Forgiving press

Malaysia lost to Denmark in Thomas Cup semifinal yesterday night. I thought we should have won that. But the decisive third single was just another revelation that Malaysians have always been stumbling when it matters most. Tonnes of unforced errors just depicted so well how we could not concentrate and being “self-centered” when it matters most. I would think this probably is one of the reasons why Malaysians couldn’t perform up to par.

Other than lack of talented players, I think that Malaysian sports is facing one obscured problem. Forgiving media. Take a look at unsympathetic critical Chinese media and sarcastic US media. Take a look at http://sports.sina.com.cn/ ** and http://sports.yahoo.com/ on how well the media disseminate news and views while putting pressure to sportsmen that carry taxpayers’ money in quest for country glory.

Take a look on how merciful, forgiving, and news-selective our http://www.thestar.com.my/ and http://www.sinchew.com.my/ are. Though there are columns that let critical columnists voice out their opinions, how widespread the opinions are? Where are the columns we can post our opinions freely? Words of encouragement don’t work anymore. Take a look at how our first double fared in the quarterfinal that we nearly lost to a lower ranked South Koreans that cost the team to fight till the last point. They were lucky that they have the chance to redeem themselves in the semifinal. They did it excellently, whilst I think partly of the spur they have came from the feel of guilt and “I owe the country” after their quarterfinal unexpected loss.

In short, a too forgiving media and impoverished channel to both sportsmen and their associations was, in my 2-cent opinion, a pulling factor for the advancement of Malaysian sports in the era of blooming internet.

Well that’s just for established sports. For other unpopular sports in Malaysia, the fact that academic excellence is a more pivotal factor in one’s success in life is still the main “predicament” for Malaysian sports. I do not blame this, and do not have any suggestions of solutions. Probably we can ask the Singaporeans, provided we don't feel embarrassed to import players. :D

**
http://sports.sina.com.cn/o/2006-05-05/22312196505.shtml
http://sports.sinchew-i.com/content.phtml?sec=3&sdate=&artid=200605053023

Even this popular Chinese website helped us in being more critical and unforgiving. I hope you could really see the differences here. I feel that the extra words of encourgement at the end has been superfluous and cultivating towards Malaysians' forgiving culture.