A FOOTBALL
CAPTAIN
WHO DOES NOT
KNOW
HOW TO PLAY
FOOTBALL
Pak Lah’s
Pathetic Response
For Losing 3-0
to Singapore in the Away Game
And Scoring 3
Own Goals in the Home Game
Pak Lah Wants to
be Captain
For Another 27
Years!
“Just give me
time …You have to wait for me to warm up”
The Rakyat Have
Been Waiting
For Almost Three
Years
A Response To
Pak Lah’s TV3 Interview
When I was told that our Prime
Minister was giving an interview on TV3, I was most
anxious to listen to him, as this interview would
afford him an opportunity to rebut all the
criticisms levelled against him.
Pak Lah’s Cabinet Ministers failed
and or neglected to answer the criticisms. Their
efforts were pathetic. So when the captain steps up
to the plate, I was hopeful for a better
performance.
I waited and waited for his
substantive rebuttals, but none were forth coming.
It was just another spin exercise, crafted by his
spin doctors.
But what shattered my confidence in
his leadership and his band of advisers was the
following admission of failure:
“Just give me time… If I take the
field in a football game, and after ten minutes, I
am judged for my performance, how can that be? You
have to wait for me to warm up, to pick up the tempo
and to move around. It is difficult…”
Consider the following undisputed
facts
Fact 1:
Players warm up before the match.
They don’t have the luxury to warm up when the game
is in full swing.
Fact 2:
When a player fails to perform to
expectations, he is inevitably substituted, for no
team can afford to have a “baggage”, a liability, a
player who cannot pull his own weight. Ask any
football coach or manager!
Fact 3:
All matches are difficult. We train
and motivate ourselves to overcome such difficulties
and rise to the occasion. Pak Lah had almost two
years of intensive training before he took over as
captain of the team. He assured Tun that he had
“warmed up” and ready to play – he was ready to take
over!
Fact 4:
Pak Lah had previously declared that
the “honeymoon” was over, a year after his election
victory in 2004. He called on the country to work
doubly hard to achieve the goals of Vision 2020.
Fact 5:
But today we are told, when we have
been slogging our guts out for the country, and
working “not for him, but with him” that
he still needs time to “warm up, to pick up the
tempo and to move around.”
Fact 6:
If almost three years is equivalent
to 10 minutes of play, and the game of football is
90 minutes, Pak Lah is suggesting that we allow him
to “play” for twenty-seven (27) years.
If in ten minutes he has not “warmed
up”, please tell us, the slogging rakyat (team
players), how long more do you need to “pick up the
tempo, and to move around?”
More importantly, please tell us,
will you and your team of advisers score any goals?
Fact 7:
The ministers at the very least
attempted to answer Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s
queries, even though they failed miserably. Pak
Lah’s answers are mere general denials, void of
substance and particularity.
Fact 8:
If this is the best Pak Lah can do,
it is best that he maintain his eloquent silence,
for in that event, we the rakyat need not suffer the
embarrassment of having to swallow lame excuses,
admission of incompetence and that our Captain for
all the assurances, is not ready to lead his team,
but is still “warming up, to pick up the tempo
and to move around.”
An Urgent Appeal
We, the rakyat have no quarrel with
our Captain’s personality and gentleness. Football
is a game for the tough and resilient. We cannot
have a captain who publicly admits - having had
intensive training for almost two years (from date
of Tun’s announcement of his intention to retire to
31.10. 2003) and was an understudy since 2000 when
he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister - has yet
to warm up.
If truth be told, Pak Lah has indeed
warmed up – he has been warming his chair since
October 2003 at the expense of the rakyat and the
country.
As a Malaysian I feel truly sad that
my Captain has found it “difficult” to lead
his team to play a decent game of football. Adding
insult to injury our team had given goals to our
opponents in overseas games, and even scored own
goals in home ground.
It is therefore with the greatest of
reluctance that I say this – Malaysia needs a new
Captain and the sooner the better.
Matthias Chang
8th August 2006
