Hiding in Broad Daylight: Transparency

Replying to mtheory:

Everyday I wish that what I said is not true. When little or no progress is shown for the past 20 years despite the "millions" that Raymond claims Dato Tan has showered the chess community, it is just too hard for me to swallow.

Replying to abdooss:

It is easy to suspect someone is on the take simply because of the lack of transparency. Granted, even the most prestigious auditing firms can be misled, but all necessary actions should be taken to prevent this. For example, publish the breakdown of the accounts on the MCF website.

Given what you said, I would like to point out that even the MACC's effectiveness is in question.
More importantly, many of the MCF's practices are "ONLY" borderline illegal but probably closer to unethical. Just to give you a few examples of the things that happen in broad daylight (never mind the under the table dealings yet):

1. Olympiad selection

The most obvious one is the Olympiad selection. Granted, super-sub Greg did manage to score a massive 66.7% but I am sure I do not need to say more about the shadiness of this year's Olympiad selection. Maybe Malaysia needs a really capable team captain. Mas and Mok are "obviously not qualified to be captains".

OK, maybe one slip-up is not good enough to bitch about the MCF. Let us examine some of the past Olympiads. In 2004, Malaysia was represented by Tan Vooi Giap (who?) who played a grand total of 1 game. In 2002, Greg was also playing. In 2000, there was Azahari Md Nor. In 1998, not only was Azahari in the team, guess what, Hamid too made it too!! In 1994, Sabar Hashim was in the team. I suppose it is a prevailing trend where the towel boys are included in the team list. I am almost sure someone will be quick to point out that in SOME years, we sent "legitimate" teams. For it to be truly legitimate, we need to lay out exactly is the criteria for the team selection? What must I do if I want to try to qualify? I am not talking about the lone spot offered by winning the National Closed. Even then, Evan Capel was not selected to play.

The fact that they can keep doing this again and again and again means that they are telling you, "You can't do anything about this!"

2. Free trip for officials

OK, this is a partial extension from No. 1. By virtue of selecting free-loaders, they get a free trip to whichever country. Now, what about the other international tournaments, especially the age-group tournaments? Often times, players are FORCED, I repeat, FORCED to fork out money to pay for the MCF officials to go along for the trip. I wish to emphasize on the word "forced" because the MCF officials will always tell you that you have two options. You can choose to pay the extra money for the officials, or you can choose not to go. How about I give you a choice? You can choose to show us the details of the accounts with your clothes on, or without your clothes on. How is that for transparency? And many times, these officials are plain tourists. Sometimes, the players only see them after they get off the plane and check into the hotel. After that, maybe you catch a glimpse of them once or twice during breakfast. Other than that, the next time you get to see them is when you check out and get on the plane to go home. Does that sound familiar to anyone of you? I suppose that is better than when these officials pretend to care about the games and "try" to coach the players. Oh wait, that happens too.

3. Hotel room allocation

In events like the Malaysian Open, we all know that the GMs and IMs are offered rooms at or near the playing venue. Now, I can't give you the exact number of rooms that were allocated, but let's just say that the number of hotel rooms were intentionally overbooked and the vacant rooms were "reserved" for God knows who. I was informed that these rooms were used as bargaining chips to gain "personal favors" among other personal benefits. I don't know about you, but is this even illegal? Probably not, especially this kind of thing is rampant in any organization. I suppose if that's the case, we can't blame the MCF. I guess I should thank them for not wasting the rooms. At least they put it to good use.

4. Over-billing

I guess this generally comes into the transparency issue. As Rationality pointed out, the exchange rate that the MCF has been using for the past few years has been USD1 = RM3.80. The exchange rate has not been USD1 to RM3.80 since 2005 when our 5th Prime Minister unpegged the RM. Just have a look at the chart. The data was obtained from the US Federal Reserve. Shocking? There are many other cases of over-billing but it is too unfortunate I cannot prove this without the proper accounts being made public. But neither can the MCF prove its innocence. I suppose everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I wonder how it works when someone hides the evidence.

So abdooss... what I have underlined here is really ONLY borderline illegal. Is it really wrongdoing? Hmmm... You tell me.

No Free Lunch

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.

Lack of Hunger

This is in reply to John's comment. I find the message important enough to warrant a new post.

Totally agree that we lack the hunger. This lack of hunger in Malaysia is born out of 2 reasons. As you correctly pointed out, the first, is through complacency. That is pretty self-explanatory. On top of this complacency, Malaysians are also good at denying that they have fallen behind. All thanks to this spirit of Malaysia Boleh.

The second cause of this lack of hunger, is a more deeply rooted problem. This problem lies beyond the realm of chess, unfortunately. But to stick within the topic, I would like to point out that the lack of hunger is simply due to the complete absence of meritocracy. This socio-political issue has been going on for about 40 years and it has rooted itself in chess.

So much so that the powers that be have begun to believe that they can get away with anything. This is witnessed by the selection for Malaysia's Olympiad team. How dare the MCF select Gregory Lau to represent Malaysia in broad daylight. This is like rubbing mud in the chess players' faces and telling them that the MCF can select whoever they want, and there is nothing you can do about it.

You can play the best chess in the world, but I won't select you because I have my interests to take care of. So why should any of the chess players try, because their efforts may or may not be rewarded. Their fates are subject to the mercy of these almighty chess officials.

Let me recount a personal example. In my younger days, I had the great fortune of playing against a Vietnamese junior player and skipping all the details, we ended up in a position of opposite colored bishops with 5 pawns each. In any other case, it would have been a dead draw. I was really curious why he had refused the draw offer, and the game continued for another two and a half hours. Finally, I had succumbed to fatigue and overlooked a simple King penetration that led to my loss. Full credit to that guy's determination.

I was really curious as to why he had tried so hard for the win. Later, I found out that the Vietnamese government had promised USD1,000 to any player for a 3rd place finish, which could have only been achieved if he had won that game. I will always remember the hunger that was shown to me that day. I only wish that I had half the hunger in anything I do in my life.

The Hunt for Rationality

I just had to join in the excitement especially since Rationality has kindly hooked me up in his site without my asking. Well, like him (or her), I have chosen to wear a mask, although I really think a Guy Fawkes mask does seem to be way cooler.

On a more serious note, I find it hard to not make a comment about this, but the point I address here is not about who Rationality is. That in itself, is completely pointless. The most important thing is about what Rationality is saying.

You have all been misled by the powers that be in the MCF that all is well in Malaysia. All is NOT WELL. Why are Malaysians in such denial? Why do we tell ourselves it is OK? All this Malaysia Boleh crap that is spewing around is ruining our competitive spirit. Let me just summarize the situation a little bit for some of you who are less informed.

1. Malaysia vs Singapore

Back in the day, in the early 1990s, the Malaysia vs Singapore matches were hardly even close. We used to be trashing them day and night, in almost every category. Now, we get to listen to Ignatius Leong boast about how Singapore does not want to play against Malaysia anymore because we are "too weak". And we are angry at Singapore for their arrogance. Whether that comment by Ignatius is warranted or otherwise, what he says is 100% true. With IMs mushrooming all over the place, Singapore has a right to refuse to play against Malaysia. In a small puny country with barely 5 million people, they have managed to grow and develop so many IMs and IM elects, not to mention, several GMs (not including the imported ones).

2. No money, no talk

OK, we hear the MCF officials and even parents talk about how Singaporeans are so rich and they can afford to hire GMs and such to coach their children. That's why they end up being so good. Is money the only problem? Even if so, is Malaysia really short of money? Let us just take a step back and look at our other neighbors. Anyone who reads the newspaper knows that Malaysia's income per capita is higher than Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines. It has been so since our independence.

But mind you, these 3 countries have their very own GMs, and several at that. We can't even claim that we have a "potential" GM. If you look at the recent Olympiad result, Philippines is ranked 50, Vietnam is ranked 52, Singapore is ranked 58, Indonesia is ranked 67, and Malaysia is ranked 92!!!!! If this is not bad enough, Thailand, who sent a team with an average rating of 2256, finished only 1 place below us, with the same number of match points. All these countries who are "poorer" than us, are scoring better results than us, consistently. I will let you do your own research on that. So money is not the main problem.

So what then, is the real problem? Why is Malaysia such a great failure? Where did Malaysia go wrong? Are Malaysians just plain stupider than our neighbors? How can we live with ourselves pretending that nothing is wrong and our players have tried their best? We are all guilty of hiding our head in the sand with our butts held high if we do not see that something is wrong here.

Now, the difficult task here is, what is wrong with Malaysian chess? I have proved to you that our progress is dismal (to call it dismal is a praise), and it is not because Malaysians lack funding alone. Could it be something is not right with the chess environment? Could it be that the chess authorities are not doing enough?

Let me just venture into what being effective means. We keep spewing this junk about our players and officials having tried their best. But we never ask ourselves, what are they trying their best in? Are they doing the right things? So now you see, what Rationality has been saying, is merely rational.

There are always two components in achieving success. Doing the right thing, and doing things right. Trying your best can at best, lead to efficiency, which is doing things right. We often forget to ask, are they doing the right things? I will not blame the players on this. The role of a chess player is just to play good chess.

But what about the people in charge? Are they doing the right things? Have we put in place a system that allow GMs to be born? Or are we just going to keep throwing money at a "select group" of chess players until one of them becomes a GM? What have the Singaporeans, Indonesians, Vietnamese, and Filipinos done right that we have refused to see, or simply cannot see? Perhaps someone who knows why these countries succeed can shed some light with ALL OF US on this. How about Malaysia combine all their systems and call it the 1ASEAN system and produce more GMs than all these 4 countries combined?

It is precisely the mentality of the chess observers that think "they tried their best" that has led us to this exact point. Granted, it is not the chess players' fault. But can't you all see that the progress (if it can be called that at all) of chess in Malaysia is simply hopeless? SOMETHING IS WRONG AND WE ARE NOT SEEING IT!

Now, before any of you curse me for being unpatriotic, let me remind you that I am saying this because I love chess and I love Malaysia. I just can't bear to see the rot that has been destroying the game that I love in the country that I love. I weep for you, Malaysia.

Micro Management

Trying to over-tweak any kind of management is a symptom of trying to micro-manage at the macro level. I do not pretend to know how to run a chess association or manage any kind of establishment. I also can't speculate on what the job of the MCF is and what the chess academies should be doing.  I believe every establishment is set up with their own objectives. If someone wants to set up a chess academy with the main goal of profit-making, so be it. As long as we ensure that that academy competes on fair grounds. I have nothing against that.  I also don't know enough about the right or wrong people in any association. I am not affiliated with any party, but I support the fairest policies, and anyone who has the will to implement them.

This is nothing personal, but while your views are very easily agreed with, I find them too idealistic. Who gets to determine who the "right" people are? It is very easy to say we need to get the "right" people in place. Even if we do get these so-called "right" people in place, who is to say they will not turn bad after they get into office?  What I propose is to get the right SYSTEM in place. Throw in a performance-based system for the MCF. Set performance targets for the whole committee. Let the whole boat sink and swim together. Just ask for simple targets like:  1. Add 10 2300+ rated chess players per year  2. Add 1 IM by the end of 3-5 years.  3. Obtain full-sponsorship for the Chess Olympiad Team  Of course, these are just some examples of concrete performance targets.

Let the committee themselves set the targets they want to achieve by the end of their term in office. If they cannot even meet their own targets, the voters will know how to vote them off. It is as simple as that. If you consistently fail to perform your targets which are set by yourselves, no less, then you are either very bad at setting targets, or you are just plain lousy at meeting them.  I wish I can say that all this is common sense, but as the great Voltaire quipped, "Common sense is not so common".