MALAYSIAN HOKI BOLEH! Forgiven for excessive alcohol consumption.

"MALAYSIA BOLEH" - a sports battle cry, created by Milo as a marketing slogan caught on with Malaysians like a wild fire. It transcended sports and went into every facet of Malaysian way of life. It is the national inspirational slogan providing that extra adrenaline for the push to succeed.

For years "Malaysia Boleh" was inspirational and was always related to the better aspects of life. As it became common even the negative aspects were associated to the slogan from an achievable aspects. Slowly "Malaysia Boleh"
represented "the good, the bad and the ugly". The other term that was developed was "Bolehland", referring to a place where anything is possible. Usually the term is used in an insulting manner.

Last night as I watched the TV, an aspect of hockey caught my eyes and ears. It was the broadcast of the 3 players caught for excessive alcohol consumption and returning wee hours of the morning being given a warning. Apparently this was the decision of MHF and how forgiving they have become. They are young lads and why punish them and spoil their career in hockey. They have made a mistake and the warning shall act as deterrent to ensure it does not happen again in the future. Furthermore they are much needed for the FIH tournament in Dublin in early July and any severe action may have an impact on the team.

All perfectly valid reasons for the weak and lame sports administrators. The future is not on their minds and their concern is only "present time". Probably the future will take care of itself and is someone else problem. The "present time" is the present committees worry and they should not "shot their own feet" to progress. This in a nutshell provides the sad state of affairs of Malaysian hockey because no one in MHF is worried of the future. Today's problem is only going to be a bigger problem tomorrow. Why worry about?

Somehow the equations do not seem to have been fully resolved. MHF have forgiven the players. What about NSC, as this incident took place at their accommodation, in breach of their rules. Then you have the national manager, who has all the players involved in excessive drinking coming from his club where he is also manager. The players earn their other salary from the club. How is the team manager handling this issue..

These are the conflicts that prevail for both NSC and the team manager. NSC sits in MHF Management meeting, in Team Management Committee and pays the players. NSC wants results and any severe action may have consequences to the results. On the other side the team manager pays the club players and most of them turn out for the national team. Any punishment there has an implication on his club.

So it is "Malaysia Boleh" and MHF has become "Bolehland" for anything to everything.