The Beginning of The End

Hilarious post here by Jimmy. 

But the comments makes me very sad.

Just a fair warning:

"When you corner a wild animal, its natural instinct would be to fight back. "

I hope for everyone's sake that Raymond's preferred course of action right now would be to privately apologize to Sumant and his family and keep quiet so that this will all blow over.

After all, this is his "technique" for solving problems. In this case, I think that it is for Sumant's benefit that this kind of nonsense does not go on and is no longer dragged out in public.

I think almost the entire chess community is angry at the damage that Raymond has done and will likely demand an apology from him. But I think it is unnecessary. To demand an apology from him would be to legitimize his "authority". The chess community as a whole does not need an apology from a nobody.

Also, an apology does not make it OK. You cannot go in someone's house and vandalize it and then say you are sorry. I think finally everyone knows the truth, if they haven't already, and we should all move on with our lives and let Sumant pursue his own goals in peace.

There is nothing left to say about this. The truth is out.

Let It Be Known

I think the person who reported back to Fuhrer has a lot to explain. This is a very easy way to escape any form of responsibility. Hide behind a ghost. Someone said this to me. I am just going to pass the word even though it was a lie. Doesn't this remind you of what someone said about Rationality. All Jimmy and I did was to pass along Rationality's blog post and Fuhrer here decides that Jimmy is in charge of the attack. Now, let me use the same logic that since Fuhrer used the information that a deal was offered, he is claiming it to be true. Let us also postulate that he must have done his homework and found all relevant evidence to support his claim that a deal was offered to Zhuo Ren.

If this was not true, then the above statement which I grabbed from FGM's blog is simply malicious. It was posted with an intent to lie and mislead and more importantly, to dishonour the IM's. For someone to lodge a complaint, one must have at least cause for concern. I cannot simply run around lodging frivolous complaints. Every one with a pea brain knows that. So the big elephant in the room is, what is the cause for complaint? Who is the "informer". I put it to you that there is no informer. It is just Raymond making up stories because we now have proof that there is no deal. Raymond has used an "informer" to escape responsibility of posting vicious lies.

What about this one:

He is accusing Jimmy (and friends) of selling shortcuts. Now, it has been proven that no such thing happened. So where is the answer now Fuhrer?

Now, Fuhrer says that he did not say that Jimmy attacked Zhuo Ren. Or did he? His complicity on the attack on Zhuo Ren? What did he do to attack Zhuo Ren? Zhuo Ren asked Jimmy to post an email as a favor, and Jimmy did it. According to Dictionary.com, the meaning of complicit is as follows:

choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity.

So, if Fuhrer is saying that Jimmy is complicit on his attack on Zhuo Ren, then it means that Jimmy has chosen to be involved in "attacking" Zhuo Ren, and especially with others. So actually, yes, Fuhrer has specifically said that Jimmy attacked Zhuo Ren. Unless we have to go back to, "throwing" a game is not actually throwing a game. We have all played that game before.

And now, the biggest bullshit of all:

OK, so he has not said Jimmy attacked Zhuo Ren. But the biggest question then is, "WHO DID?" Could it be FGM himself? Could it be that FGM attacked Zhuo Ren, but Jimmy was helping Zhuo Ren clear his name, and therefore he is now culpable for all the attacks on Zhuo Ren? To be honest, I am very curious... What is this attack that FGM always speaks of? What exactly is this attack? Was it the non-existent deal that was offered to Zhuo Ren? But if there was no deal, then there was no attack? FGM has a lot to explain.

Now, he also says that Jimmy was also culpable. Again, big words for a small man. Let us leave no room for gaps and go to Dictionary.com again.

deserving blame or censure; blameworthy.

So, if Jimmy did not attack Zhuo Ren, and there was no attack on Zhuo Ren, then he is to be blamed for what? Posting an email? Who is to say that if Jimmy did not post that email, Zhuo Ren would not start his own blog and post his email there? What would the difference be then? 

This is the kind of poor attitude and logical skills of the mind coach that Malaysia has for its chess team. It makes me worried about the state of Malaysian chess. Please call for a selection for mind coaches. We want a written selection for mind coaches. Or at least a transparent process on who the mind coach should be. After all, he is "endorsed" by the MCF. That means he is able to use that "endorsement" to actually acquire favors.

The Credit Card Conundrum

It's been a really hectic period for me but I managed to squeeze out a few minutes to give some thoughts on Jimmy's posts about credit card debt here and here.

Jimmy said that:

If they dont have a CC then how can they over-spend? The problem is easy credit cards being made available to everyone, even those that might not be able to repay. Banks are at fault plus our Bank Negara and Finance Ministry (for not regulating the banks more carefully).

There are many other ways to get in debt. Even more severe than credit card debt is the personal loan. We can just refer to our resident banker, Ilhamuddin. There are tonnes of people who actually take out personal loans to pay off their credit card debt due to the lower interest rate (usually around 10%). However, this tends to be misused as well.

On top of that, there is this thing called the Civil Servants Salary Deduction Scheme. This is the ultimate killer. The salary deduction scheme is handled by MBSB, which is neither a bank nor a financial institution, and is thus not under the "purview" of Bank Negara. These loans are not for housing or car loans. They are personal loans and are given out freely like there is no tomorrow without any form of collateral. This is because the installments are deducted out of the salary of the borrower. Because of this, the loans are not recorded under the CCRIS, which means that it cannot be traced by the banks. So the banks will continue to lend money to these jokers despite the fact that they have already borrowed up to their necks. In some cases, MBSB allows borrowing up to 70% of their monthly income. This is extremely scary. How can anyone live on only 30% of their monthly income? On top of this, they need to pay for their housing and car loans, which leaves them with nothing.

So, eventually, since they cannot stop MBSB from deducting their salary, they default on their car loans, housing loans, and credit card bills. Much of these personal loans are used to buy silly luxury items like big-ass flat screen TVs, new refrigerators, new washing machines, new sofas, LV handbags, you name it.

This is a giant loophole in our banking system as Bank Negara is unable to monitor this. If you think the civil service is only a small part of the workforce, think again. Government servants account for more than 10% of Malaysia's labour force. That is by no means small. This is indeed very scary for Malaysia, not just for borrowers only. I'd hate to know what can happen if the banks fail.

If you think that banks won't fail, just ask yourself this: Did you think that the Lehman Brothers would go bust in September 2008? If suddenly, house prices plunge through the ground, believe me, no one is going to pay their housing loans and the banks will be left with no liquidity to operate. That's how banks fail.

The Beginning Of The End

My apologies to those of you who are getting sick of this strawman issue. I am going to settle this once and for all. Ever wonder where this assertion of everyone trying to attack FGM's ASEAN initiative comes from?

"They attack anything new. Even a training program for our Junior's before International Tournament."

Let us take a step back in time. It all began with Rationality's allegedly "slanderous" post:

Read here:


And then a few days later, Jimmy had a post that shared the link to Rationality's post:

I pretty much resolved that I will no longer respond to Mr Siew's postings - unless he starts to malign me again or attacking those things that I care about. One of this was when he said that there was a thrown game by one of the Malaysians in the last olympiad.

Rationality beat me to it here. He pretty much said all I wanted to say - its uncanny how my thoughts and feelings match up with him. I do wondor if he is my Jekyll. Come to think of it, I did go to bed very early last night...

Read carefully. It says "pretty much", not "everything". So, first of all, Jimmy agrees with MOST of what Rationality had to say, but not ALL. So there is no real reference to the ASEAN initiative. Secondly, Jimmy made an initial reference to the "thrown game" in his first paragraph, which was what he was actually probably referencing to in Rationality's post:

It's so nice of you to only implicitly make a reference to me in your post with your attempt of (humourous? I hope not) irony attached to it, but anyway, the only thing I have to add is; it's not my fault that you used the wrong word. "Throwing a game" implies a deliberate action. The miscommunication caused is not due to an incorrect interpretation on my part, but by your use of such condemning phrases, ironically, "out of context". But fine. Let's forget this. Maybe it is my fault that you didn't know what it meant to "throw a game", since you obviously don't. So okay, maybe I'm sorry.

Now, then on the same day, I shared the post:

There are two things that are missing on Rationality's blog currently. First, there has to be a "Like" button on your blog. How else are readers going to "Like" it when you write something that makes sense?

Secondly, you should also enable sharing so that users can also "repost" and share your posts.

Since I am unable to do both of the above, I suppose the best I can do is to link it:

PLEASE READ THIS !!!

P/S: You should probably allow comments as well.

Yeah, all I did was recommend a link. I did not even say if I agree or disagree with what he said. I did not even say that what he said was true or not. So where is the attack on the ASEAN initiative by Jimmy and me?

Now, for the BIG FINALE.

Check out this post. In case he deletes it, I am going to quote him here:

Good video by Jimmy
Here.

............ blablabla...... the rest you can read it from his link. Not important. So I won't waste your time with it.

Yes! He does the same type of recommendation. He even said "Good video by Jimmy". Then he gives you the link. So, by his standards, does he mean to say that EVERYTHING in the video is true? If you have not watched the video, then you really should. Because Raymond condones it, that means everything inside the video is true. It means he supports every single message in the video. Because that is exactly what he thinks when Jimmy and I recommended a link on our blogs.

Now, do you TRULY see where the "attack" BY JIMMY AND FRIENDS on the ASEAN Initiative and Air Asia and whoever the heck else is from? Who is the BIG FAT STRAWMAN here?

Oh by the way, in the first place, it is on the onus of the accuser to prove guilt. Never the onus of the defendent to prove innocence. So, stop calling for frivolous investigations unless you have even a single shred of evidence. Using coffee shop talk as a basis for investigation is time-wasting, inefficient, and plain STUPID.

If you hear "stories" from parents, it is your initiative to question the parent on WHERE DID THEY GET THEIR STORY FROM? Not cry to your daddy (MCF/Greg) every time someone says something is amiss. Oh by the way, the only person who is telling the MCF to do anything, is Raymond Siew:

"Investigate this, investigate that"

He doesn't think it is telling the MCF to do anything. It is only a request. A request is UNLIKE many of the suggestions that I make. Because suggestions are equivalent to asking MCF to do something.

"For some reason Jimmy and friends think that they own chess and they also own MCF. So they keep telling MCF what they should do or not do."

Show one instance that anyone has asked MCF to do anything. Also, if Jimmy and friends OWN MCF, they DON'T need to tell MCF what they SHOULD do. If I own something, I will just make it do what I want. I don't actually need to make suggestions. If I own my car, I will drive it wherever I please. If I own my house, I can rent it to whoever I want. So anyone with half a pea brain will know that Jimmy and friends do not own MCF and has never thought so. What is wrong with making a few suggestions? Is it so different from your requests? How about, think of those suggestions as "requests to try an idea". What does it sound like now?

Raymond Siew, go back and learn some humility and live by your own standards.

By the way, I don't care if you dignify this or not. I write this FOR YOUR BENEFIT. If you choose not to listen, it is simply your loss.

Get Paid to Play?

Jimmy said something about how some senior players should be paid appearance fees to play. There may be some merit to that, but I must say that I can't agree with such additional broad-based preferential treatment. There is already the incentive where FIDE rated players are given free entry, and also how the top 8 players being eligible to represent the country. On top of that, there is also the prize money offered. Granted, it is not much, but since when do chess players in Malaysia feel like they are entitled to high prize monies?

Jimmy is right to say that there is too much to lose, and too little to gain. Nonetheless, being a strong believer of the incentive-based system, I also doubt that urging seniors to do some "national service" will do the trick.

However, I think paying appearance fees for the IMs to play would not be a bad idea. I must say that I am utterly disappointed that both Mas and Mok were given automatic spots to play. It is not that I feel they are not qualified to play for Malaysia, but "forcing" them to play for their spot would certainly encourage a more competitive culture in Malaysian chess. In fact, any of the IMs that we have are welcome.

I just don't think that NMs should be paid, despite the fact that some of them are actually hard-earned. Perhaps the defending champion can be paid an appearance fee, but most certainly not all the past NMs. Please rethink the incentive system so that all players would know what behavior is rewarded and what behavior is "punished". Incentives should be exclusive and be performance-based.

So Much Hot Air

If you guys have not seen Siew Fai's comment on Jimmy's blog, you probably managed to save about 15 minutes of your life, depending on how fast you can read.

For those of you who are lazy or who are too busy to care what Siew Fai is talking about, let me try to summarize it in a few sentences.

1. Siew Fai does not know how to spell "George Bush".

2. Siew Fai's favorite past time is to sit on the fence (regardless of how painful that is).

3. Siew Fai thinks that he is doing "god's work" (with no offence to any religion) because he has a RM2 million sponsorship just waiting to be splashed upon all chess players like holy water (Read: All of you should listen to Siew Fai because if not, you will never see that RM2 million sponsorship). "Take heed or you shall perish in the name of chess!"

4. Siew Fai thinks he is better than anyone of us because of his negotiations with an arbitrary amount of sponsorship with several zeroes behind it. He has the audacity to insinuate that the Stonemaster may or may not have the RM1 million sponsorship that the Stonemaster is bragging about, using phrases like "no reason to challenge him for validity or being a doubting Thomas-time will tell whether it is true or false".

Whether or not the Stonemaster has a sponsor ready and waiting is the Stonemaster's business to shout about. There was absolutely no reason to bring it in unless you wanted "create doubt". You don't have to be so pretentious in your self-promoting and self-advertizing. We get it. Siew Fai is the chess saviour.

Siew Fai, you have done nothing more than promote yourself and riding along the comment page of chess blogs. At least Raymond has his own blog. I have several suggestions of ways to promote yourself.

1. Create YOUR OWN blog
2. Make a giant billboard with Jackie Chan's face on it and put it beside yours like for Kaspersky
3. Take out a full-page newspaper advertisement (you can include Jackie Chan or Lee Chong Wei as well)
4. Make a TV advertisement
5. Make a radio advertisement

If you need more advice, I suggest you contact a professional PR firm because currently, you have done nothing but paint a very ugly picture of yourself. All we have been hearing is you blowing hot air and more hot air about how much sponsorship you are getting. It's already getting really hot with global warming and all.

If you are truly doing this for the good of chess, why not go ahead and just do it because you don't need to create a name for yourself while you're at it. Report back once everything has been signed, then you will AUTOMATICALLY be a hero.

Otherwise, you have officially lowered yourself to the level of the Stonemaster. Because honestly, only time will tell whether what you say is true or not. We have no reason to question the validity of your statements.

P/S: Try to learn how to write in a clear and concise manner in neat paragraphs. No one likes to read a lengthy, incoherent, poorly paragraphed post. Clearly you have demonstrated your ability to use line breaks in your romantic poem to Raymond Siew. How about you promote yourself in your own blog?

Jokes of 2011

I am fairly certain that this will go down as one of the better jokes of 2011.

Click here.

Poll Results

Here are the final results for the poll. This will probably be the final thing I have to say on the matter. I seriously doubt there is any rigging in the polls, considering most people do not clear their caches these days. That would be the only way of voting multiple times (I think). Or if you have multiple computers.

Nonetheless, the results are clear. 'Nuff said.

Natural Selection

This is Malaysia's selection process. It is only natural. That's how it has been done for years.

Jimmy, I was trying to be fair. Let me explain the specific example to you, this time, with evidence. Have a look at the cross table below. It is from the tournament that I was talking about, the NAG 2010 U-18 Boys:

Now, let's just assume the first 2 players declined. There is a tie from 3rd-5th place, each player scoring 4.5 points. First of all, should Izz be offered the place? The 4th and 5th placed players might complain. There should at least be a play-off. There is no reason why Izz is better than the other 2 players despite having a better tie-break. He did not even meet the 1st placed player. Heck, he did not even meet Mark or Nicholas. Is it his luck?

Now, let's say Izz declined the offer. Does Greg have the right to offer Mark the place? Just look at the cross table. Mark drew with Nicholas Chong in the last round. If you were to use the results of this NAG alone, Mark has not really proved to be better than Nicholas Chong. What would have happened if Mark accepted the offer and Nicholas were to protest? Nicholas' tie-break was penalized because he was paired with the 1st placed player, Ken Wei in the first round. This is by virtue of seeding, which is probably luck.

If Mark was offered the place, then Nicholas should be offered too. At least a play-off of some sort should be held. Or am I wrong? I am only trying to be fair. I have nothing to gain from this. I just hope for a transparent and fair selection process.

The Fool and His Money

Thanks for the feedback John and Jimmy. I have the great fortune (or misfortune) of being born patient. It is almost amazing how thick Raymond's skull is.

Nonetheless, I feel very obligated to expose whatever untruths that he is spreading. What both of you say is true. But whatever attention that he gets, sooner or later, the fool will be exposed. As they say, "the fool and his money are soon parted". Whatever attention he gains, once he is exposed for the fraud that he is, he will lose all his "fans". I believe the people in the chess scene are wise enough to decide which statements make more sense. I suppose I am more optimistic by nature.

I suppose both of you may not agree with my methods, but I think most of us blog for our own satisfaction. So garnering more visitors or attention is not really our main goals, although it would make us feel a bit happier, knowing that people are listening to what we say. We just play our minuscule part in this vast world to contribute whatever small part that we can in hopes of giving back what we have taken from this earth.

It is my deepest wish and hope that in my life time, I can see the chess scene in Malaysia cleaned up. The dirt has been here for too long and shouting with a small voice isn't going to do much. I admire Jimmy's courage to stake his name in his opinions.

My hidden identity is not because of the lack of courage. I could not care less about my chess playing career at this stage of my life. But if I am "just another chess player", whatever I say is just another complain, which the MCF or any other authority can ignore with their deaf ears. I hope to create a symbol and a voice that represents something bigger, a "force" if you will, to gear up for a transformation. I am new in this chess blogging scene. But really, for more than 20 years, this ugliness in the current regime has reigned supreme and if any progress is to be made in Malaysia, something big has to remove the roots that have grown so deep. As one player and observer, I am a small voice. But the idea of "The Chess Ninja" serves the bigger purpose of cleaning up the chess scene.

So guys, please forgive me in advance for my naivete, foolhardiness, and ideals.