Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Golf: putt for dough.

31.7.2008.


Last Monday, 28th. July, I went to Subang Parade by commuter train ( only RM 7 return ! ) to hand over my daughter's new baju kurung, her coming to the mall after class at 6 p.m. While waiting, I found and bought John Feinstein's "Tales from Q School" from MPH. I'd been waiting for the paperback edition since this book was first published to rousing reception last year. This makes it 3 John Feinsteins in my collection now - "A Good Walk Spoiled", 1995, and "The Majors", 1999, being the other two.

I have moved house many times over the years and did not catalogue all the books that I have bought , many having been permanently "borrowed" by family and friends, and many also having been lost by all the moving about. But what I have now, by way of golf books, are 61 volumes, the oldest being Harry Vardon's "The Complete Golfer" published in 1905.

As I have said in my earlier postings I'm a self-taught golfer who picked up the frustrating but addictive game at the very late age of 43 ! This fact makes me rather contrived in my assessment of how the game should be played. In conceit, you might say, I have formed my own opinion about how one's progression in golf could be constructed. How one actually progress is the reason for the constant tweaking and fiddling, and the unending daily rounds, come rain or shine. 

This morning my playing partners and I repaired to the golfers' terrace after our 9 holes of the day, and the analysis of the just completed game ensued. The question of lag putt and short putt was raised. Understandable, because all three of them just managed to let me win because of their putting woes. Between the three of them, they spotted a total of 13 strokes from me ! By all reasoning, I should have been truly beaten and dried. Because of their putting, I managed to wrangle the win. 

There are only two factors to consider in putting - speed and line. In theory, getting these two right, in about 50 % of the time, would get the ball in the hole in not more than two putts. The reality is somewhat different. The pros get it in two. Amateurs get it in two too infrequently !  What I have discovered is that the important distance is not between the ball and the hole. It's between the two ears.

Putting is never technical. It's entirely imaginative. You have to feel the stroke, and visualize the ball's journey to the hole. First, you need to imagine the speed required, whether the ball needs to travel flat, uphill, or downhill . Then, you need to imagine the line of travel, whether the ball breaks left or right. The ball must be impacted on the "sweet spot". At any other point, the ball will move away from a straight line from the point of contact between putter face and ball. This is crucial because all putts are straight putts. It's the surface of the green that causes the ball to break. Although the target is the hole, you never putt to the hole - you putt to the line. Once you get the line correct, the right speed takes the ball to the hole, and in 50 % of the case, into the hole. This 50 % is the result of thousands of observations made by the record keepers of the USPGA, and is empirical.

Now the really tricky part. The putter face must always be square to the ball at impact. To do this, the club must be held steady throughout it's pendulum-like swing from the backswing through the follow-through until it finishes pointing along the putting line. If there is the slightest wrist action - left or right wrist, or worse, both - then the club face will be skewered to the ball, and the ball will go right or left of the line. On lag putt, or the long putt, some wrist action might impart suitable velocity to the stroke causing the ball to roll freely, making it likely to reach the hole or near it. On the short "Panadol" part (because such short putts give the golfer headaches) any wrist action spells disaster. So the key word is a confident putting stroke. And confidence is all mental. So, in spite of the splendid swing pictured on the golf advertisement, of the statesque golfer driving the ball from the tee to a mile on to the fairway, it's the little putt stroked in with the vivid imagination and confident touch that converts the mighty drive into a win. That's useful tip to my opponents  I don't mind giving. It'll only give me a better fight.


......................................................................................................

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Drive to Kuala Terengganu.

30.7.2008.


Last Friday my wife and I drove to Kuala Terengganu. I can't exactly remember the last time I drove to KT. It must have been at least 10 years ago. The changes are remarkable, but a few , I'm afraid, are not "positive". 


In my early working career I had visited KT often. So it's with a certain fondness that I remember the place. Fortunately, many of the lasting visual impressions I had formed are intact. For one thing, the drive all the way from Beserah in Kuantan, Pahang, to KT along the coast is beautiful. You have to take your time and step lightly on the accelarator to enjoy the view. You need to stop every so often and take in the scenary on foot. I didn't do that driving up to KT, but made several stops driving back the return trip, and I didn't get enough of the natural prettiness of Terengganu.


It's too bad that development can't be stopped, because it scars the landscape. You should, as we did, stop at the towns along the way. We stopped at Marang - too much building in too little space. We drove past Rantau Abang and Tanjung Jara. Years ago I would have stopped and put up the night and go turtle-watching late in the night with other tourists. Alas ! the turtles are gone ! We stopped at Dungun - the old aerodrome, UiTM outside town and the pretty beach. We stopped at Paka - on going roadworks took away some of the enjoyment. We drove through the massive Petronas village of Kertih. We noticed the urban tastes - the Interior Decor shops, McDonalds, a huge supermarket seemingly in the final stages of completion. And the golf course along the highway. We slowed down through Kijal and saw the durians. In my early visits in the 70's I would stop and buy durians by the roadside. We didn't stop this time, until Chukai, Kemaman, or Kemamang as the locals pronounced it.


Chukai has also changed with the times. Years ago I could just park anywhere. This time there were parking bays with real parking wardens complete with real uniform and armed with real parking tickets. When we sat at a warung for some refreshments, we dicovered that the price of food has also really caught up with the times !

Except for some stretches along the way, the road system has certainly undergone tremendous upgrading in Terengganu. It made the drive pleasant. The road is wider and well-marked. I remeber the early years when overtaking was precarious, and even passing each other required our full attention. The only negative comment here is the number of traffic lights that have been installed. Someone must have gone berserk and decided every road junction should have traffic lights. I lost count of the number, but can certainly remember too many of them set up even where there were no obvious reasons to have them, like many spots where to the left and right of the road there were clearly no buildings or anything that could generate the kind of traffic that would necessitate the installation of the blessed traffic light. 

My other observation was the need to control the construction of buildings so close to each other, and especially so close to the road. The local authorities clearly should define their visual planning of Terengganu. Land is not in short supply, so it should be utilised well and not have man-made construction impingne on the natural lay of the locality. In KT and all the towns I passed through, I notice this rather conventional approach to building in the township as well as all along the road. By this I mean the tendency to cluster close together, doubtless because of the ownership titles and provision of the utilities. Perhaps the State Government could learn a thing or two about designing township and linear construction that would enhance the beauty of the landscape rather than contradict it. In terms of spatial endowment, I think in Peninsular Malaysia only Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang still have the luxury of being able to design development unconstrained by land shortage.

KT itself has grown almost beyond recognition to what it was perhaps 20 years ago. I remember staying right in the town at the Hoover Hotel. I don't know if it's still there. By nightfall the town went to bed early. Now numerous modern constructions have sprouted, again, sadly, jarring the skyline. Good ol' Pasar Payang is still there, though not the good ol' prices. In fact the durians and the dukus were selling at exactly the same prices as in Seremban. And the Seremban dukus are from Terengganu ! 

My final comments on road signage and public toilets are endemic. We in Malaysia really, really must do something about these. We have learned how to que, so these we can learn, too. On the way up to KT from our pit stop in Kuantan I lost my way 3 times trying to get on the road to KT through the disarray of the large modern highways lying before me. And this was simply because of the  smallness of writing of the signs,, or the bad positioning of the signs, or even the absence of the signs.  I even ended up on the East Coast Highway leading back to KL ! I'm sure many of the JKR engineers have been abroad, or may have even studied abroad. I didn't have any difficulty driving on the US turnpike for the first time in a left-hand drive 12-seater MPV. Can we hope for some improvement here eventualy ? 

And the public toilets are just, well, shit ! I'm certain all Malaysians behave normally in their own homes. I'm also certain these same people when in England or Australia observe good hygiene. But somehow when they enter the Malaysian public toilet they just lose their marbles ! I suggest, until there is a drastic improvement in this department, every public toilet visitor pay a returnable deposit of RM 50 which is reimbursed, minus the usual fee, of course,only after the attendant has verified that the cubicle used has been restored to its original condition. It's a pity that describing a fun drive to Kuala Terengganu must end like this, talking crap. But certainly the pleasure we got is not diminished. I suggest you folks visit Kuala Terengganu, soon. Just avoid the public toilets.


........................................................................................................



The Anwar opera continues ....

29.7.2008.


Everyone should remain calm in the latest Anwar episode. Let the Court of Law try the case, not the media circus. The leaked medical report is from one doctor. It needs corroboration - in critical cases second and even third opinions is normal, plus expert opinion,too.


That Pusrawi doctor could be only a GP. The examination could be superficial. Saiful's anus may be large. Anwar's penis may be small. There are many possibilities. Anwar will of course reject all other findings as concocted. That, as we all know by now, is to be expected. What suits him is OK, what doesn't is" cooked up". The truth is Anwar is cooked ! 

Remember the Lingam tapes ? Now what about the numerous tapes on him - they are all false, too ? And the past judgments - some went his way, like the "50 dalil" case, and that's OK. Many more went against him - those are corrupt judges.

Just look at his actions on this latest alleged sodomy case. Action speaks louder than words. Running away in the middle of the night and claiming death threats smells fishy. Death threats ? And so soon after he waded into the crowds nonchalantly. 

But then Anwar has a history of lying. He said the Turkish Embassy called him. The Embassy later said it was Anwar who called. In the corruption case 10 years ago when convicted he denied homosexual activity, but the majority finding by the sitting judges was otherwise. When in jail he claimed life-threatening neck problems and always wore neck braces for the cameras, but between KL and Germany in the plane he must have found a miracle cure, because he forgot about the cameras there that showed him walking down without his neck braces,and hasn't mentioned the neck problem since. In fact a tape at the Ijok bye-election showed him happily dancing on the stage. 

He's saying now that UMNO is rotten, but seems to have forgotten he was in UMNO from 1982 to 1998, his last position being the no. 2 man. So what was he doing while in power? What can he do now without power ? 

The Malays will believe what they want to believe. You tell them "Labu peram" will make them rich, and they'll sell their own mothers to invest without thinking twice. But you tell them smoking is bad and they just laugh. 

Because Dollah  is bad the Malays are turning away from UMNO, and Anwar seems refreshing by comparison. USA is leading the West in condemning the Government in this latest episode. We can protest all we want. The whole world protested against the Iraq invasion, but that didn't stop the US. You think our complains of interference will stop them ? 

Malaysians, on the other hand, had better think carefully. This is a man who's determined to wrest political power for himself, even if it wrecks the country. Let sanity rule and we know what Anwar stands for. In our hour of despair because of the imbecile leading the country right now, the one-eyed man is not king. We have choices. Just tell our UMNO friends to dump Dollah and put someone with some brains in power instead. God save us all !


......................................................................................................

Monday, July 28, 2008

Be quick on the right things, Mr. PM !

28.7.2008.


You're quick on the wrong things, Mr. PM ! The 14 Mercedes in Terengganu is something you need not put your nose in. Isn't this country a Federation ? You cheated that state of the oil royalty. Now you're begrudging the state of some comforts of office ? You were quick to buy yourself a nice new airplane to play around with. You did some big renovations at Seri Perdana. Now that you've put the ACA in Terengganu, how about you get a taste of your own medicine and get the ACA to check on the airplane purchase and the Seri Perdana works ? In the mean time, the the MB and Excos are happily driving in their brand new Mercedes, seemingly oblivious to your stupid instruction to use them "once in a while". So now not only the Sultan ignores you, the MB & Co. are,too.

You were quick on the petrol price. It doesn't mean anything to you, the 41 % increase, because you don't pay for your own petrol. Do you know that everyone who has to pay for petrol curse you each time they fill up ? 

You were quick to talk to PAS. PAS never voted for you and never will. Go find your lost votes from your former BN supporters, they are the ones who need your attention. 

You were quick to call the apple polishers to your phony "meet the people" PWTC sessions. Go to the ground like an old salt would, and find out for yourself how much they detest you and then see how things can turn around when you tell them you're leaving in December. 

Now let's see how quick you are when you try to reduce the 7.7 % inflation. And ask Sharir to change his lifestyle to combat inflation and see how he likes it.


..........................................................................................................

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Strange happenings: MUBARAK 5th AGM

27.7.2008.


I've just arrived home from Kuala Terengganu, this Sunday 27th. July, after attending MUBARAK's 5th. AGM yesterday. My wife and I left Primula Hotel after breakfast at 8 sharp. After stops at Chukai, Kuantan, Muadzam Shah and my mother's house in Kuala Pilah, we finally made it to Ampangan at about 7.15 pm, making the drive almost 12 hours. 

We left for Kuala Terengganu on Friday 25th. at 7 am sharp and made only one stop on the Kuantan - Astana Golf Resort bypass for refuelling and refreshments, and arrived at the Primula at 1.30 pm. That's 6 1/2 hours, about half the time that we took on the return journey. 

Strange. After checking in, we were asked to go to our room ahead of our luggage, the bell boy assuring us it would be brought up right away. Our room was 2 floors above the lobby. It took the bell boy a good 30 minutes. 

Strange. I tried to call Dato' Ismail on my cell phone to join me for lunch, but the phone said "no signal". I tried other numbers, just in case Dato' Ismail's phone was off or malfunctioning. "No signal" came out each time. This had never happened before. 

Strange. The first function was the grand dinner with the DPM scheduled for 8.30 p.m. He duly arrived with the kompangs' accompaniment at 8.35. That's a full 5 minutes late. Last year in Ipoh Dollah  was guest of honour. He came only about 75 minutes late. So Najib's punctuality is strange. 

But the strangest of all was reserved for the actual proceedings of the AGM on Saturday. We went through the usual stuff. The MB sent the Speaker as his rep. to declare open the AGM. Apparently he was summoned to KL that very morning. After the Acting President's usual rambling, without-notes opening address, the Speaker spoke and officiated. The traditional gifts were given out. And we broke for refreshments. 

Then the AGM proper started. The elected Permanent Chairman announced 159 attendees, including 33 Supreme Council Members. Then the announcement that the Posts of President, Permanent Chairman and the two auditors were uncontested. So the elections to follow were only for those of the Deputy and Vice Presidents. Then came the 3 resolutions proposed, one from the Supreme Council, the second one from Perak, and the third from Selangor.

On the first one, it wasn't cleverly tabled by the spokesman who began by saying that there was a typing error (in these days of pcs ?) that in fact turned out to be such a lengthy error that I shouted "mental error !". This resolution, coming from the Supreme Council, and  seconded by one from the same group, was strange. There wasn't any protestation from the floor. 

The fireworks came with the second one. As a member of the Supreme Council said to me during the lunch break, this was a "bodek" resolution. The Perak spokesman, a Supreme Councilor, resplendent in his off-white suit, confidently tabled his proposal with no inkling of what would follow. In a gist the proposal was saying how important it is that the country's leadership (meaning Dollah) should get solid support from all quarters and that this AGM should unanimously give full backing to him to steer the country. Now all this while  Mokhtar Hashim was sitting next to me in the Negeri Sembilan delegates row. You have to pardon Mokhtar for his conviction. He turn to me and said with conviction "I'm going to object to this, and ask that the transfer of power be done by December '08". I encouraged him vigorously, tapping at his hand, "go ahead, go ahead, I support you". 

In fact this time around there were many ex-Ministers present. With Mokhtar were Abu Hassan Omar,  Sabaruddin Chik,  Khalid Yunus and  Ibrahim Saad, plus the ex-Deputy MBs of Pahang, Selangor and Kelantan. Anyway, as soon as the proposal was read,  Mokhtar jumped to the microphone conveniently standing on the aisle just next to our table. He spoke in his usual ( I remember this from when he was the President of Students Union University of Malaya in 1965) slow style, you know, the one you feel like finishing his sentence for him. Slow but clear and not stammering. His points:  this is not proper, a proposal from a member of the Supreme Council and seconded by another, not from the floor;  this has not been discussed and cannot be deemed unanimous;  the President of UMNO cannot promise something he has no authority to give -  his own authority ends in December 2008. In the next slow breath  Mokhtar said the proposal should be reworded to include "the transfer of power of the incumbent President of UMNO should take place in December 2008 !" 

By this time the crowd were stirred. Sainy sitting on my left muttered "this is wrong, we'll embarass Pak Lah". The Supreme Councillors on the stage were agitated. The proposer and seconder were stunned. The Permanent Chairman appeared confused. The whole hall was now loud, with shouts and sporadic clapping. Then the Perlis delegate went to the mike. I thought this is in support, because of the shenanigans in Perlis before and after the Genaral Elections. Sure enough, I was right. Amid the shoutings and the gesturing and the worried discussions on stage there was sounded a proposal to take a vote. After the urging from the floor, the Permanent Chairman finally said to take a vote.  Sainy said to me "you'll lose". By implication that should mean the winner wins the day. I said take the count and see who wins. "You'll see" he retorted.


The count was 82 in support of  Mokhtar's counter proposal, and 22 in support of the original one. Since there were 33 Supreme Council Members, this means that   if the entire 22 were from them, only 66% of the Supreme Councillors supported the original proposal. In fact most of the 22 came from the floor. Which meant that only a minority of the Supreme Council Members supported their own member's proposal. Strange.

Sainy said majority doesn't mean right. I think he forgot what he said earlier. By this time the meeting was getting out of control.  Ibrahim Saad took the mike, but again it was in support of  Mokhtar. Then the Penang Supreme Councillor took the mike. It was obvious that he was distressed. He said he must support the original proposal. Mind you, this is after the voting. Then the other Perak Supreme Councillor shouted "we withdraw, we withdraw !" The memeber who tabled the proposal then took the mike and said "We are withdrawing the proposal."  Mokhtar then took the mike again, protesting "how can you withdraw, the vote has been taken !"  Khalid Yunus jumped in the fray. "I've been in many meetings (he was the UMNO Youth Permanent Chairman). I've never seen this. Are you all "pandir ?" ( sometimes meaning " out of your mind", mostly meaning " stupidly insane").  Mokhtar came back to the mike. "If the Chairman decides to withdraw the proposal, then I want the entire proceedings reported vebatim." The Chairman acknowledged  Mokhtar's demand, and still with the crowd restless and unpacified, the meeting went on to the next proposal. 

This was duly tabled, and the gist of it was to change the Constitution so that the membership is only opened to BN.  Nordin from Melaka expansively declared that procedures have to be followed. But  Yazid Baba was more mundane, but equally effective when he said that the Constitution is the  basis of the organization's activities and yet there are glaring errors 5 years into the organization's life. The existing position of the Chairman is contradictory to the actual proceedings of the day because the Constitution says the President acts as the chairman, and yet a different person was elected. So the management committe should look carefully at the entire constitution again. 

Mokhtar said to me "there's the difference between a practicing lawyer and a sitting lawyer ( meaning the President !). The Permanent Chairman thought this was a good time to call for lunch break. Strange !


.......................................................................................................






Friday, July 11, 2008

Will Malaysia have a new PM in mid-2010?

12.7.2008.



It's all up to the UMNO branches in their coming AGMs this month. Whoever gets sufficient nominations will contest the December Party elections, that is due process.Neither the incumbent President, nor his supporters in the Supreme Council own their posts, regardless of any transition plan or whatever.

GE12  and the subsequent polemics in the media, on the streets, and, more cogently, on the internet have made it plain for all to see that there is something very wrong with with the way this country is being run. The obvious culprit is Dollah.  No amount of spin can cover this up. 

The 2004 victory is long gone and forgotten. The 2008 debacle is in our faces. The world economy as we know it is crumbling down our ears. The situation is critical. Drastic action is required today, now, not tomorrow, certainly not in 2010 ! The country requires an enlightened and brave leadership,more so now than ever before, and Dollah  just hasn't got it, and he still doesn't get it. He is offering nothing, he is doing nothing and he is not even saying anything ! I would like to go into his head and see what's happening there, but I don't expect to find anything. 

When the Federal Government that just managed to retain power took office, the immediate action wasn't to address the shortcomings shown up by the 12GE. It was to send  running dogs to snap at an 83-year ex-PM who was brave enough to speak out and criticise. Dollah   found the time to dig up old issues to demonise the old man who let off the dog that was trapped ( "melepaskan anjing tersepit"), Dollah is looking backwards, when he should be looking forward.

This so-called "Transition Plan" for 2010 is just buying time, most probably to have enough time to stash away as safely as possible the loot that would allow Dollah & Co. to enjoy the rest of their days in the sunshine somewhere. 

Unfortunately for Najib, this Plan now denies him any chance of mounting what could have been a realistic challange. So much for his faithfulness. To challange in December is to lend hollow all his misguided pronouncements of "loyalty to The Leader". A personal visit by the exPM failed to convince him to see the difference between duty to the Party and duty to the Party Leader. 

Now UMNO members who see the difference between glass and gem are unconvinced that Najib is the Leader in their hour of need. Now Muhyiddin in Tokyo.  That was an interesting comment that he made.


.........................................................................................................

2008 Negeri Masters Pro Am at SIGC.

Friday, July 11, 2008. 



I'd wanted to write earlier but got distracted by something else. Watching golf on Astro just now got me thinking I should say something before the details desert me. I'd never, in all my golfing years, participated in a Pro Am. On the 8th of this month I decided to do so, and find out what I can learn from it. 


This particular tournament, I believe, was earlier shrouded with some controversy about sanction or something, which brings to me the first observation here. There's way too much politics in Malaysian sports. Just pick up the papers (I've stopped buying them since the GE12) or turn on the tv(I've also stopped watching the local stations since GE12). It's not only distracting, it's downright counterproductive to sports development as a whole. Except for badminton(for historical reasons), bowling, squash and sepaktakraw, we have had no world champions in any sport. With our 25 million, we are comparable to Australia, bigger than New Zealand and each of the Scandinavian countries. We know Australia has world champions in practically all sports, while New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries have more than their share. 


I was paired with one S. Kumar, a 24-year old pro from New Delhi, who have played in Malaysia many times. He was late to report to the tee, very unprofessional. He was no bigger than me, but belted the ball about 60 meters further with an easy swing. Of course he speaks excellent English, but was very quiet throughout the whole round, so nothing to learn there. Observing him, I could pick up his calmness in going about his game, not letting his unfamiliarity with the course and his less than stellar performance upset him. He was also unemotional, only shaking his head quietly whenever he missed makeable putts, and there were many. 


The one thing that impressed me was the accuracy of his shots to the green, very much helped by the yardage book provided. So, I thought, this is how they go about it, with the yardage book, like the ones we see the pros use on tv. In fact on several occassions I asked him for my own yardage, using his book, and was able to make the right selection of clubs. You see the red and yellow spots they paint in the fairway - they are not regular distances marked out with painted stakes that we see on most courses in this country. I saw that those markings were spotted in the yardage book, giving out such critical distances of 60, 78, and 114 meters to the edge of the green !


I fared rather well that day, and on looking back, I feel the yardage book helped tremendously. No wonder we see the pros taking forever consulting their precious books. One aspect of the game Kumar quite blithely ignored ( I'm sure he's aware of it) was the etiquette of allowing the "away" ball to play first. The other was not caring for the line of putt of the other golfers once on the green. In fact I was rather annoyed and especially disappointed with these breaches of etiquette. Maybe it had become "air ticket" to him and taken off ! 


 I had also expected to hear some comments from him regarding my game, you know, a better player giving one or two pointers. After all, these pros are surely fully aware of the amateur golfers' problems, and a good word here and there wouldn't hurt. We paid for the privilege of playing with them, dammit ! But I got nothing. 

So, it is with satisfaction that I can declare here that if we were to play "match play", I would have beaten S. Kumar of New Delhi, a golf pro 40 years younger than me, by one hole by way of the strokes that I could get from him. You see, I carry an 9 handicap. As a scratch player ( in fact he could possibly even carry a +3 handicap, which means an additional three strokes) he had to give me 9 strokes. I played  37 going out, to his 35, and was 4 up. Coming in I played a poor 43 to his second 35, but was 5 up after the turn. Then he caught up 4 holes including the last one, leaving me 1 up and game over. 

In terms of nett stroke play, I played -1 (71), while he played -2 (70). For a club amateur with a handicap 9, playing -1 is not bad. It means I was playing handicap 8. In fact Mubin said my name was called out for 10th Gross winner after dinner that night. But I had left early after hearing the Captain murder English in his welcome speech. The Gross winner and the Nett winner were both Police Officers, which could translate to how much golf they play. In fact the Gross winner scored an excellent 75, with an 8 handicap, which is 5 under, equivalent to a professional scoring a 67 - a Tigerish performance, indeed. He beat me by 4 strokes. Not too shabby for me, eh.

A number of Junior players also took part, including a few with known professional ambitions. But nobody scored better than gross 82 (which made my  gross 80 look even better !). I know some of them, as well as their parents. Actually in Malaysian sports the parents make the real sacrifices and are usually the real motivators for whatever achievements that we can claim pride for.  Just look at the list - the Choongs and Tans and Sideks in badminton, Davids in squash, Zulkifli in bowling, and now in Negeri Sembilan the Latiffs  (two increasingly famous sons, but many more in the talented brood). By the time the sports officials get their hands on these youngsters, some sort of self discipline had been instilled in them, so that in spite of the subsequent poor management they had continued to perform. 

So coming back to the juniors at SIGC, plainly I see no hope for any of the current crop. They are all 16 years or older, too old to remain untrained at this point of time. World champions just do not start learning at 16. In golf they have to be scratch players by age 12, and start winning local tournaments by age 15. These are the hard cold facts. All you have to do is look at the golf programmes in Thailand, India, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and of course Australia  for our region. Leave Europe, South Africa and the US for the purpose of this discussion, because they are entirely a different kettle of fish. We are fish out of the water in comparison.

I don't see how the authorities can help at the moment, unless their entire approach to sports development is overhauled. Even the proposed "Golf Academy" lacks the one vital ingredient for success - the teaching pro. This is not about letting kids belt golf balls at the driving range. There are many things involved - their education that they can fall back to, the management of the course in play, the sport psychology, sports medicine, nutrition, physical training, the techniques of the long game and the short game, the pacing of development to avoid burn-outs, and even the history of golf, which right now, with our juniors, is zero. You have to have a sense of history to be the best in your sport. Who do you look up to and what are you trying to achieve, if you have no clue about the origin and development of the game. 

That is why, for instance, there is right now widespread disbelief amongst golf enthusiasts that a certain American professional has declined an invitation to play at "the Open" - the British Open in England next week, the oldest and most prestigious, by world standard, golf tournament in the whole world. Thus this tournament is simply called  " The Open". And I say this because, like that American Pro Kerry, the USGA think they are at the centre of the golf universe. 

I have  finally participated in my maiden "Pro Am". Maybe next year, health willing, I'll try another one, perhaps with another more vocal, more helpful pro. I'll call it complete if Hank could join me. I'll spot him some strokes. At 60-20-20. That's the wager in RM's.


.....................................................................................................

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Some more down to earth issues.

9.7.2008.


What a week ! Maybe we should re examine more earthly problems facing us daily. 

1. Traffic. I moved to Seremban 13 years ago because of the traffic. For 17 years I watched the KL-PJ conurbation rapidly growing without the roads keeping pace, until it was faster to commute from Seremban to KL than to drive from PJ to KL. Now the Seremban-Senawang conurbation has produced traffic that is  just as bad, and being in Ampangan, I'm caught right in the middle. The main problem is again growth without equal expansion of the roads. 

But to make matters worse, the previous State Government was blind to the problem, and deaf to suggestions thereof. The present Government seems in no hurry to solve the immediate inner-town traffic problem. It seems to concentrate on the  intra-town highways.  What is required is to disperse traffic from Seremban town.  What happens now is everybody is forced to go through town even if he wants to go to Paroi, Pantai, PD or Tampin. 

2. Road maintainence. After GE12  it's unbelieveable that this is still an issue, especially in the housing estates. In the area I'm staying several stretches of the heavily used road  have been left in really bad condition for the last 3 months. 

3. The utilities. Again in the area I'm staying, well within the Municipality, the frequency of taps running dry and power being cut, and not uncommonly both simultaneously, has to be endured to be believed. In June alone there were a total of 8 days of water supply disruptions, and 2 power cuts, one simultaneous with the water cut.

4. Govenment bureaucracy. If only we can avoid going to the government offices. And they proudly claim to be soon going paperless. I took my youngest daughter, who was on university vacation, last month to the Seremban District Office, the Seremban Road Transport Department, the Ampang Health Clinic and the Kuala Pilah Police HQ. We also went to an Insurance company in Seremban 2. My daughter has ambitions of joining Government Services because of her legal studies, and I wanted her to see for herself how the "Gomin" serve the people away from the Ministers, the Chief Secretaries and the Deparmental Directors. The District Office visit was necessitated because by some stroke of genius "they" had this year unilaterally decided to issue a bill for quit rent that is double the old rate because the house I have being living in since 1995 has now been re-registered as "business use". I went armed with my property "grant" and my quit rent receipts for the last three years. So they said they would sort things out. But for the obvious mistake of their own making, I still had to fill in about 6 pages of A4 size report. We went to the RTD to cancel the claim by the bank that financed my daughter's third-hand car, which had been fully settled. Since I started working in 1969 I had of necessity bought and sold several cars, all before the computer age, but I don't remember of having to fill any form to get the rubber stamp "Di Batalkan" on the ownership claim on the car registeration card. This time we were required not only to fill in capital letters a 4-page A4 form, but also to attach a photocopy of her Mykad, both sides. And we had to que twice because of the new procedure. We went to the Government Clinic because of my prior fundoscopy appointment. The staff had a day earlier telephoned ( the number is on my Hospital card ) reminding me to come on time (2.30 p.m.) I duly arrived at 2.15 (this was a Friday, so I rushed over after prayers, neglecting even the "doa"). The Clinic doors were locked, and opened at 2.45 sharp. When I left after the procedure my watch said 4 p.m. We went to the Police HQ to renew my gun licence. This was my 14th. visit, normally involving the examination of the weapon by the armouror, submission of a current medical report, filling in the renewal form and paying RM25 in fees. Not this time. The simple 1-page form has been replaced. It's now, yes, an A4 size 4-page form that requires full details of the land titles that were submitted in the original new application 15 years ago. Finally we went to the insurance company to get fresh insurance cover for my daughter's car. We were asked to go to the first floor and see a particular female clerk, whom we found talking on the telephone. On seeing us, we could hear her say " .. I've customers" and put the telephone down and on hearing out the purpose of the visit, went to her pc, pored over the information, and gave us the amount due. I signed my cheque, confirmed RTD on-line acceptance, and left the office. I think it took all of 10 minutes. Moral of story? It takes will. But it can be done.



......................................................................................................

Friday, July 4, 2008

Truths and perceptions thereof.

4.7.2008.


In the last few days there has been a barrage of press statements, statutory declarations, allegations and counter allegations, and pronouncements, both of the domestic and international types, that have inundated us until we are probably all quite confused as to who is telling the truth. It seems if the scenario is the work of someone, it's clever. But I doubt that. I think all this is because of the state of utter loss resulting from a situation of "government by default"  unwittingly practised by the incumbent political leadership, and I use the word "leadership"  loosely.

What are the facts ?
1. The present government had just been given a bloody good pasting in the GE, and hasn't come to terms with it. 
2. Instead of taking the drastic measures required to tackle the obvious issues made glaringly clear by that GE, the PM has repeatedly taken one ill-advised decision after another to make matters worse: 
           a. Filled his Cabinet with people who can't help him either because they are unjustifiable choices, inexperienced or plain stupid.
             b. Continue to make unpopular and less than clever decisions when more acceptible ones are available. 
            c. Continue to make no attempt at real leadership, in fact often content to let subordinates speak for him even when he is present.
 3. "Opposition" elements are simply taking full advantage of the pandemonium. We have seen the RPK declaration. We have seen everybody's statements on the alleged wrongdoings of Mahathir, from former and present judges, former and present Cabinet Ministers , and of course former political opponents. 

Mahathir's has made spirited rebuttals.

We have seen the PI declaration on Najib, and its subsequent withdrawl. 

We have seen the claims and counter-claims in the latest Anwar shenanigans. We have seen the Turkish ambassador's denial of Anwar's claim, and the US acceptance of the same. 

Can we afford more Tribunals and Commissions for all these? All these claims are not made easily. The authors must believe them. They cannot all be speaking the truth - someone must be lying. We should only hope that they can live with their conscience.

In Anwar's case, we should in fact extend our symphathies to his immediate family because truth or otherwise they have to see him every morning. As the Malay saying goes "heavy, the eyes see, heavier, the shoulders bear ". If Anwar and his family believe in God, then they know that He is the Ultimate Adjudicator. Anwar cannot hoodwink Him. The rest of us must live with our own perceptions of truth, knowing full well that it comes in many hues.


........................................................................................................