Open Letter to Dato Tan- Appeal and conclusion.

Ref: Here.

Dear Dato,

In part 2, I mentioned the need to leave our toxic past behind us. Allow me to expand briefly. I first talked to you about it on the phone after you asked me to handle the KLK sponsorship for PICA and after you came up to Ipoh to meet my contact in DKLS where you were informed of the 2 million fund they had for sponsorship.

I mention this now because I hear that the chief criteria for the Presidents post is a huge piggy bank to support a few people's lifestyle in MCF. I think that is where the problem is. MCF is an NGO to serve the Malaysian chess community and not the last refuge for people who cannot make it in the real business world. I think MCF will be better served by a President with Vision and supported by well meaning people of independent means.

There are enough sponsors to support Malaysian chess but not enough for those few peoples greed. I have documented here the way they attacked the first training for the juniors for Asean 2010, the way they break our juniors fighting spirit with threats and intimidation, emotional blackmail. Or the use of false hope and false praises. I strongly suspect that there is also match fixing in our tournaments. This is what I mean by our toxic past. The people who are responsible for this cannot remain in their control positions or we will slip further and further behind.

Dato, when we think of chess, most actually cannot remember the names of the past Presidents. But we have always acknowledged you as the founder of chess in Malaysia and all of us owe you a debt of gratitude for bringing us the gift of this wonderful game. Chess is your legacy for us.

But we have contributed too. We too have poured our investments in time and money as parents, as private chess Academies etc. So I don't think it is unreasonable for us to ask for the chance for our players to compete in fair competition in a proper selection. That our players can choose to freely go to or leave the Academy of their preference without penalty. In this I represent the voice of the vast majority in the chess community without the deals for back door representation.

Allow me to use a racing analogy here. Each of us will back the horse we think can win the race according to our best judgement. We will invest time and money to provide the best training or trainers/mind coach we can afford. But on race day we are told that the race is cancelled, our horse is banned without grounds and the winners declared. Or the race is fixed. That is not sports.

Dato, I hope chess will be your legacy for us. A sport where anyone can make it if they want it enough and work smart; train hard enough, sacrifice enough. And so long as they obey the rules of sportsmanship. We need to set the conditions for that in Malaysian chess. The message being that all can make it in life/chess just like you, no matter where they come from or who they are. That can be your legacy for us Dato. Our chess players can become another Tan Chin Nam if they are willing to pay the price. Thank you for your time.

With sincere and deepest respect.