New Year.

hi everyone (if there's any left). so, let's just cut the chase. this is my first entry for the year, and what a good year it has been so far. to start this off, i reached a goal of mine, which was to get the Samsung Galaxy S3. this goal was reached through my second trimester result, which was, well, quite unexpectedly high. i always set my sights low, but it was truly unexpected. the third trimester had just started, and this is my first week of the final trimester in my foundation studies. after this trimester, hopefully i will be continuing with my degree in accountancy. my life has been pretty much the same (except for the phone, which is truly and remarkably very cool), nothing much has changed since around a month ago. so far, so good for this year. hope it stays this way till the end of the year. hope everyone is fine (again, if there's any), hope everyone is enjoying their year as much as i am. best of luck everyone. cheers.

2012

Maybe this is a bit premature, but I’m calling it a year already. Eventhough we have a few hours left of the year, but I think it’s done for me. 2012 meant a lot to me (as with almost every other year for that matter). It taught me a lot about growing up, becoming a man. Being myself, my true self. Teaching me to become more independent with myself, something that was, well, a bit missing from my life all these while. Frankly speaking, I learned a lot from this year, but I don’t really know how to put it all in the written language. If you ask me this question personally, maybe I can answer it, somehow, but, really, I learned a lot this year, especially on being a better family man. Especially because I live a few hundred kilometres from my family these days. It made me cherish my family more than when I was back home. It made me more in love with my better half. I don’t know about her, but this distance, really makes me love her more than before I entered university. It’s been a thrill ride, to be honest. I’ve experienced plenty of things this year. Some of them, memorable, while others, a bit harder to swallow. Overall, it was a positive year for me (I hope it was for all of you too). Another great year, another blogpost to end it all. To end this year, I would like to wish everyone, a happy ending to your year, hope it was great for everyone, hope it brought you plenty to cheer about, and less to forget about. Happy new year everyone. May the coming year be as or better than the year that is passing us by. Cheers !

Ong Kim Swee Anyone ?

Football is currently on the rise in Malaysia. Everyone is into Malaysian football nowadays. Compare today to the days when Malaysian football was at its lowest. Nobody supported them. At the Asian Nations Cup in 2007, where Malaysia co-hosted with Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, that was, arguably, the point where Malaysian football was at its lowest ebb. A 5-0 drubbing by China, was followed by a 5-1 master class by Uzbekistan, before the campaign ended with a 2-0 loss at the hands of a weakened Iran  team. At that time, to wear a Malaysian jersey anywhere was considered stupid and crazy. I know I was called one, back then. Nowadays everyone wears them everywhere. Everyone is an expert in Malaysian football, regardless if they don’t even know the players name, or where they ply their trade. Anyone who criticises the team is considered as ungrateful, shameful and unpatriotic.

I don’t consider myself a football commentator or a pundit. I’m just an enthusiast. I just love football for what it is. The unifying power that it has upon its players and audience. the beauty of the game itself, and how it captures the imagination of, literally billions of people worldwide. There’s almost nothing that’s quite like it.

Hence, in my role as a football enthusiast, I always makes time to watch any type of football, whenever I have the time. Don’t be surprised if I tell you that I’ve watch a few English lower leagues football. Currently I have a particular fondness towards Accrington and Fleetwood. In this capacity also, I always try to make time to watch some Malaysia Super League (MSL) fixtures or even some Premier League (MPL) games. So, I am familiar with a lot of the faces in the national team. I don’t want to brag about this but,  in doing so, I am at least around 80% more familiar with the national team than almost every other people.

The thing is, everytime I criticise the national team, it’s blasphemy. It’s stupid. It’s unpatriotic. For me, this is stupid. Everyone’s opinion, is, well, their opinion, and we have to respect that. If we don’t agree with a statement, fight it using facts, don’t just judge people like how you judge a book by its cover. That’s nonsense. And for the last year, or so, I think my critique has been somewhat proven to be true in some sense.

Firstly, I think it’s time that we part ways with Rajagopal. We can see clearly through a lot of his past selections, he tends to choose the same players, that, frankly speaking is not good enough for the international stage. Sincerely speaking, the guy has lost it. He has lost the prowess that won us the Suzuki Cup a few years back. Evertime we get any unfavourable results, he would always blame it on something, and always asking for time. Time and time again. It’s always the referees fault, or maybe it’s the linesman fault, or maybe it’s the fans that are too quite. Or even because the fact that he just needs another three years. What Rajagopal ? What more do you need ? Four years ago, you said you needed three years to mould the country into genuine Asian contenders. Well, lets assess the situation since that four year period. We’ve knocked out (not to mention humiliatingly against Singapore) in the World Cup qualifying second round. We are nowhere near in reaching the Asian Cup in 2015. And we are currently struggling in the Suzuki Cup. We drew against small footballing nations, the most humiliating of which was against Bangladesh. Bangla-fucking-desh! If that draw came against Vietnam or Lesotho or for fuck sakes Taiwan, it would’ve not sounded too bad, but Bangla-fucking fuck-desh ?!?! Come on! For me, it’s time that we fire him, and appoint someone better to replace the  poor fucker.

A few names comes to mind. There’s the option of hiring a foreigner with a high level of technical understanding. There’s Batistuta if you want a big name. Maradona would spice the team a bit. Ivica Osim may have a bit in him still left if he is tempted. Guardiola could do wonders to our system if the offer is right and IF he is tempted. Or we could always hire a Dutch coach, because a lot of them are really good technically, which we, as a small footballing nation really needs. Then there’s also a few Malaysian that can be placed in the list. There’s B. Sathiananthan if he is tempted to regain back the respect that he yearns. There’s Irfan Bakti, who does wonders with almost every team that he coaches. Then there’s my favourite, which Ong Kim Swee. He’s simple, talks using his heart, picks a good team, nine out of ten, everytime. Just look back at the Malaysia vs Chelsea game last year where he picked an almost uncapped team to face the mighty Chelsea, which Chelsea won 1-0 through a Didier Drogba “goal” which was judged to have entered the goal, eventhough that wasn’t the case. To the FAM, just fire the poor bastard,  hire Ong Kim Swee. OKS is the future. Thank you.

What Gaza ?

So, Gaza has been attacked. Again. And people are sympathizing. Again. And they forgot about it the next day. Again. I guess there’s a recurring theme, year-in year-out, where there’s one or two days in a year, where everyone, especially In a Muslim-“conscious” country like ours, that we would be trending #PrayForGaza of #SaveGaza for a few hours, and then forget everything about that little crusade just the next day, or in some cases a few hours later. Which for me, is well, very sad really.

This syndrome is what I like to call as, “chosen ignorance”, where most of us just give a bit of sympathy towards the Gazans or Palestinian every once in a while, and forget everything about them, as soon as we see something shiny, such as the television. Though a lot of us have connection to the internet or international television, a lot of us don’t use it for information purposes or educational purposes, which is stupid.

What is the use of having state-of-the-art television technology and using it only for movies and reality shows ? what is the use of having one of the fastest internet connection in South East Asia, but only using it for Facebook or Twitter ? isn’t it a bit of a waste ? the Gazans are incarcerated every day, not just a few days of the year. Try defending the Gazans on a daily basis. Try that sometimes and stop becoming just some stupid hipster.

Become more active in your life, not just physically, but mentally, too. Read around. Watch more international news. Don’t just get stuck with TV3 and whatnot, the poison of the media industry. Get your sources right. Reject rumours, spread the truth. Reject ignorance, follow intelligence. Then only you shall live a truthful life.

The Question Of Monarchy in Malaysia.

Been a while right. I’ve already forgotten the fact that I even had a blog. So, I’m not going to drool on it, but let’s get straight to the point shall we. Alright, the question of, can we thrive without sultans and rajas, have been going on for quite some times. Oddly enough, this question was posed by our so called “Malay Defender” dictator-cum-prime minister, Dr. Mahathir. He questioned the authority of the sultans in a scathing 95 points speech to parliament on January 18^th 1993, in which he pointed out the flaws of the immunity of kings in the Malaysian constitution. He also compared the immunity laws to that of other constitutional monarchs across the world, even reaching as far back as the Governor General of India.

He criticised our constitution and was backed by the papers, even praised by some, eventhough that meant the end of any virtual role the king had in governing the nation. In it, he also proposed that kings shall only receive immunity while on official duties, making it on-par with almost every other monarch in the world. He even went to as questioned the sultans integrity especially during the forming of the Malayan Union when the sultans simply signed a paper, effectively handing us all to the British, while they got hefty monthly paycheques, and the people were the ones fighting against it, though he did say that he did not want to abolish the monarchs.

He even had time to comment on the hot topic of the day, which was the implementation of the Hudud Law, which he argues that Malaysia still cannot implement it because there are only 56% muslims in this nation, and we have to consider the environment and everything to implement it. Which basically means, he did not see Hudud as relevant at the time, eventhough this statement is considered blasphemy in many circles of Islam, he has not yet retracted it, as of time of publishing.

Overall, he stressed the importance of law, the implementation of it on every walks of life including the sultans, which at that time were quite renegade in their actions. For me this was really good, keeping check on the sultans, who are, at times quite rude and inconsiderate towards their subjects, eventhough their paycheques came from us, the taxpayers. So, the amendments was, for me, timely, well composed, and a big stepping point towards a Malaysia, free of the shackles of monarchy, which for me, is very burdening to us, normal Malaysians. Though I can’t really agree with his point about the implementation of Hudud, but, anyhow, it’s still good. Till this day, this single bit, is the only thing I thank that old man for, only this. Nothing else that he did is worthy of any amount of gratitude. Thank you.

Links :

The 95 point speech delivered to parliament on 18-01-1993 (In Malay though)