people, especially when dealing with official businesses? It seems they are quite excelled in that. Okay, it's like this. You know that there are two set of documents you need to prepare for the housemanship, right?

→ The set of documents for PTM

→ The set of documents for reporting in (lapor diri) at the designated hospital

You need to bring BOTH sets of documents to the PTM. I know in the letter it said you only need to bring 4 documents to the PTM while in the other longer list you need to bring them when you report to your hospital. But the PTM wants to see all your prepared documents as they claimed the hospital staff won't have the time to check whether you got your documents sorted out correctly or not.

I have covered on all of the required documents in my previous entry, although they are not really presented in a list. But you can read them up and have a picture of what to prepare. Anyway, before I went to the PTM, I have prepared all the documents beforehand. 

What I did was I put all my documents inside a clear plastic folder. The one that comes with clear plastic sheets and you put the documents inside those plastic sheets. Get the picture? No? Anyway, mark labels on the pages or sheets so you know how many copies of those documents you have prepared for PTM and the lapor diri. 

I was one of the earliest to register (because the PTM staff was late in setting up camp and I came prepared) and I was done by 3 pm. Please, please, please prepare your documents early and get it organized in a folder. You wouldn't want to start photocopying your documents on that registration day - it's a colossal waste of time!

3. Be prepared to get bored. A lot.

The government has A LOT to say to you before you enter their ranks as service provider. There is a number of lectures (ceramah) that you must attend. Some are of 2-hour duration (those are pure torture) and some only take an hour. I know those lectures sound so dry and didn't I mention boring as hell? - but in hindsight, they (some) are actually (a little bit) important.

I have with me a number of lectures present in the PTM (subject to change):

• Ujian Psikologi
• Modul Diagnosa, Morbiditi dan Mortaliti
• Etika Perubatan dan Perundangan
• Pengurusan Pelanggan (Budaya Korporat)
• Pengenalan Kepada Laluan Kerjaya Dalam Perkhidmatan Awam
• Ekspektasi Ketua Jabatan dan Peranan Kepada Masyarakat
• Introdution to Malaysian Medical Association
• Pengenalan kepada Organisasi KKM
• Tatakelakuan dan Tatatertib - Aku Janji
• Peraturan Pegawai dan Perintah-perintah Am
• Pengurusan Integriti dan Keselamatan - Integriti (oh the irony!)
• Pengurusan Integriti dan Keselamatan - Rasuah 
• Pengurusan Integriti dan Keselamatan - Keselamatan
• Kemahiran Komunikasi Berkesan
• Hala Tuju Negara
• Menjana Negara Sejahtera dan Bahagia
• Overview Perkhidmatan Awam
• Sistem Pentadbiran Negara
• Garis Panduan Preskripsi Ubat-ubatan KKM

There are also exercises and group work to be done in the 5 days of PTM.

• 50 essay questions revolving the topics of the lectures - click here for the answers to those 50 soalan esei PTM.
• PTM exam - 20 questions with the 20% weightage in order to pass your PTM course. The questions are taken from 60 bank questions. Click here for those questions and answers to those Soalan dan Jawapan Ujian PTM.
• Sketch show - this is a group work where you need to perform an act scene that covers the theme required
• Presentation - also a group work where you draw something on the majong paper and answer the questions required

4. PTM is the place to calm down.

Imagine being the only person from your university, coming to the PTM course where people there came in groups. There are UITM grads, the Manipals, Ireland peeps, Egypt universities, etc. And there's me, who was facing 111  people and not knowing any of them.


I am a self-acclaimed insecure person when it comes to my education and skills. I feel very inferior when talking or seeing other people. It gets worse when I don't have a clue what the hell they were talking about. But coming to PTM, seeing different people studying medicine under different systems and environments made me realised something:

We are all scared shitless about entering housemanship.


This is something new and totally alien to us. This is no mere memorizing or understanding concepts or practicing examinations on people. No more skipping classes or going back early from hospital.


And the system would be different. Different terminology and abbreviation used. Different working hours and different type of pressure. But the most important thing to remember is that every single of us will experience the same thing. We now are in the same boat. So take comfort in sharing your experience and concerns with each other during PTM - it would do you a world of good and it would take some worries off your head. So chillax and take a breather!

WE ALL IN THIS TOGETHERRRR 🎶🎵

But oh boy, I do have something to rant about before I end this entry:

As you guys probably aware of, my batch is the first batch of houseman under lantikan kontrak, which took 3 long years for the ministry to plan and in haste, made into action when the PM announced about it during 2017 budget. There is a few differences between lantikan tetap and lantikan kontrak.


For instance, under lantikan kontrak, being MIA (missing in action) for 14 consecutive days will result in your termination of service for good. This is to curb the existing problem of problematic HOs who went down under the stress - the stories that I've heard included HOs coming in to the hospital only to clock in the attendance and disappeared, only to return at night for clocking out. Those people apparently cannot be fired from service as they are protected under the Labour law or something. These people are wasting money and their place are well suited to other people who are waiting to be HOs. I condone these MIA people, but I cannot say I don't understand their trouble. Everyone has their own plight, and without proper and enough support everyone can crack under pressure.


Lantikan kontrak HOs have fewer type of cuti. But the most important cuti, the annual 25 Hari Cuti Rehat is the same. We cannot take more than 10 days of Cuti Rehat in ONE posting, so it's like this: 8 days for the 1st posting, another 8 days for the 2nd one, and 9 days for the third one. Note that Cuti Rehat is not the same as the off days we get every week.


Lantikan kontrak HOs have the same salary and allowances as those under lantikan tetap. These two topics, cuti and gaji, are the most important topics we wanted to know. In fact, those two are the ONLY things that we care about LOL.


But the difference between gaji and cuti is that, gaji is our hak. Our rights to be paid. On the other hand, cuti is our privilege. To be given when it's available to be given away. So be prepared about not getting leave or having to work during public holidays.


Depending on your performance, some of us will get to do their housemanship under 18 months only. These are the excellent HOs. The ministry recognizes these talents and are willing to cut down their training period (yeah right. Actually they want to free up the HO placement as quickly and as many as they could). The maximum duration of our contract is 3 years, meaning there are roughly 12 months of extension period (for those who got extended). After finishing the housemanship, we will be offered either

1. Medical Officer lantikan tetap - in which case, congratulations, you made it.
2. Medical Officer lantikan kontrak - boohoo to you, either because of your not-so-stellar performance during housemanship or there is no more placement for lantikan tetap, you are thrown to do MO under contract based. As of now, there is NO plan made by the ministry yet regarding this MO lantikan kontrak issue. The way they are as of now, once you get the MO lantikan kontrak, you have to do 2-year compulsory service before being terminated from the service. 

This irritates me to no end. But what to do? Just hope my housemanship won't be as bad as I thought. Sabar je la.