One day in the life....Part 3

ACT 1, SCENE 3

What is the purpose of this series? (Please look back to Parts 1 and 2 to follow in entirety). I hope to show, in part, what to look out for in electing officials. PICA is a State NGO, meant to serve the State of Perak. What happens when this organisation is hijacked from its purpose? How much damage will that do to the State of Perak if it does not join in the National Vision of producing our first GM? I also wish to show here my belief that while I was running around trying to improve things, certain committee members were 100% focused on trying to "fix" me. Of course that is only my impression. So all I will do is present the evidence here and Perakians can judge for themselves. I believe that the final authority is in the hands of our members. So whether we elect good officials, or NOT, It's up to us.

Let's continue to follow the thread.... no postmortem. And no postmortem must be followed by control of Agenda or it doesnt work. So let's see what happened. One of the new committee members elected to represent change was finally nominated by the President to the post of Secretary. Sounds about right.

OK, let's get on with the stories. There are too many incidents to mention here so I'll just pick a few illustrative examples...

MYSTERIOUS EVENT #2

This happened during Datmo. The selection committee had announced during the Syuen Tournament the criteria for representing Perak in the Merdeka Team Event. I was to be the team manager for the event - and the selection committee agreed to an allowance to be paid to the team manager, for which I was grateful. Remember I was also the team manager during National Close but at that time, there was no budget for the team manager so I volunteered my services and absorbed the costs. But that's a small thing. The story gets more interesting.

The Syuen Tournament was held just a few days before Datmo. During Datmo, I got a call from the President asking for the Syuen accounts. As he knew I was tied up at Datmo, I explained to him I couldn't understand why he needed the Syuen accounts so urgently. Moreover, we had concluded Batu Gajah and Clearwater events earlier (in May & June) and the accounts had yet to be tabled to the committee. Curious. So I asked for some time and a meeting to clarify some points concerning Syuen (that will be another story - coming soon).

Anyway, back to the Merdeka Team Event. The President handled the players for that (as I was in KL for Datmo). We were supposed to send 3 teams - Open, U16 and U12. The budget had been agreed and I got a sponsor for the Open team. Later, I was informed that only the U16 team will be participating. I tried to find out what was happening but got no clear answers. Representing Perak, 4 players came for the U16, and 3 players for the Open. One of the players was Johan (who is also a committee member). So with only 3/4 of a team, these players could not register as the Perak Team. And the sponsor pulled out.

Now, Perak had booked 2 rooms in Cititel. And when I found out that the senior team came late in a morning game because they had difficulty finding a place to stay, I offered them to share in the 2 rooms (after consulting with the U16 boys). Then I got a shock. The parent of 2 of the boys threatened to pull them out if they had to share the rooms. I tried explaining to him that even I was staying outside and the rooms were for the players. I called the President and Zaki to make a decision on this matter - and it was decided that I was to take no action. So I said we needed to have a discussion at the committee - to prevent this from happening in future, and also to find out what happened to the rest of the Perak Team that was supposed to come. So in the meantime, we had a committee member and Perak players sleeping rough and resting in the corridors.

Anyway, to cut the long story short... When I returned, I was told the President would not pay the team manager allowance. Not only that, no discussion will take place on what happened. So what has taken place is the President has completely taken over the selection committee and over-ruling everything. So no post mortem decision is making itself felt. Note: This can only be done by control of Treasury and Secretary. Hmmmmmm, Secretary.... isn't he the guy that got elected on the platform for change? Are we back to square one?

Things moved very quickly after that which led to my sacking from the committee.(unconstitutional, I believe) - and they are now accusing me of committing CBT during the Syuen Tournament which led to my sacking as a member of PICA as well. But let's look at the evidence before we jump to conclusions. I will present it here and I hope to prove my case.

Another curious event took place at Datmo. I was asked by Dato Tan to talk. Please note. I did not approach him. It was the other way. More on this later. Anyway, the gist is that he wanted me to undertake a tournament in Perak, which he will arrange sponsorship. When I returned to Perak, I asked the Secretary for a meeting to discuss this. I was told that another committee member was arranging a tournament in Kampar, with sponsorship that sounded strangely similar to Dato's. So what is happening? I was informed that a MCF official had contacted this committee member about Dato's sponsorship. Anyway, I called Dato up and asked him whether he had given the project away. I have no problems with that, I just wanted to be clear so I do not waste any further time on it. He told me I was the only one authorised and to carry on. There were 2 MCF committee members present at the meeting although they were not invited. So my guess is that it's probably one of the 2. Anyway, in the ensuing confusion...and Dato came to Ipoh to try to sort out matters and got a verbal agreement from the President to try to work things out. The sacking came directly after Dato left...... no tournament and no sponsor. What a loss to Perak. I think this series is becoming a saga.