Enough is enough. Let us cut out the excessive melodramatics over a football movie and the sentimentalities arising out of one particular match that is an illusory representation of the greatness of Malaysian football.
At every turn, there are those who see nothing else but that squad and that match against South Korea in 1980 as the crowning glory, the epitome of the golden era, not knowing that, well before that, in an Olympic qualification tournament in Seoul in 1971, there was a much more prestigious triumph.
Malaysia thrashed Japan 3-0 and downed hosts and favourites South Korea 1-0 to qualify for the 1972 Munich Olympics. That squad — with Datuk Harun Idris as manager, M. Chandran as captain, and Syed Ahmad Abu Bakar as super striker — was to me even better than the one everyone is getting sentimental about now.
And, in the current mushiness, not many people care to remember that Malaysia won football bronze at the 1974 Asian Games, aside from being champions many times at the Jakarta Anniversary, Thai King’s Cup, Japan’s Kirin Cup, and South Korea’s Park Cup tournaments. Perhaps Malaysians are so starved of national football success and of a good local movie portraying all races in plain-spoken situations that they grab ever so tightly on Ola Bola. And won’t let go.
We must remember it is only a movie, albeit a refreshing one. Pure entertainment. So, let us not get carried away by arguing that the movie had some facts wrong. Or that the scorer of the winning goal should be Chinese and not Malay. Oh! For heaven’s sake.
Let us get over the nostalgia and look at more realistic happenings around us today, like the sensational “banana” kick executed by Penang midfielder Faiz Subri against Pahang in the Super League at the City Stadium last Tuesday.
The spectacular free kick not only earned him an immediate RM10,000 reward from the Penang government, but an overnight recognition the world over as the recording of it went viral. It is already hailed as a possible winner of the Fifa Puskas Award 2016, given to the best goal scored during the year.
Well, at least the global attention for the fabulous free kick would provide some sort of counterbalance to Malaysia’s atrocious world ranking in the sport. And in real life, we can also bend it like Faiz if we put our minds to it.
Talking about wicked shots, a few curveball situations landed on our path the past week, one of which was the announcement and the back-pedalling over the plan to bring in up to 1.5 million Bangladeshis to work in the country.
At the moment, it is not very clear whether the move would proceed, but the mere fact that the proposal was made in the first place seems quite disconcerting.
It was only several months ago that Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Richard Riot estimated the number of immigrant workers (legal and illegal) to be around 6.7 million — whoa, more than 20 per cent of the entire population of the country. Calculate the remittance payments.
At the same time, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk M. Saravanan has expressed his concern over 350,000 Indian youths in the country who are facing difficulties in securing a job due to poor qualifications. Do we realise that the number of immigrant workers in the country has exceeded that of the Malaysian Indian population?
And some people are thinking of bringing in 1.5 million more? Employers are asking for it? Some industries need these workers? Outrageous.
Then there’s the big flap over the “pork-free” tag put up by some restaurants. Those who made an issue of this say such a label could confuse Muslims. I don’t know who is confused here, but it is they who are creating doubts, and in Islam, once you have doubts (was-was) about the food, you can’t eat it, regardless of its halal status.
There is also another story that caught my attention — about an amorous couple who, in a bid to escape from being stopped by an anti-vice squad, lost control of their vehicle, which then plunged into a ditch in Sabak Bernam last Thursday.
They were spotted in a car parked at a secluded area. Sources said the lovers were so carried away that it was only later that they realised the presence of a volunteer group on motorcycles around them. We have heard similar stories before, of groups sneaking in to catch couples resulting in unpleasant mishaps.
The big question: should the energy and enthusiasm applied when snooping on romantic couples be also used on corruption and abuse of power? I wonder.
So, there. Cut the melodrama and let’s bend it like Faiz.
Syed Nadzri is former NST group editor