A short note on the selection criteria 2014.

I think there is a huge lesson for all of us here if we can learn from this. I pretty much said the same thing after the MCF AGM last year. This is a lesson from chess also so I hope we will all try to follow this post.

There is no point crying and pointing the fingers after the milk is spilled. After the nasi sudah jadi bubur. The time to lobby, to study the issues is before the event. Before the decision on Feb 7th. (I informed you of the dateline).

Once the decision has been made, it is too late. Think on this.

After the last AGM, I told the people who lost out that they at least had a winning game if not an almost won game at the AGM. But they blew it. So there was no use finger pointing after the event. The best thing they could do is to examine the reasons they lost an almost totally won game and improve for the next time if they are going to challenge again. Or transfer the lesson to their next big challenge in life. Start early, think through the issues and then fight smart and fight like mad at the deciding event (chess game).

So I am going to say the same thing now. The decision has been made. So all we can do is to study the implications and adjust our sails now.

Why do I say this is a lesson from chess? It is simply this. After you have lost on the table don't blame anyone else. If you didn't put up your hands and call the arbiter when the opponent broke the rules and you have lost when the time is up etc then you have lost according to the rules. Don't go around making excuses, making accusations after that. That is weak. Ask this question instead, what could you have done better?

The chess community is all of us. So we all have equal responsibility to get a good environment. Very obviously I cannot do it alone. What I did was to give you the information. The rest was up to you. Every one of us has a role. Look for yours and then do it.

I suggest that we all have a really good look at the criteria now and see how we can qualify under those circumstances. Nasi sudah jadi bubur. If you still don't think it is fair then wait for the next AGM. But hopefully you will know who to elect the next time. And hopefully you will play the game better next time.

So learn from this. What could you have done better? We have already lost this game. Accept the result and move on. There will be other games where we haven't lost yet.

Read this again. Here.