Replying to First GM.
It is NOT OK that the majority do not know what is going on. It is because of this lack of transparency that we are where we are today.
Let me share a personal story with you. For those in the know, you may know who I am after this story, or at least have some clue. I know a junior player, S, who obtained 2nd placing at the National Age Group some time back.
In the selection process for the Asian Junior tournament that year, the champion had declined to play for whatever reason, and the place was offered to the 3rd placed player, skipping out S who was actually tied for first place but only lost out in the playoff.
Needless to say, S' parents protested but by the time they had found out about it, the MCF had ALREADY submitted the registration and had "assumed" that S would not want to play because he had PMR exams coming. S had found out ONLY because one of the players selected for the Girls category had contacted S to ask if S was playing. S did not even know that the MCF was sending any players.
The joke of this is that the 3rd placed player was exactly the same age, and had PMR exams too. So clearly, the excuse was not valid.
Rumor has it, some MCF official or other (I will refrain from giving names since I have no way of proving this), and the parents of the 3rd placed player had a closer relationship (with a possibility of bribes involved (which may or may not be monetary, as that parent had let slip of such an occurrence during a conversation with other parents).
So now you see, whether they are the best tournament director or not, or whether they are the best secretaries or not, it doesn't matter when there is no integrity. How can a place to represent Malaysia be offered to someone discretely? Does this sound familiar to you? Did Greg tell the world he offered you and Mark a place?
To address what you said about Hamid and Greg being in positions that they are the best at, let me share a famous example with you. Remember Bernie Madoff? He is one of the most brilliant investors in our time. How did he cheat so many other brilliant people out of USD50 billion? This was made possible by his reputation of being great with money.
But just because he is good at what he does, does not mean it is good for everyone. What he lacked was integrity and the whole scheme was shrouded by a lack of transparency. No one knew what he was doing. None of his investors did. No one questioned him as long as he was promising great returns.
Back to Malaysian chess. Putting aside the argument that Hamid and Greg are doing a great job, how can you insist that they are still the right people for the job if there is a lack of integrity and transparency? This was clearly shown again in the selection for the Olympiad.
Now, to push it one step further, if you examine why they had shunned you when you requested for a post mortem as a sponsor, if you think carefully, and connect that dot, to this dot that I have just shown you, it will be clear as day.
You had "forgotten" to give them a cut of the sponsorship. That is why their attitude was utterly poor towards you. They got even more scared when you requested for a post mortem. Now do you understand? It is not because they are lazy to attend to your queries. People who have the capability to "single-handedly" organize the Malaysian Chess Festival have no room to be lazy. Now, the next question is, why do they bother working so hard? There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Now, if you can connect all the dots since the first time I posted on your blog regarding the Olympiad selection, I have always pushed for a system that will ALLOW our juniors to succeed, a system of meritocracy. You can get all the GMs in the world to train our juniors, but if their achievements are "overlooked", then our junior players will always be junior players.
If rent-seeking continues to be prevalent, NO SPONSORS will ever come in. Raymond Siew, do you see the whole picture now? Do you know why your sponsorship and efforts will NEVER be appreciated by these goons? Next time you want to sponsor the MCF, try offering to pay for the officials to follow along for the trip. Maybe add in a presidential suite booking. It could do wonders.
The tournament mentioned could have been an Asian U-16 event. Sorry for the minor inaccuracy.
ReplyDelete"He is one of the most brilliant investors in our time.". I think a lot of people will cringe at that. Warren Buffet is a brilliant investor. People like Madoff and Stanford are just criminals. If people keep giving me money and I use some of it to give to other people who give me their money, that does not make me a brilliant investor.
ReplyDeleteWhy did you bother about 1stGM.
ReplyDeleteYou should be able to join the dots. All this while he has been trying to make a buck out of chess through MCF.
You know why sponsors stayed away. In the Asean , players did not benefit. The free tickets did not go directly to players but was a vehicle for suppliers of MCF and MCF to make a buck. Someone should ask Air Asia whether they approve of this.
Yes, upon running the Ponzi scheme, he cheated. That was not the part that I was referring to when I was talking about his brilliance.
ReplyDeletePlease read more about his history. Before he turned rogue, he was a genius. Granted, what he did when he started is not "investment" per se, but he was doing penny-stock trading and was pretty good at that. This was back when he started in 1960. Let us not go into technicalities here. He basically started what you now know as the NASDAQ.
It was because of his brilliance that people "trusted" him with their money. If you were just some unknown, no one would give you any money to begin with. He abused his reputation which was not entirely built upon lies. He just got greedy.
You cringe now because you see it upon hindsight. Before he was exposed, everyone thought he was a genius.
You can cringe all you want, but what you just said entirely proves my point about the MCF. They are just criminals. We should be outraged!!
If you join the dots, he is angry at MCF becuase MCF also wants a cut. Keeps saying bad about PICA without any other person ever verfying. Imagine fears or truth?
ReplyDeleteI think I should point out too: I've heard that training for this year's ASEAN was forced onto the players who went through, uh, a certain body which got AirAsia to give free air tickets. As in, they were forced to pay RM1000 for a 3(?) day training program by Ziaur Rahman(my sources say that this was only partially true). I think there's something strange about this, don't you? Then after that, participation was opened to outsiders for RM300. For the same training program. As in paying RM300 for something which other people pay RM1000.
ReplyDelete"Join the dots".
"They are just criminals. We should be outraged!! ". In that case, why dont you make a police report? Apparently in malaysia (politics), you arent anybody until you make one :)
ReplyDeletemtheory,
ReplyDeleteWe both know that nothing will come out of it if I make a police report. The police or any authority for that matter can't even get the cars to stop double-parking outside my house, let alone on a double-line. But then again, this goes beyond the police.
"Chess Ninja", Who are you dscribing a "We call this kind of people with a forked tongue, snakey". Seems to apply to both Hamid and Raymond Siew. Haha. You will find out for yourself if you turn your back when working with Raymond Siew. Haha, the PICA people found out when they allowed him in and wasted no time in sacking him. Greg, Ibrahim and Haslinda found out when they allow him thru MCF doors (because of Azlin). Only Azlin is still blind because Raymond Siew is still charming her because he needs her contacts (rememeber Tony Fernandez) and her money see (First GM Academy)
ReplyDeleteAnd the plot thickens.... :)
ReplyDeleteI was just being facetious about the police report :) Dont take it literally.
ReplyDeleteWhy did MCF got involve in the Asean project in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing gong for FGM is the free tickets.
There are too many dots to join up.
1. They could not get enough players to sign up as it clashes with MSSM. So those who are not eligible are also allowed to go.
2. FGM only had a mind coach. So they need to employ a coach where they have no control over.
3. With all the cost built in, it became apparent to parents that it would be cheaper to opt for Asian in Beijing.
With all the short coming it is a wonder why MCF supported this.Maybe they see that they can make ome money too at the expense of players.