Merdeka day jottings

On Monday we would be celebrating our 52nd Merdeka day and we have many reasons to be excited about it. In many areas the future looks good for our nation. Anyway, I just want to write something about sports.

During events like this one would obviously like to take a look at the past and try to hope for a better future. For sports to have a wonderful future, we have to take a hard look at some current issues and find solutions.

To find solutions, we need people capable of doing that, and for now, probably that would be an important matter to attend to. I believe we have enough "evidence" that show us there are big problems in sport but we do not have a method or people to solve it. To add to this, we have a culture of not disturbing the status quo.


Local badminton hero Dato' Lee Chong Wei lost in the World Championship held in Hyderabad, India recently. Many asked me how can some one who loses all the important events, but wins all the smaller ones continue to be number one ranked in the world.

Well, in badminton its actually a game of calculation, numbers and, of course, money. To be number one, a player has to win the most number of tournaments.

Therefore it does not matter if one wins Macau Open and all the lesser opens in the circuit and fails at World Championship, Olympic and All England. All he has to do it to make sure he gets into the quaterfinals of the major events to have the points needed.

The likes of Lin Dan (China) and Taufik Hidayat can be World, Olympic and All England champions but Chong Wei, who is sent to almost all the tournaments, will be world number one.
That is how the system works.

But why would any player be smilling even he loses the main events but holds on to the number one ranking? Well thanks to Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) he will smile all the way to the bank.

According to the rewards system in BAM, a player who maintains his world ranking will receive Rm45,000 every three months. Just be number one and be happy. So, it looks like an insentive to be number one, not to win big events like the World Championship.

Are you surprised? Well what do you expect from an organization that hires local players without proper qualification (certificates and so on) as coaches? Ex-starts like Datuk Misbun Sidek and his brother Rashid can be used effectively in other areas such as at grassroots, schools and districts.

Recently, some worries were expressed as to the state of squash in the country with no apparent talent that could take over from the likes of Dato' Nicol Ann David. Some even warned the Squash Rackets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) to learn from the Singapore experience.

Many parents are complaning that council member's children are given priority and their sons and daughters left out. Some are planning to leave the sport. I just hope that Dato' A. Sani
Karim and the other businessmen in SRAM are aware of this problem.

Sani is a leader who expects perfection. In sports we need passion as well. While credit should be given to Sani for making the management more effective but, now more than ever, squash needs a passionate and hands-on person to take a deep look at the needs at schools, district and state level.

In football, for some time now critics have asked Sultan Ahmad Shah to step down as Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) President . There are those who blame Tuanku for the state of football in the country. Since no one has suggested who the replacement should be, I would not touch on that issue - for now.

But my "Merdeka wish" for FAM is - please get a foreign coach for the national team and another foreigner to be the Director of Coaching to oversee the other national age group teams.

FAM cannot select national coaches based on performances in the local league. This is because the standard is far different and many of the coaches lack proper international exposure.

FAM was upset when former national coach, B. Sathianathan criticised the standard of our league. Actually, in a way, he was right. The junior teams also need to be supervised by foreign experts so that when the move up to the senior team, they are matured players.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM), as usual, puts up a all-is-well front and gives statements about Laos and other places. But, until now OCM cannot have its sub committees functioning although it three months and three board meetings have passed since the last AGM.

A new ruling requires all those interested to serve in committees to apply, and if approved, they will be put into a committee. Every one knows that this is a move to keep people like M.P. Haridas and Latifah Tan Sri Yaakob from being involved in any way.

Haridas has already applied. We will wait and see if he is selected.

This is happening in an organization that is supposed to spread the core values of Olympism. One of the core values is RESPECT. What kind of respect is this?

Many expected Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah to make drastic changes when he took over as the President of Malaysia Hockey Federation (MHF). I believe Tuanku did not act fast enough to make changes and now the situation looks bad.

But, it is not too late. Tuanku can still remove the trouble makers and bring in passionate and experienced people to help in improving the image of hockey.

What can we do to improve sports in Malaysia? Well maybe its time for a Sports Commission to be responsible for the management of sports. This commission, probably under the PM himself, will have the powers to tackle all problems and bring the focus of the National association to doing what they are supposed to do in the first place - developing sport.

For so long some sports bodies are hiding behind some international provision that prevent any form of intervention in their affairs. I believe thiese rules are to protect sports from being manipulated for political gains, not to keep rotten officials in office.

Well, will we are celebrating our Independence anniversary day lets also give some thoughts as to how we can move on.