Sudden resignation of K Enbaraj as KL Sukma assistant hockey coach.

"Leopards seldom change their spots" is a famous maxim which usually relates to people who consistently undertake matters which reasonable people would not contemplate. Such people do it with the intention of benefiting their group and ultimately themselves without caring for the consequences others face. These people tend to camouflage themselves in such a way by passing the "bug" to others by making them the sacrificial victims with a straight face and sweet talk. Their "chameleon" nature is such it is not easy to identify them because of their style and manner including the sort of people they keep company with. Indeed most people would not believe that such persons would exists and above all engage in these sorts of shenanigans.

This unusual breed of people generally have "double tongue" ie "what they say they do not mean and what they mean they do not say". They usually get away because the victims usually walk away without confronting them or they are influential enough that they get away with it. For such people this is a habitual aspect and it is a common feature in their daily life.

K Enbaraj today realised that the world is not a perfect place, and that talk and action usually do not co-relate. He found out that the actions of certain people can influence the destiny of others for no reason whatsoever. The point here is that they do not want to permit a young boy to play for a particular State, notwithstanding the fact that the player was not even selected by the protesting State. End of the day the argument decayed to a jargon of formality that the player was not granted official release. Mind you this is about a young boy who is probably Under 18 and rather than encouraging him to play, there are people who call themselves working for the best interest of Malaysian hockey and yet endeavour to disqualify the boy from playing.

This seems to be similar to a story where players were recruited by a leading club and when they were not needed, as there were to many players, they were not released so as they could not play for competitors. Why? They cannot become a threat to the team. The thinking is the team is more important than the whole of Malaysian hockey and the discarded players themselves. Such selfish thinking people can still find their way in administrating and managing Malaysian hockey. Even in such positions they can maneuver to equip their team with the various national players, thereby making their team the present and future national team. It is the art of positioning themselves and dangling the "carrots". Obviously it takes a person with great talent to do such things and probably the maxim of "the leopard seldom changing its spots" may truly manifest in such an instance.

This was Enbaraj's problem. He never comprehended this when he accepted to be Kuala Lumpur Sukma hockey team assistant coach. He was excited that there was a genuine desire to help the young boys. He himself was involved with UniKL and he saw how people worked there to get the young boys to become stars. He thought the same would also happen with the Kuala Lumpur team. There were differences in selection of players and he thought it was healthy, although at times he also felt there was no rationality. Still he continued forging ahead although he felt as assistant coach he had certain limitations as to his influence on matters, so as he does not undermine the chief coach. He was very careful not to overstep the position.

Enbaraj had to painfully accept certain decisions as it involved some of his UniKL boys. He did not protest over it nor make issues about it. He felt if the boys cannot find a place in the KL team they should easily work into other teams and this became the "saving grace" for him. If that was the case then Enbaraj would not have suddenly resigned as assistant coach of the KL Sukma hockey team. Today, he came to know that one of the young boys who was not selected would be playing for another State and KL was formally going to protest at the Manager's meeting on the grounds that they had not formally released him. Apparently Enbaraj requested KL not to protest and give the young boy the opportunity to play in Sukma. What complicated the issue for Enbaraj was the different "stories" told to him which tantamounted to misleading him with the intention to pacify him. Various officials from the very top to others were telling "stories", which seemed to be pointing fingers at others rather than themselves. This "topsy turvy" scenario had nothing to do with the issue at hand ie "why object to a KL discarded young player from playing for another State." It seemed more to do with not wanting another team to be strong.

Enbaraj felt he could not be a party to the protest and to the "stories" and on principle the situation did not offer any choice but to resign as assistant coach of the KL Sukma hockey team. It was a very brave decision and he did not want to be part of a group of people who were denying the righst of a young KL discarded player to play for another State in Sukma. More so, as Enbaraj has just finished the Junior League, he does not want to be seen as killing the aspirations of young boys.

Thank God for Enbaraj there were sufficiently reasonable minded people especially from MHF who overruled KL's protest and permitted the young KL discarded player to play for another State. Enbaraj resigned prior to the decision of the meeting as he felt KL should not have protested. All credit to Enbaraj for standing firm on a principle and above all being prepared to sacrifice his own position. A true servant of hockey.