The killing of the spirit

The way to get out of our rut is pretty apparent. We need to ask more questions. We need more reasonable people to speak out. We need to explore new ideas that can give us results. We do not need another "champion" to save chess in Malaysia. We need our kids to think, and the parents and players to stand up. So in the meantime, let me continue my stories. It may be entertaining, it may even be instructional. I will continue to use my own examples as I can defend those.

I first started staying in tournaments after this incident. It was a tournament in Kellie's castle. We were new in chess and I dropped Mark off and was heading back home to get some work done. Somehow I decided to turn back. I'm not even sure why now. When I got back to the tournament I saw a man holding Mark's hand and leading him to the bushes. Mark was struggling. I confronted the man and he let Mark go. Of course I stayed for the rest of the day. Later that evening I called Dr Yee and told him about the incident. He was then the President of PICA. He told me that the man is a strong player from Singapore and he brushed off the complaint. From that day onwards I was in every tournament Mark went to.

After Mark won his U12 championship in Perak, we were at a tournament in Syuen college. Mark went missing for a while. When he returned, I asked him where he went. He told me a man had taken him aside and told him that if he wanted to continue playing chess in Perak, Mark had to listen to him. I confronted this man and told him that if he had anything to say then say it to me. I asked him why he was threatening Mark? I then asked around at Unit Sukan and other places and found out that this man wanted to be a coach but he had no official position or authority then. This man is now the Secretary of PICA.

Before we can even get to the stage where we can do the things that I mentioned above, we have to stop this. We need to change the culture. My own name has now been smeared. I have brought the case to MCF. I would like a hearing to clear my name. It has been a long time now and I am still waiting for a response.