'Green Lantern' of Bukit Jalil - How Unsportsmanlike !

Boo ! 

Laser light on Iswan's face

   The recent World Cup qualifying 2nd round match between Malaysia and Singapore brought out the best in both sets of players, and unfortunately the worst and shameful behavior from some so called Malaysian 'fans'.

   The picture above clearly shows one 'supporter' shining a green laser light aimed at the Singapore goalkeeper while Malaysia was about to take a crucial free kick. The faces of those beside him are those of nonchalance, or not being too bothered. This is utterly unsportsmanlike and totally unacceptable ! I heard that this shameful 'tactic' was employed during the recent AFC championships between Indonesia and Malaysia.

   If you want to be amongst the region's sporting best, please refrain from this childish and immature behaviors, it does not speak well of yourself. I am sure these idiots are a very small minority, but can tar a country's fine image of a multicultural and peaceful progressive society.

Singapore vs Malaysia World Cup Qualifiers 2014 ; July 2011 all Goals

    This is the summary of all the goals from the First Leg between Singapore and Malaysia for the 2nd Round World Cup Qualifiers. To be honest, I did not watch either game live, because it was too tense, and I had other ongoing appointments, so only watched the highlights of both games from the news.Singapore had been having a horrible 2010, and had the entire National team disbanded in early 2011, so that new blood could be injected, while retaining the talented, team players. I have utmost respect for Alex Duric, a Bosnian Serb by birth and who has played in Singapore for more than 10 years, applied for Singapore citizenship twice before, got rejected twice, and only got his citizenship approved in 2008.He is 41 this year, and fighting fit. He scored 2 precious goals in the first leg and headed the ball down for the 2nd leg scorer Shi Jia Yi to equalise the game at Bukit Jalil and kill off any hopes for Malaysia to advance to the 3rd round. Kudos goes to Alex !

Another 2 players who deserve special mention are the goalkeeper (3rd choice) Iswan Mahbud (21 years), and Safuwan Baharuddin (19 years).They were thrown into the cauldron of Bukit Jalil with 90,000 screaming partisan fans,who were jeering at everything related to Singapore as well as water bottles and lasers. They performed like heroes and took everything which the Malaysian strike force could hit at them (literally). Never once lost their cool or cracked under pressure.

Well done Young Men !

It was sad to see some unsportsmanlike behaviour from the fans on the 2nd leg in Malaysia, such as shining of lasers on the goalkeeper's face as well as roughhouse tactics,like heavy tackling, on the young Singapore goalkeeper. However, the police at the Bukit Jalil stadium ensured there was absolutely no violence, so kudos go to them. Its a football match, not a prelude to war.

Finally, my utmost respect to 2 other people(s), the coach, 61 year old Raddy Abramovich from Serbia who since he came in 2004, has won 2 Asian Football Championships (2005 and 2007), 3rd place in SEA games and (now) twice into the 3rd round of the World Cup, once in 2007 and now in 2011.You are No. 1 in my game as coach. May we try our very very best to make it to the World Cup Finals ?!!

The last group of people are the Die Hard Singapore Fans. People of all races, ages and professions who love the Lions so much that they travel even into the cauldron which is Bukit Jalil and came out with their heads held high and never played mind games like the name calling, laser pointing and other unsportsmanlike behavior from the Malaysian 'fans'.

Truly, great ambassadors of the country we can be proud of. I salute every one of our players,coach, Die Hard Supporters. You make me so proud to be a Singaporean.

Onward Lions ! Majulah Singapura !

Malaysia vs Singapore 2nd Leg World Cup Qualifier Match 28 July 2011

    The goal from Singapore midfielder Shi Jia Yi came out from almost nowhere to equalise and effectively kill off Malaysia's chances of advancing past this stage of the World Cup Qualifiers. Another goal scored by the 'foreign talent' Shi Jia Yi. Detractors will say, "oh this is not Singapore people, just imports", but ultimately, almost 90% of Singaporeans were from overseas, from India, China, Malaysia and Europe.

    They do improve the level of our team play and raise Singapore's profile in the world standing, but that has always been the Government's game plan, attract the best and the brightest, and punch above your weight. Its a tough sell, I admit, but it produces results, and as football shows, it gives the people a feel good factor.

     Its not as if, the entire team is foreign born,so my suggestion is for at most half the team, would be a balance to satisfy the wants for local born and bred stars and some sprinkling of the best the world can offer.

    Well done to Malaysian Tigers team, they have plenty to be proud of in terms of passion and talent. However, there can only be one team to advance to the next round.

Foreign Talents in Singapore Pros vs Cons ; Verdict ?

Star Striker Alex Duric shielding the ball away from the Malaysian defender

      The recent 5 - 3 win by Singapore over Malaysia in the World Cup qualifying match played last Saturday has again ignited the issue about foreign born Singaporeans, especially from our Malaysian friends across  the Causeway. In the Singapore team, we have 3 - 4 Caucasian players from places like England and Serbia as well as a couple of mainland Chinese players. Previously we also had a couple of players originally from Nigeria and donning Singapore colours. Football is a passionate game and match results can unite a country or even cause unrest - see scenes from South American Copa America and other. Many people who witnessed the match and saw the result, from the sidelines did not mind that these Singaporeans are foreign born. They are proud to serve Singapore and improve the standard of Singapore football.

The question I want to ask is : Do they actually help in the OVERALL standard of Singapore football ??
Or are they denying the Singapore born players a shot at the international scene where their experience will be invaluable ? Lets take a look at a country which gave the world the modern day football game.

     The world's most exciting league is the English Barclays Premier League, top teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are global brands and have won the European Cups, UEFA Cups, Super Cups and the like. The teams have great players like Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Samri Nasir, Park Jee Young and many others, just to name a few. But the England side, what have they won ?  1 World Cup in 1966 (on home soil) and...  thats about it !

    English football is in the doldrums for as long as I can remember, and they have never made it to any World Cup final, only reached a semifinal in 1992 in Mexico. In 2002, they made it to the semis of the European Cup and that's about it. Pathethic showing for a country in which the original sport of football was founded !

   The bottom line is this, its all about money, while Singapore can afford to pay and attract these foreign born players, and now having lived in Singapore for at least 5 years, applied for a fast track Permanent Residency, get paid a good salary for an S League club, they have the opportunity to be selected for Singapore citizenship, and because of their size, natural talent, are able to lift the quality and skills of the Singapore football team for some time. Singapore were the AFC champions in 2005 and 2007 thanks to the input of Daniel Benett (England) and Mustafaric (Bosnia). We are thankful for these players and more for bringing the name of Singapore soccer to a higher level. There is no turning back here.

   The only worry I have is that the Singapore born boys and girls who have the talent of football will not be exploited to the fullest level, so that is in a way, unfair to these boys and girls. They should be given every opportunity to shine and ultimately make a decent living from sports like football. Will there ever be another Fandi Ahmad or Sundramoorthy if the football authorities keep bringing in the foreigners ?  So, its a painful decision, people of the soil versus foreign born, opportunities and chances of fame and fortune. There should be a positive descrimination for our Singaporeans over the foreign born players.  Ultimately, I feel we should limit the number of foreign born, be it whether they have lived here for 10 years or longer (FIFA calls for only 5), to no more than half the team, or 5 people.

    Then, there is some opportunity for Singapore born stars to develop and shine at national level, while the foreign born players raise the standards for our national team.  

  

Kung Fu Hustle - funny scene

One of my all time favorite funny movies combining great kung fu action with humour.Granted it is slapstick but the fight scenes are really good.

The Moon Represents My Heart - Teresa Teng

     One of the classics from the nineteen seventies, Teresa Teng's Moon Represents my Heart. She passed away almost 20 years ago in 1993, but thousands of new fans are being converted each year. She was Taiwan's answer to then China's Deng Xiao Ping. While Charman Deng captured the news of China's transformation from communist to free market economy in the late 80s to early 90s,she captured the hearts of many overseas Chinese with songs like these.  

Asia - Our Time is NOW

                                    Ecstasy for Japan ; having just won the 2011 Women's World Cup

                                               Captain Homare Sawa and teamates celebrating

        2011 has been THE Coming Out Year for Asia. Since the Western Financial Crisis, from 2008 - 2010, Asia has been relatively unscathed. You do not hear of any Asian countries needing IMF or World Bank money, neither do you hear of Asian countries defaulting on their payments from foreign lenders. Asia has indeed been going from strength to strength since the last Asian Financial Crisis,with many countries putting into place tough austerity measures on borrowings, settling debts, bankrupting unprofitable state owned Government linked companies and, increased their saving as well as boosting their banking infrastructure, financial safety nets and spending to keep their economies growing steadily, to ensure that the current generation of middle class Asians are able to hand over some substantial wealth to their next generation. Most importantly, Asia has been the centre for low corporate taxes, personal income taxes and Asian values, such as reliance on family and NOT on Government welfare.

       On the sporting scene, Asia has been growing from strength, with Asian women leading the way these past few years. Names are hard to remember, but give them enough time and repeat victories, and the names of the winners below in their sports once reserved for typically Western atheletes will be etched in our memories forever :

Golf
So Young Kyu (Korea)   USGA 2011 champion
2nd and 3rd placing were also from Korea

Football
Japan women's team World Champions 2011
Homare Sawa captain

Aye Sameshima  ]

Kanna Maruyama }  Both Fukushima nuclear plant employees in 2011

Tennis
Li Na (China) French Open Champion 2011

Boxing
Manny Pacquiao (Philippines) Middleweight champion for almost 10 years unbeaten.

Badminton
Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) - all England Champion

Squash
Nicol David (Malaysia) - World Champion

Table Tennis
Singapore Women's Team 2010 World Champion

       I wish to encourage my fellow Asians to think deeply. Our womenfolk have shown us the way, that through sheer willpower, positive self belief, excellent team strategy and teamwork and a HIGHER SENSE OF PURPOSE, smaller built Asians CAN and WILL continue to beat their more established Western counterparts in economic development, sports and even leading edge creative entertainment at least for the forseeable future. Granted, we work together with our brethren from the Western countries for the last 20 years, and worked for their organisations 30 - 40 years before that. Now there is a PARADIGM SHIFT. The epicentre of business and commerce will quickly shift to China and India in the next 3 - 5 years and there is nothing the Western companies can do but 'jump on the bandwagon'
going EAST.

     My Dad's generation, people used to look up to the 'Orang Puteh' like they were some superior beings. Some poorly educated and ignorant people in certain parts of Asia still do. QUITE DUMB I must say. Old perceptions die hard, but newer generations of Asians will have an enlightened confidence knowing that they are living in a 'happening place'.

Its  high time people Asian people realise that they are the leading economic,sporting and even cultural power now and for the next 50 years or longer.

      Its time to LOOK EAST. ASIA has arrived.