Orientation P5, Is MCF a business or an NGO?

Part 4 and earlier here.

In the run up to the AGM and even before I have been canvassing for opinions on this topic. I believe that the opinions are split on this one. Actually there is a lot of confusion on how to run MCF as an NGO properly. Consider this. Since the committee is elected and the elected officials can have different motives, different levels of expertise, knowledge or understanding, it will be difficult to get cohesive decisions.

So there is a strong camp that believes MCF should be run as a business. Particularly since our dismal failure in developing Malaysian chess for the last 30 years. And this belief spans both camps at the AGM. So the jury is out on this one and the only authority that can settle this is COS.

However there is one topic that finds almost unanimous agreement. And that is the opinion that Jimmy and Peter are the two most most toxic and destructive forces in Malaysian chess and we would move forward much better without their influence. And so I would like to talk a little about this in the final orientation class into the Malaysian chess community.

In Jimmy's case, this man attacks any attempt to develop the Juniors. He feels threatened by the training of the Juniors by a GM. He feels threatened even by the private training of 3 of the top Juniors in Malaysia at that time. And he "had" the influence within MCF to even subvert selection to the Olympiads. His personal opinion is that Li Tian is the strongest Junior in Malaysia before the fact. But he resists the idea that an objective selection criteria is the best way to end the argument. And so he comes from the belief that his personal opinion is the final arbiter for the entire chess community. And this is unacceptable to us.

However he remains outside the official structure of MCF and so most of us will view him as a minor irritant at most if MCF is properly managed. And so the scrutiny of the new structure of MCF. The primary concern is for an MCF that governs well and in a manner that releases the energy within the chess community for growth.

The key sticking point is selection and the role of the sponsors within MCF. And this is where we are still having misgivings. We have created a selection chair and Peter is going around telling people what the selection criteria is. Somehow that doesn't seem correct. Shouldn't the selection criteria come out from the selection chair?

And so there is the continued misgivings that MCF has been hijacked yet again. Consider this. If it were not for the deal mentioned here,  there is no way that Peter will be able to get anywhere near MCF. And that is perhaps the setback of viewing MCF as a business. Without the KLCA swing, then even with all the "illegal" votes Encik Zuhri would have won hands down at the last AGM.

However KLCA does not have the respect of the chess community in Malaysia. Peter Long does not have the respect of the Malaysian or the International chess community. Ref: Here.

And so the opinion of one "State Affiliate" that has no support whatsoever may now heavily influence the new direction of MCF.

Still Peter is inside MCF now and Peter's style is well known to us. He gets his way just by being nastier than anyone else. He has no personal achievement worth mentioning as a trainer, organiser or as an official. And he is probably not even strong as a player either. He merely rides on the coat tail of others. And he is infamous here for banning without grounds in order to suppress any player stronger than the ones that is aligned to him.

And so this is what I believe will be the major stumbling block to re-engaging the entire chess community again after the tensions of the AGM. It's like a ticking time bomb. Peter's well known erratic personality now sets the tone in any possible future engagement with MCF.

I hope this concern from the general chess community is taken seriously by the new MCF. Even the Secretary of the State Affiliate that asked me to write this series mentioned Peter by name and nobody else. So this is a very serious concern. We urge MCF to reconsider his role. Even the post of technical chair for him is dubious. I cannot imagine anyone trying to bring up a complaint to him about suspect pairings in any tournament. There is still the unresolved, unreasonable issue about rating fees for private organisers etc that I am informed originated from Peter. So this man creates problems. And he also views his opinion as superior to any one else in the chess community including people who have achieved far more than him, just like Jimmy.

But like it or not, and I know both camps had people with strong opinions about excluding him, he is now inside MCF. And so this needs to be now managed in the interest of a vibrant chess community that will take on new challenges and growth. Lets leave the past of unchecked abuses behind by curtailing him.

This is the end of the series written by request.

Lets us build trust and unity between the new MCF and the rest of the chess community. Lets work together to achieve this from this point onwards.