Experience with Greg. Why bring it up now?

Ref: Here.

There are a few parents new to the circuit who tells me that all this doesn't affect them. So lets consider this for a bit.

The new environment that we have now is actually barely 2 years old. And it took a lot of effort to bring it about. The match fixing, the bannings without grounds etc have all been around for a long time. That culture has a long long history. Very honestly if Greg did not appear at the time he did, we may have left chess altogether. There are too many horrendous incidences from the past to recall here. Power was a lot more concentrated during Hamid's era.

Did you know that until the time that Mark broke into the National Junior squad there was no new comer for around 10 years? For instance at Mal/Sing 2011 when we won against Singapore for the first time in 10 years was also the 10th year of playing for Malaysia for Sumant and Mark's very first.

What Greg did with written selection was to open up the field to competition so new blood could come in. He at least succeeded for the junior levels. Credit where credit is due.

There is a very distinct possibility that this gain can be reversed if Greg is removed and we go back to the Hamid era.

Do you know that the vibrant atmosphere we now have is because Greg brought in selection at the senior level for the last SEA games? Suddenly many strong players who got tired of waiting on the sidelines returned to the game with the brand new chance to win honours.

The atmosphere was not always like it is now. This is a recent occurrence. But in that moment of weakness when Greg allowed Jimmy and party to go to the Olympiads without contest, Greg lost significant support. And interestingly it is the very people that he allowed back in, in the hope that they will spare him, that is using the incident to finally take him down; to go back to the good old days.

I can already see the different posturings. I have some insights into the politics of Malaysian chess. Back to the good old days is good for them but not good for the new U16, U14, etc etc. Without strong competition they will all wilt as we saw what happened to the older crop of players. We have seen that over 30 years of our chess history. This one is only 2 years plus old.

But I agree, the current President is too lax. He brings no solution and he cannot control Greg. I have suggested that the Secretary should be paid a salary in the past. I think that will help. But something else more important must also happen to solidify our small gains over the last 2 years. We must bring in proper policies, guidelines and rules.

Otherwise it is just too easy for them to dip their hands into the cookie jar. The Secretary carries a heavy burden. He must be able to resist the venomous attacks we see around us on the blogs and he must also be able to resist the temptations of big money within his easy reach. So those extraordinary powers of his must be curbed and he must also be of strong character.

The work is only partially done. I hope the new President or the current one if he survives the AGM, will consider more deeply about what it takes to move Malaysian chess into the next level. Very honestly we are all fed up of only developing tournaments for them to make more money and seeing Malaysians trashed over and over again. We need to also look at development and we need to be wary of those that do not want us to develop.

For those people who want the good old days back again when they were supreme lords and masters cannot even tolerate the training of the juniors, can they? They revel in the culture of lies and will attack you virulently and relentlessly if you dare to tell the truth. They are coming out again because they can smell blood now. Greg is deeply wounded of his own making and they now see a strong chance of making a come back. No more will they have to worry about competition on the board if they succeed. Their place will be "guaranteed for life". They have a powerful arsenal of tricks for the manipulation of results, tools for banning players stronger than theirs/them etc etc etc.

Just thought you may want to know why I bother spending so much of my time writing all this.

The next AGM will be a major cross roads. Do we go back to the Hamid era or do we forge forward and bring in Malaysia's first GM. The situation is very complicated and we will all need much wisdom. Or all the hard won but tenuous gains can be reversed in a blink.

ps: Please help me to circulate this to the new parents so that they are aware of what is at stake now. All my best to Malaysian Chess.