Monday, August 18, 2008
lost the gold or won the silver?
I'll go and say it outright - Malaysians do not deserve successful sportsmen. Labels: musings
It's actually not the first time I have said it, and certainly won't be the last. But let me explain. Again.
Sure, Lee Chong Wei lost. He got spanked for his efforts. But less you forget, he was the second seed, playing against the world number 1 in the enemy's den. He lived up to his seeding, and even though his good just wasn't good enough, he lunged for every shot, he dived and ran himself ragged through the four corners of the court, never giving up a shot. Yes, the nerves got to him, but he still fought for every shot.
What else can you ask for?
And in spite of doing all that, I have been reading some blogs and seeing some people's nicks on MSN condemning his performance. Some claim to have been 'let down' while others feel that it was 'memalukan'. A well known madman questioned why there was a need to give credit to a 'loser'. Then some introverted assholes and idiotic housewives must inevitably bring in the political card - he is a MaChAi, you know. Meanwhile, other people have conspiracy theories about bookies and how he stands to make more money by losing.
Screw you people.
This is why our football team is in the doldrums. Even when they give their all, people still dump crap all over them. And support Chelsea in the process. Malaysians love to build up heroes and then tear them down when they fail. Before you say that you were 'let down', how many of you watched all his previous games? Or are you just a glory hunter waiting for him to get to the finals? How about a little support? 'Support' doesn't mean gathering a bunch of your best pals to hang out a the mamak and cheer him over a glass of milo ais. Support means following him through the earlier rounds even when he was playing against relatively weaker opponents. How many of you followed the games when he destroyed Ronald and Soni?
It's not just badminton, you know?
How many of you follow Nicol David's career? Again, 'following' the career doesn't exactly mean picking up the papers in the morning, reading the headlines and going, 'Ah Nicol won again. Good lah that girl' and then proceeding with your business of the day.
We have two really awesome cyclists but how many of you bothered? How many of you watched the keirins (do you even know what the keirins are) yesterday? Did you follow the men's sprint (not the 100 metres, you idiot) today? Did you cheer for 'Mohamed Ah-weng' when he made it through the first repechage and them jump a leap of joy when he did a wheelie to beat a former World and Olympic champion at the end to make it through the second repechage?
Or do you just not give a shit, but instead wait to discredit people when they ultimately fail to beat other world class athletes?
Lee Chong Wei carried the hopes of the entire nation on his shoulders today and he failed. And he admitted that he failed. But it was not really fair because he never had the REAL support of the entire nation in the first place.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
missing the big picture
Since everybody is so hung up on racial issues as of late, I decided that I would start with a story of my weekend. Yes, it is late because I have been both busy and lazy, as well as crying over our dreadful Olympic performances. Anyway, a good part of my Saturday afternoon was spent in Seremban where a bunch of us took a road trip (if you can call a 45 minute drive a 'road trip') to attend our close friend's wedding.
We spent a good part of the time discussing whether Guo Jingjing was hotter than Xie Xinfang - because boys will always be boys. It was your typical Malay wedding held in the bride's house where they close up the stretch of road and the guests sit under the canopy on the street. Long story short, we were having problems locating the place because our navigator couldn't read the map properly (men don't need maps).
"Fuck it la, let's just drive until we see a signboard"
"Eh, kammon la. This is a Malay wedding. Sure got signboards - just look for Ros + Alf"
"Hehe, for Chinese we only have signboards when we die. Got candle summore.."
First up was the issue of the controversial 'Conversion to Islam' forum held on Saturday. Many people, friends and random blogs that I have been reading have condemned the actions of the protestors. Many took to heart the fact that the Chinese were referred to as 'babi' and were asked to 'Balik China!'. Many were unhappy over the fact that the protestors made no effort to understand what the forum was about in the first place, and that they were rowdy and unruly.
When I was studying in the UK, I once experienced someone hurling racist remarks at me while I was minding my own business having lunch at McDonalds. A lot of people would have been annoyed, but I wasn't really bothered for the simple fact that she was nothing but a lowly pikey. It wasn't worth getting worked out over.
Going back to the big hoo-hah at the forum, why are you people getting worked up over some uneducated, unemployed ruffians screaming ridiculous profanities which they hardly understand themselves? (Balik China? How about the Chinese Muslims? Do they need to balik China as well?) You have the opportunity to take the moral high ground here. You can always say that you agreed to a civilised discussion but you were interuptted by uncivilised people.
But you got your priorities wrong and you are barking up the wrong tree.
Instead, you should be upset that the big guns are the ones who have let you down.
The Prime Minister who doesn't want such forums to be held, ever.
The Deputy Prime Minister who thinks that the organisers of a civilised discussion are in the wrong.
The so-called Prime Minister-in-waiting who can't keep his house in order. (He has said that he will take action - so credit due there, but let's wait and see, shall we?)
The DAP big guns who seem to be on holiday, considering the fact that they have never been afraid to speak up, but have treated us to a deafening silence this time around.
What have all those people been doing for you?
And that is what I am annoyed at. That the so-called leaders (and wannabe leaders) of this country have been too terrified to make a stand because they are afraid that a few hooligans on the street would not vote for them.
And then we get to the UiTM issue.
Personally, I have never supported the idea that a learning institution of any kind be constricted (formally or informally) along racial lines. That is why I have never been in favour of Chinese and Tamil schools. When such segregation happens, not only is there a lack of understanding of each other's race and religion, it also does nothing to help the learning process that schools and universities are supposed to cultivate.
When I was studying, I made it a point to do my group projects with students from other nationalities. I worked with many people, from the Brits, Italians, Greeks, and Iranians to the Indians, Thais, Koreans and Americans. Each of them taught me something about their work ethics and I learnt to pick up the good points from each and every one of them.
Students shouldn't be worried that another 'race' of people, nevermind that these are their own countrymen, are taking their places, but instead should be happy that they can learn more and improve themselves. But most students are immature and don't realise things like this, and so it is up to the teachers and the leaders to teach them that.
So again, it is not the 5000 students I am annoyed at, but the UiTM vice-chancellor who has no business being an educator as he clearly does not know what it takes to improve his school and his students.
And back to my beef with our politicians, we all know where the BN government stands on this (which is why they got spanked so badly in March). However, the so-called champion of equality, Anwar Ibrahim, who has been so keen to tell us about his vision of meritocracy and how he wants to abolish the NEP, had a perfect opportunity to address this issue here, but failed to muster a single word.
Is his silence here an indication of what we can expect from his proposed government?
The same old status quo?