Sporting Glory Dimmed By Politics And Race

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Growing up in the sixties, in every street, every village, and every town, our sporting heroes were all Malaysians like Abdul Ghani Minhat, M Jegathesan, the brothers Tan Aik Huang and Aik Mong, and P Gunalan.
Then there were Ishtiaq Mubarak, S Rajamani, and P Savithri. Later still came the “Towkay” Soh Chin Ann, Santokh Singh, R Arumugam, and Mokhtar Dahari. I pulled these names out of my head. My apologies to those I didn’t.
And those were the times when sporting heroes and heroines were honoured, recognised, and rewarded by a grateful government. Or so I thought until yesterday. Rude shock aside, it made me ask why sports are dying in the very nursery of all sports, our schools.
Post Merdeka, sports and the playing field were what brought the young nation together. And our school padangs buzzed with energy and activity in the evenings of every school day. Like in all school padangs across the country.
The selection of track and field teams was based on hotly contested and rule-based trials. And sports teachers saw us as young Malaysians yearning to bring honour to our colours, our school, our families, our friends, and our state, even our country, in some outstanding cases.
There was not a young person who didn’t know the Olympic ideal: “The most important thing is not to win but to take part”. And we took part, barefooted at times, knowing the school field was well-maintained, all soft and springy. Not anymore.
School studentsBurying the spirit of school sports
Today, schools, colleges, and universities are graveyards of sports. There is no fierce competition or rivalry among schools in any Malaysian town, like in my hometown, Seremban, in the 60s and 70s, between King George V School and St Paul’s Institution in hockey. Why?
A whole generation of parents in the 70s went through a period of profound angst over schools, education, and racial supremacism. No fools, they saw through the propaganda, the anodyne words, and the behind-the-scenes muscling.
This supremacism was at the expense of the tried and trusted methods of choosing the best to bring honour and pride to a school. And to bring out the best in our youth who, in the fullness of time, will surely realise their true potential.
By the 1980s, being a Malaysian in the sporting arena was no longer good enough. Race came first, country second. Just like the ruling politicians who claimed the same. It was now an open secret, just short of being official policy in the sporting arena.
This wanton destruction of the sporting culture of a nation with a proud history was very demoralising. And the blame lies squarely with our politicians and their minions for the disgusting mess we are in now, P Savithri’s missing medals and all. By the way, she is my ex-teacher.
Malaysia Athletics FederationHow is it possible to sweep under the carpet this decades-old fiasco of both medals and money being mishandled? Surely we are entitled to call the whole lot of officials and office holders, past and present, “comedians” in the manner of Graham Greene in his book “The Comedians”.
Lessons from Haitian dictatorship
He was writing about Haiti, that blighted island with a doctor-dictator, Papa Doc, who thought no end of himself as he bullied his own people into submission by creating a culture of fear and sycophancy using the Tonton Macoute, hoodlums above the law.
The book hit Papa Doc where it hurt most. In an angry response, he called Greene, “a liar, a cretin, a stool pigeon, unbalanced, sadistic, perverted, lying to his heart’s content, the shame of proud and noble England, a spy, a drug addict, and a torturer”.
Notice that what dictators and authoritarian governments accuse others of is almost always equally applicable to them. This colourful list needs no expansion except perhaps to add racial supremacism, but then all Haitians look the same. Unlike us.
This perverted, comical mindset now saw sports and sportspersons through the narrow lens of race, whether a sports person carried a hockey stick, pole, racket, or a paddle, ignoring the fact that our youth of all races and religions are the future of this country.
National badminton players Pearly Tan and M ThinaahAnd the pride and joy of every Malaysian. All over the world, people of diverse backgrounds have been brought together under one flag, sometimes draped around their shoulders the wrong way, on their victory lap. It’s the thought that counts!
But here, beginning in the late 70s, sports and sports administrators all kowtowed to the rising tide of race and racial supremacism. There had to be the “right mix” of races in any team. And skin colour became more important than ability or performance. Like in education.
The carnage of quotas and quotients spread its tentacles into sporting bodies, funding, and coaching. Connected businesspeople and politicians vied shamelessly to head sports bodies, not knowing the difference between balls and ballistics.
And on national TV, the same commentator became an instant expert in every sport, from high diving to gymnastics. And shooting and wrestling. It was comical watching him pretend he knew what he was talking about. By then, we had truly lost the sports plot.
‘Malaysia Boleh’ loses to racism
Our sports officials and administrators were in it for the money now and not for the glory of Malaysia. Malaysian sports, like everything else, had to fit into the supremacist agenda, taking its cue from the larger politics of the land. The comedians were now fully in control.
Malaysian Olympic contingent in Paris, France, August 2024And they insidiously made “Malaysia Boleh” their own, turning representing the country into representing supremacist pride, one and the same. Notice, the slogan has also died a natural death like all things conjured up by politicians for their short-term gains and ends.
So why should anyone be surprised at where we are now?
When racism becomes institutionalised in sports, even sporting heroes and heroines become its victims, like a sow eating its own farrow. This may explain why Malaysians rejoice when our sportspeople achieve success playing as mixed-race teams. Like Pearly-Thinaah.
As I write now, my anger knows no bounds, remembering the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” where the character, Obierika, says this of the disruptive impact of the European: “He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”.
Ditto our politicians. - Mkini
MURALE PILLAI is a former GLC employee. He runs a logistics company.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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