Saturday, August 2, 2008

"A passionate plea for a drastic change in MHF"

As I posted the earlier e-mail under the title of "The changing tunes of MHF", I received another and I feel the contents must be shared with others. Like the 102 former internationals the writer of the mail is also committed to see good things happen to Malaysian hockey. He has taken the trouble to document his views that seem to be built on some insight information. We have to thank him for being such a valuable source of information.

The text of the e-mail:

"Paradigm shift, sometimes known as extraordinary science or revolutionary science, is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science.

In the context of Malaysian hockey we are not discussing the application of science but pure simple basic in management and honest hard work.

In the last 2 days we see the light, and more good things are to come as to the restoration of Malaysian hockey.

Total overhaul is required in the MHF set-up, responsible and highly accountable individual must be identified to see us back in the top 12 in the world rankings.

The 102 ex-international should be praised for drastic action and standing-up against the people who are directly accountable for the rot in Malaysian hockey.

With their honourable and responsible action, Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Sports Advisory Panel chairman Datuk Mazlan Ahmad, Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar, National Sports Council Director General Datuk Zolkples Embong are now concurrently in the picture to straighten things.

Former Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) president, Sultan Azlan Shah is also concern. Five former internationals met with His Royal Highness for 30 minutes yesterday to submit a petition on the state of hockey in the country.

MHF is singing a different tune now. It does not matter what they do now since, what they have done for 2 years cannot be undone. Thrust and faith cannot be bought. Money seems to be getting them everywhere, but this time around it will be impossible. There is only one honourable thing to do, which is to resign and let other do an honest job.

I believe none of the 102 ex-internationals has any bad intention or to do harm. They are not trying to rob someone’s rice bowl. What we see today is their self-destruct action caused by greed and power craze.

Going forward we hope the highly reputable, 3 man panel (2 already identified plus 1 NSC member) will expose the weakness and recommend tough measures to curb the slide.

With the resignation of the Junior team head coach, there is a urgent need to get things inorder.. Would it be better for Paul Lissek to be the interim stand-in coach rather than another coach who is jointly responsible for junior rot until the authorities makes a decision.

Due diligent should be given in appointing the next junior head coach as the time frame to the Junior World Cup is extremely near.

There is also a need to overhaul the coaching committee, the chairman and committee members cannot be depended for direction looking at the level of destruction they have committed. The MHF Constitution with regards to the role of this committee should be reviewed and amended since many members are bought over in their decision making and not competent. Overseas trip and team manager post is the carrot.

Interesting to note, none of the 4 local FIH accredited coaches are in the coaching set-up. And none of the up and coming local coaches are attending the FIH preliminary course for the last 2 years. The strange thing is that FIH proposal to conduct 3 preliminary FIH level coaching courses in Malaysia but did not materialised during the SAS in 2007 and 2008 and the Men’s Champion Trophy. Should the course materialised, we would have at least 3 participants and a possible 5 observers in each of these courses by virtue of being the organiser. In short we would have at least 24 local coaches exposed to high level modern hockey with bare minimum expenses.

Who prevented the running of these courses remains a mystery or the answer is too obvious?

The search for a foreign coach was fiercely voiced by the Coaching Chairman lately. Can the existing coaching set-up deliver taking into consideration of the immoral activities and values in discharging their responsibility?

Our culture cannot be used as an excuse but we have witnessed different approaches by 3 foreign coaches. The appointed foreign coaches should understand and use the strong point of the players in designing our team concept and style of play. Mind set and up-bringing plays a big part in this decision. Our skill, speed and instinct to take on defenders must not be suppressed to have the best out of the boys. This is clearly ideal since the current rules supplement our strong points to play exciting and modern hockey.

The need to have a foreign coach continues to be debated as we speak. Can the 4 local FIH coaches be good enough to take the team? Or our local breed “black sheeps” has tarnished the local coaches’ reputation, and the capability of the local coaches is being question.

It is obvious that both options have pros and cons!

The choice is for us to make!"

STOP THE ROT, THERE IS A NEED TO CHANGE THE PERSONALITIES IN MHF. SO, EVERYONE WHO CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE MUST DO THE RIGHT THING. IT IS A NATIONAL DUTY i.e IN THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY AND FOR THE PRIDE OF MALAYSIAN HOCKEY.

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