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DEWAN DISPATCHES: Lee Chong Wei becomes Permatang Pauh fodder

Azmi Anshar

(Something interesting to share here...)

DEWAN RAKYAT, Aug 19, 2008:

Being Far East Asians and from the Western bulk of view, Malaysians have generally developed a physique which perfectly suits non-contact or semi-contact sports. Witness our world-beating qualities in squash, badminton, lawn bowl and archery, among others, and then witness our drabness in full-contact sports where power, beefiness, acceleration and strength are supremely contingent.

  In the global sense, we are hopeless in football, meek in athletics, frustrating in rhythmic gymnastics, hockey, cycling and swimming, weaklings in rugby, uncultured in cricket, and overall, nowhere in the ranks of the global sports domination. Our sporting culture is as alive as plain cow’s grass and our parents would rather pressure their children to mug in maths, science, ballet and piano classes, rather than let them loose and happy in the playground and sporting fields.

Yet, we have a full time Minister and a Ministry lording over a slew of sporting associations where only a handful flourish. Compare that with the United States - with its mega athletes winning, no…make that "manufacturing", gold medals - who don’t even need to have a Cabinet Minister for sports. But they do have a highly energised, multi-discipline sprawling sporting culture that rewards successful athletes into overnight multimillionaires (Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and now Michael Phelps). For goodness sakes, the Americans have professional anglers (that’s fancy fishing for you and me) earning millions in prize money and endorsements!

Let’s also not compare ourselves with the Chinese. With a sporting pool of 1.3 billion potential athletes, a centralised obsession to factory-producing players and an authoritarian system that subjects athletes to complete submission in sporting excellence, is it a wonder that the Chinese hog the medal bragging rights in the Beijing Olympics, notwithstanding their deceptions in “digitising” fireworks, lip-synching cute eight-year-olds, or allegedly fielding underage female gymnasts.

Thirty to 40 years ago, two sports – football and hockey – were our pride and joy, beating the Japanese and the South Koreans as if they were Singaporeans and losing out in the semi-finals of the 1975 World Cup hockey. But that was when the world, or at least our Asian neighbours, was competing on a perceived level playing field. As they progressed by adopting new techniques, training, diet, facilities and national commitment and determination, we froze in a time-warp and if not for the glaring disparity, still frozen in that warp.
 
Badminton remains our last vestige of pride in the Olympics, Lee Chong Wei’s irresistible run to reach the final of the Olympics individual gold medal may be an unrepeatable achievement by itself, even if he meekly lost to the eventual champion, the brazenly proud Lin Dan, in an embarrassingly lopsided match that subverted Lee into a novice too overawed and giving too much reverence to the world’s No. 1.

What was missing in Lee’s game that he virtually gave away the match on Sunday? For starters, the reluctant killer instinct and absence of supreme confidence, which Lin Dan held in blasé abundance. Nobody likes to lose, the old sporting cliché goes, but Lee Chong Wei did not possess enough nerve, verve and panache to badly want to win, and he didn’t go down fighting to the death like he vowed. Not even the RM1 million reward guaranteed by the Government and RM5,000 lifetime monthly pension stimulated him enough to stage a vociferous comeback, at least to wipe out that irritating smirk off Lin Dan’s face.

But for Lee Chong Wei, being a silver medalist was good enough and being born in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, where the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election is being fought over a hellishly political firepit, is sumptuously better.

At Parliament House today, the Malaysian Olympic silver medalist cosied up with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister where he enthralled attendees with his winning exploits against his wily opponents, shuttlers leading up to the semis, though it was likely that his anecdotes against the great Lin Dan was minimal. It was already a known fact that coming in second in any Olympic sport meant a RM300,000 cash reward and a RM3,000 lifetime monthly pension, so we know Chong Wei will soon be, deservedly, filthily loaded.

What was NOT known was that the reward presentation will fortuitously be held in Penang tomorrow night. "Since he is a Penang boy, we've decided to have a cheque presentation in the state,” Datuk Seri Najib Razak said after a 10-minute meeting with Lee at his Parliament office.

Co-incidence? Crass political exploitation? Why not? Penang boy Chong Wei getting the award in his home state is the perfect setting, except for that little by-election gig where Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is heavily involved. It should be noted that badminton-loving Anwar did write a bit in his blog about how he missed watching Chong Wei’s bouts, seeing that the ex-DPM is super busy campaigning to topple the BN government with some tricky defection game, priming himself as the Prime Minister-in-waiting and devising strategies to win Permatang Pauh, not necessarily in this order.

It was inevitable: Lee Chong Wei has, unwittingly or not, been made a fodder in this by-election battle.

Baby Chloe

My friend had invited me to her baby girl's 1st birthday party at Sentul Boulevard Pizza Hut on June 29. The party started at 3pm, there were so many food made by my friend's mother, i love the agar-agar very much, yummmm... and of course pizza with mushroom soup.
I wrote something to Chloe and i know she doesn't understands now, but she will understand later when she grows up... Here it goes,

The house fills with joy and energy,
Hearing various sounds of "gaga, gugu and gigi,"
Seeing her walks and started calling daddy and mummy,
But when she pees and cries,
She will make mama feel dizzy.

Her sweet smile brightens the whole family,
Giving spring and autumn to everybody,
Healthy, beautiful, active little girl,
Where her mama calls her Princess Chloe.

Her first birthday was celebrated on 2008 June 29,
Thanks "Your Highness" for inviting me,
You can call me jiejie rather than calling me auntie,
Coz jiejie wants to be young and lovely. (HaHa ><)"

(written by MayShing sarng. ^^)

During my CNY 2008

My Chinese New Year had ended really fast, just stayed at my grandparents home for 2 days 1 night due to the stuffiness, hotness of the house and also the humid bedroom, thus my parents and bros agreed to head back to KL on Thursday night. Alright, forget about the complains, let me tell you what happen during my CNY in Johor...

We left the house (KL) around 1.15pm. While on the way to JB, my elder brother burn a CD of songs in it and when my dad turned it on, oh my god... generation gap... His songs are all rap and with all the F*** word in it, i cant stand it too, my head gonna burst and i told him, "Your songs are so noisy..." Thus, my dad changed to HIS songs which are the Chinese melody songs and Buddha songs. Now its my brother's turn to get headache, hahahaha.

We reached there (JB) around 4.30pm and after off loading all the stuff from the car, we walked to the nearby shopping complex - Holiday Plaza where there were a few shops weren't closed yet and my elder brother bought a sleeveless formal jacket for 64bucks.

After loitering in the complex for about 30 minutes, we  walked home and i saw a dead rat on the road, yakkk!! It was already flattened, arghhh!! yakyakyak!! (vomit vomit...) We had our reunion dinner at 5.30pm. Before eating, we had the Low Sang session, where we had to "low" at the same time pose naturally for the camera, which is really hard. Harder than being a model, hahaha.

The dish that i love the most  was the fry taufu. I felt that my grandmother's fry taufu and lui cha were the best, lol. After eating, it is only 6pm, godddd... what are we going to do at night??!!? The TV was our best friend and this year, no blurry TV, coz my fourth uncle bought a 32inch Sony LCD all the way from China. Although there was no Astro, but the Singapore channels and some Taiwanese programmes were interesting to watch. At around 7.30pm, my third uncle came with his family for the second round reunion dinner, he brought boxes of mandarin oranges, cookies and of course firecrackers.

At around 9pm, finally there was something really interesting to watch which is The Scorpion King, my uncle turned on the sound buffer, woww... so cool, really suits the movie. Besides the movie was interesting, my uncle kept on creating jokes while watching it. There was one part where The Rock was fighting with another WWE wrestler and their swords broke when they collided together and my uncle created this dialog when The Rock looked at his broken sword... "WHAT!! Made from China??!!??" =D

12am, the time to play firecrackers, but there were already people lighting up firecrackers and fireworks before 12am, maybe their clock is faster than us, lol. My third uncle already prepared the firecrackers on the left and right side of the gate and the 2 person who is going to light were my elder brother and his son. We expect 2 firecrackers blast together, but my bro's one fail...

Thats all for New Year eve, now is about my first day of New Year...

I woke up at 8am to bath and get my hair and makeup done, you know girls take a long time to dress themselves up, haha. I put on my purple blouse and black leggings. After everybody had dressed up, I took pictures with my family members and my grandparents and off we go and visit our relatives who were waiting to give me ang paus, hahahahaha!! All together we visited 3 families, from 10am till 1.30pm. All of us were tired and hot after visiting from one house to another.


After everybody had gathered at my grandparents house, the house was even more humid, 2 ceiling fans blowing at full blast still didnt work, lol. An hour later, the adults comprises my dad, grandma, Dai Ku and San sen had their mahjong session going, the girls - Ah Ting, May Chern, May Jing, Hsing Yen and me played card games, while the guys - Elder bro, xiao uncle, Ah Hao watching TV. The others - grandpa, lil bro, third uncle (sleeping), mum was eating junkies.

Around 4.30pm, my second and third aunt came with her families. Straight away, we started clicking the camera because my third aunt and her elder daughter - Chun Xiao love taking pictures, lol. At first we 7 girls took with my xiao uncle, imagine a guy surrounded by 7 pretty girls, woooo... hahaha. xP After photo session, we continue with our card game - Chor Dai Dee without money. The loser needs to give way for the next person.  When the guys - My brothers, Ah Hao and Ah Xun rule the Chor Dai Dee circuit, we girls took another pair of gambling card and play heartattack and another version of CDD before the guys join. Heartattack was the most noisy game, there were screams and full of laughter till your cheekbone and stomach hurts, lol.

When my xiao uncle joined in and play Heartattack, he really had a heartattack, cz our reactions were faster than his and when we slammed the table shouting heartattack, all of my cousins reacted quick, except him... lol. He also had difficulties in remembering the nicknames. (=

We stopped playing at around 6.45pm because my grandma kept shouting and calling us to have dinner. She had to called us for the third time only we get our arse off from the chair, lol. After eating, i had to dump everything inside the bag and had a quick shower and head back to KL.

My dog was very quiet and let everybody pet him during his stay in Johor, but the not so good thing was, he ate rubbish... All the meat skin and leftover food in the rubbish bin he ate... He was like staying in heaven while eating those food. After reaching back home, he vomited all the food he ate in JB and had diarrhea the next day... Silly dog ~ ~ lol.

Hahhh... what a long piece of essay i had typed. Till here, Good night ^^

Gong Hee Fatt Choi

Happy Chinese New Year !! Lets welcome the year of the Rat, but not welcoming them into our home, haha.

I am heading to Johor Bahru tomorrow afternoon for the reunion dinner and most probably will be back on Friday evening, depends on the driver which is my dad.

I havent pack up my clothes yet and my fingernails are not coloured too, lol. But i've already prepared what i want to put on during the 3 days stay in my grandparents house.

This year, i am not wearing red for new year, but purple. Been very bored with the colour red all the time although it is auspicious to wear red during Chinese New Year, haha.

My lovely pet dog Maxon will have an annual holiday on every Chinese New Year by following us to Johor. He is really tame in my grandparents home, let all of my cousins pet and drag him like a soft toy, but you cant do this to him in KL, you will lost your fingers, hahaha. The firework session is his busiest time, baking non stop and hide under the car. Well, this shows that dogs are afraid of fire, haha.

Alright, thats all for now, my arse will cramp tomorrow, sitting inside the car for 3 hours with my dog in front. haha. Have a prosperous new year.

2008

2007 had passed so quickly. I am now a year 2 degree student, wau wau wau... The memories of 2005 till 2007 were still fresh in my mind, sometimes i thought i am still studying in foundation, lol.

Life started to change after finishing form 5, i had so many ups and downs while entering the second part of my life. First, worried about my future, what am i going to study, what do i want to work as, then received my spm result was another stressful day, worrying whether i have enough credits to continue my foundation in UTAR. After knewing that i had passed those stages, i had to learn driving, the worst months i had in 2006!!

Im my mind i really want to drive, coz i feel driving is cool. After going through those driving sessions and training, goddd, it was not really that cool than i thought. The first few driving lessons were tough, coz i dont know how to control that damn clutch, and when the car started to jerk, i will panic, deng ~ I still remember that ass hole malay guy laughed at me in his car when my car jerks, stupid fella, i am already frighten he still gave me that stupid look ! Dont make me laugh at your child next time, jahanam !!

After i got my license, i had a tough time in my first year degree. No close friends and degree is much tougher, not like a piece of cake during foundation. But now i make some good crazy friends, the closest is definitely Mei Sim, same name, same interest, same style but different idols, lol.

Another half of 2007 were fill with fun and laughter. The best was of course i went to bukit jalil and took many memorable pictures, get to know new crazy friends from there, and having 3 months Uni break. It was also the best sales assistant job i work for, coz i get to earn thousand plus a month. Wheee....

Before the end of 2007, my elder brother graduated and my younger brother scored 8As in his PMR. My mum's ah kao from Hong Kong came to Malaysia and visited us after for so many many years. The last time my mum met him was when she was a baby, so you can imagine how long it is and how emotional the situation can be, lol.

As for this year 2008, i didnt think of any resolutions, still the same old thing, pass all my papers and proceed to the final year. This month, i am going for the Malaysia Open and hope there will be some excitements, ^^

Happy new year !!