Jul 16, 2011

The main reason why guys cry (If they ever).

Fernando Torres,50 Million pounds, heading for Stamford Bridge.

"His armband proved he was a red Torres Torres, You'll never walk alone it said Torres Torres, We bought the lad from sunny spain, give him the ball he scores again, Fernando Torres Liverpool's number 9".

This certain Spaniard, who doesn't even know I existed, was making me teary eyed. Liverpool was having a shit season. Morale was lower than chicken shit on the ground. And then this happened. Our star striker was leaving us.

Fiona looked at me in disbelief. She kept on staring at me before finally......

"Baby are you crying?"

A tear just rolled down my eye in front of my girlfriend. I was crying because of another guy. Now if she didn't know any better she'd just be laughing her head off and start calling me names such as fag, drama queen etc. But she didn't. She came up to me and embraced me and kept telling me Liverpool will be okay without Torres. She understood what many girls don't: How football can make guys cry.

Its hard to explain why guys are so into football. 22 grown men chasing a small ball around an entire pitch. The winner is the team who puts the ball behind the opposing team's net the most. If you put it that way, football sounds...dare I say it.....ridiculous.

I manage a football team. We call ourselves ROC. I love this team. To wear the team jersey, to see the players playing, to feel the awesomeness of winning...the feeling is beyond ecstasy. I get nervous when we're one goal down. I shout on the top of my lungs when we win. If we lost.....I would go back home feeling dejected.

All this for a game of 22 grown men chasing a small inflated sphere shaped object.

When Malaysia won the Suzuki Cup, I was happy beyond Liverpool winning the 2005 Champions League trophy (5 times Manchester United...5 times). It was a feeling that I cannot describe. When everyone was shouting and laughing in pure joy, I followed suit. But when everyone went back, I was left alone to suck in what just happened. We won the cup for the first time in the cup's 15 year history. Emotions got hold of me and you guessed it, I got teary eyed.

I can't really answer the question of why guys are fascinated by football.

To the girls who keeps on ridiculing my and every other guy's love of football, I can't tell you why we love football. No one can tell you why we love football not even us because my dears, we cant define it....we feel it.

Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku, You'll Never Walk Alone.

Jul 6, 2011

Clean elections: From what I see.

For the past few weeks this country has been rocked by the issue of clean elections. I have personally looked at the list made up by Bersih and what they are demanding for is in my opinion good. The intentions are all good. That was me thinking on my own based on pure logic. But then I tried to look at it from a more political point of view. Since a young age I have been fascinated by politics so its very natural of me to think twice about an issue. The first from a pure logic point of view, the second from a political point of view.

Some of my friends argue that it is not politically motivated. I beg to differ. Nothing is completely free of politics. In my opinion, when the Prime Minister grants a particular favor or award to any particular class of society he is killing two birds with one stone. One, he is doing his duty as the Prime Minister to aid his people, two, he is doing his duty as a political party president to ensure that people will continue voting for him.

The same goes for Bersih. Maybe Dato Ambiga is apolitical (very unlikely) but what about the hordes of opposition political party leaders who support it with all their might? To say that no political agenda is involved to me is a bit naive. There must be some political agenda, be it positive or not, there must be some political agenda.

The opposition won five states during the last general elections and have been in power in Kelantan for the past 20 or so years. If the corruption and abuse of power by the government when it comes to elections is so bad that it warrants a mass protest comprising of one hundred thousand or even perhaps a million protesters flooding the streets of my beloved Kuala Lumpur, would the opposition have achieved what they did during the last general elections? Would the government voluntarily give up the richest state in Malaysia, Selangor to the opposition? If the level of abuse and dirty tactics by the government is that bad, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur would not be in the firm grasp of the opposition coalition. In the whole of Kuala Lumpur, only two parliamentary constituencies are held by the government; Putrajaya and Setiawangsa.

So is there really a need for a mass demonstration that would cripple the economy of our capital city and paralyze Kuala Lumpur? What is the purpose of holding demonstrations? To pressure the government into heeding the wants of a group of people? Or trying to paint a bad image on the government in and outside Malaysia by portraying the government as a bunch of scared cheaters who are in power only because of cheating and vote-rigging? 

One day of demonstrating would not be enough to force the federal government into doing anything.You will need much more time, you will need millions of people, you will need to hold similar demonstrations all over the country. My question is, don't you think if you did all of that, wouldn't you cripple our nation's economy? Your mother, father, brother,sister,friends and family would all be affected by it. Look at Egypt. It's economy is crippled and its tourism industry is dead.

Is that what you want for our beloved country? 

No elections can be totally free of corruption. Corruption will forever exist but the only difference is whether the sum involved is big or small or whether it is in monetary form or not. There are corruption in the government. No one is denying that especially not me. There has been countless ministers tried for corruption.  However, there are also corruption going on within the opposition political parties. This is of course my own personal opinion without any concrete proof. But it seems nowadays people believe anything they want to believe without even an ounce of concrete evidence. I am merely following the flow.

The elections commission has been toying with the idea of introducing biometrics to help ensure the fairness of elections. They claim that they plan to introduce it and in my opinion they bloody well should during the next general elections. If the opposition really had the support that they think they have, than by the will of Allah SWT, Putrajaya will fall to them.

In my opinion, Bersih is free to voice out their opinions and wants but they must find a suitable venue that would not cripple Kuala Lumpur and cause hardships to Kuala Lumpur's two million population. Its good that the street protests has been called off and that the venue has changed to a stadium. 

My King has spoken and His Majesty is against street protests because it can do more harm than good. But His Majesty also gave a piece of advice to the government: Practice what you preach and carry out all the promises made by you to the people. Federal government,Never Ever Forget That or else the consequences can be dire.

Allah SWT bless Malaysia, Daulat Tuanku.