It is unfortunate but the coming festive period is bound to inflict casualties on the road as history will painfully remind us. Despite calls to be careful, such deaths are inevitable.

So it is no surprise that our recent spotlight on organ transplantation has links to road traffic accidents. The victims are potential organ donors to hundreds on the waiting lists for transplants. If every Malaysian were to pledge their organs, then there should be no shortages of eligible donors.

The current hype on organ transplantation should create a momentum to encourage Malaysians to pledge their organs. There must be a way as simple as registering as a voter. Telling Malaysians to pledge their organs without showing them how, will only create confusion as to what signifies a pledge. Is a verbal consent adequate? Or as recently proposed, identification through MyKad?

Many transplant recipients in Malaysia were forced to find donors in foreign lands like India and China. How these countries organise their donor programs is open for debates on ethics, with rumours of organ-selling rife in these nations.

The ball needs to get rolling on an issue that is certainly not new. This awareness of organ donations has to be maintained. The fire should not be allowed to die, only to be reignited due to a media highlight.

Surely, this gesture of pledging an organ epitomises giving life after death.