Change but for the right reasons.

I am very troubled by recent feedback. There is intense activity in the run up to the MCF AGM. In the scramble for votes, the case of Dato Tan sponsoring Li Tian to China is brought up yet again as evidence of racism in MCF.

I strongly think this is wrong. Let me explain why. This is what I see. Chess actually shows that there is no weak/strong race in Malaysia. Chess is a very strong refutation to race politics.

I wish I can bring you back to that train ride back after Mal/Sing 2011. There was no race. Only Malaysians. We won because we worked together.

I was very proud to hear that Yee Weng helped Nabila at SEA games. And that is one of the reasons why I prefer him to Captain the team.

Mark's own journey was aided by the help of Sumant, Zhuo Ren, Roshan, Nabil, Syakir, Edward Lee, Kaushal, Jianwen and Che Hassan. They all shared with one another and they all improved because of that.

There are many reasons to contest the President's post but racism is not one of them. Let me return to the Dato/Li Tian case again to see if we can bury this issue permanently. Dato is the Honorary President. That means he has no executive power. So therefore the sponsorship for Li Tian is a private affair. I may agree that it was insensitive but there was nothing wrong done legally.

If Dato had raised the money by using an MCF letterhead and then gave the sponsorship to his personal choice, then he is totally in the wrong. But if he raised the money privately among his friends or used his own money then he is within his rights.

An aside: Just like if you bought a licence plate with your own money. But you cannot buy MCF1 with association money and not be questioned by any member of the chess community.

So I appeal to the contestants. Don't bring racism into the picture. There are plenty of real issues to show the incompetence of the current committee. Money funneled out, favoritism in selection based on politics and not chess. So many many issues.

So don't bring an imaginary issue in. We need to solve real problems to bring us forward, not bring in a new imaginary problem and create another mess. We are all Malaysians and we only want a proper structure and fair rules to progress. We want to see a Malaysian GM. We will celebrate anyone who makes it together with all those that have contributed.

The major issue before us today is what is MCF's contribution? They want to take and take from all of us and they give us nothing back in return except grief. That is the problem. Focus on that.

So by all means go for your votes. That is the democratic process but use the right reasons.

I hope you all will consider this appeal seriously.