UMNO has historically relied upon the votes of rural Malays for its electoral dominance and has always sought to project an image as the guardian of the interests of the Malay community. Any attempt to reduce health care entitlements, especially in rural areas, could be exploited by Parti Islam, UMNO’s traditional political opponent and by other opposition groups. On the other hand, it is possible that by charging urban, salaried, Malaysians more for health care in public hospitals there will be more financial resources with which to offer better care in rural hospitals and clinics. Certainly this is part of the government’s thinking in re-orientating the funding of public health care in Malaysia