Foul!

Rocky Bru started his blog post with these words: "I don't mean to be rude, my zzz refers to the three Zs: Zahid Hamidi, Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Zambry Kadir. (Rafidah Aziz got the first two Zs but missed out on the third in Why Zahid, Why Zafrul?) in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's newly-formed Cabinet." Read Anwar's Cabinet: zzz ... I was attending the Methodist Boys School Sentul (MBSS) Old Boys' Association's 62nd anniversary dinner last night when Anwar named his Cabinet. The reaction among my former school mates - those who were my classmates and my seniors - were: "Tengku Zafrul masuk Kabinet?" "Zahid Hamidi is the deputy prime minister? "It's a joke. Zzzz ..." Thank God Tan Sri Azman Hashim, the AmBank big boss who is also a former MBSS student, drowned the conversations as he took the centrestage at the HSH Convention Centre Sentul, in Kuala Lumpur, singing some 10 songs.  Boy, that man can really sing! Or perhaps he was ...

"The real winner is Atok (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad), lah." "He may have lost Langkawi, but he has pretty much killed Umno and BN." My phone has been buzzing throughout the day with many sharing their views. But most of them start the conversation with a common question - so will be PM10? The 15th General Election in Malaysia on Nov 19 resulted in a hung parliament. It is an unprecedented moment in the nation's history. The battle to be the next prime minister is between Pakatan Harapan's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Perikatan Nasional's Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Anwar is eager to fulfill his ambition of being PM. This is pretty much his last kopek.  Muhyiddin is adamant of reclaiming the top spot in Putrajaya following his brief (17 months) stint in office (between 2020 and 2021). "Dr M's move of splitting the Malay votes contributed to Perikatan Nasional making an impression in GE15." But there were those who insisted that PH, having the mo...

Malaysia Snooker and Billiards Federation president Melvin Chia had late last night informed me about Lim Kok Leong's ( main picture ) historic win at the World Amateur Snooker Championship in  Antalya, Turkey. Lim defeated Amir Sarkhosh, the former Asian Champion from Iran, 5-0. My first question to Melvin was: "So was he there alone, or with a coach?" Melvin replied: "Where got money for full time coach lah . Sam Chong is only hired on an ad hoc basis." Melvin was referring to the legendary Sam Chong, who coached the Malaysian side during the a series of world events held in Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur recently. So who was in Turkey? The cue artists who represented Malaysia were Lim, Moh Keen Hoo and Chooi Yew Wah. Their team manager was Iskandar Perwira Putra while another Malaysian was there as a referee. The best ever achievement by a Malaysian before this year's edition was reaching the quarter finals. Not bad for a sport that doesn't enjoy much s...

The general election fever is here. Quite a number of familiar faces in the sports scene will be trying their luck for a place in Parliament. They include Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who was dropped by Barisan Nasional (BN), and now plans to contest against BN to defend his Arau parliamentary seat. There's also Datuk Seri Megat Zulkarnain Omardin who will be going up against Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari and Datuk Seri Azmin Ali in Gombak. Now imagine if the National Sports Council had an 'election'. Its director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail turned 59 on Sept 28. I've been hearing him say " penat lah " (tired) since Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was Youth and Sports Minister.  It's not easy being in the hot seat - dealing with four ministers (and their four different agendas) since 2018. Then there's shortage of funds and national associations that remain overly reliant on the government's money via NSC. Regardless if Ahmad Shapawi leaves once a ...

1. Pegawai sukan dan wartawan sukan mempunyai hubungan yang istimewa. Mereka saling memerlukan satu sama lain. 2. Ada yang suka apa yang dilaporkan. Ada pula yang akan melenting. Yang pasti, laporan harus objektif dan mampu memperkasakan lagi industri sukan negara. 3. Dalam tempoh 22 tahun saya berkecimpung dalam industri kewartawanan, ada yang tidak menyukai kritikan saya. Ada pula yang berpendapat dunia kewartawanan serupa dengan perhubungan awam - sepatutnya tulis " cantik-cantik saje ye. " 4. Saya juga pernah disaman. Ada yang gembira sakan apabila saya disaman 11 tahun yang lalu. Namun, hakim membatalkan kes saman malu (defamation) tersebut dan berkata ianya " an abuse of judicial process ".  5. Pernah di Kongres Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) lebih sedekad yang lalu, presiden FAM Allahyarham Sultan Ahmad Shah berkata kepada saya, "You ah, sometimes hit below the belt. But don't worry, I won't get angry." Ini berikutan hasil tulisan krit...

Kuala Lumpur City FC will play Oman's Al Seeb in the AFC Cup final scheduled tomorow (Oct 22; 7pm) at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. The team has come a long way since the city boys hogged the backpages of local dailes in the 80s and 90s, But the city outfit went through troubled times. Eleven years ago, the situation was so bad that a group of fans decided to start a Save KLFA campaign. To me, it was a humiliating moment for the administrators. Today, it's a different Kuala Lumpur football team. Firstly, it's a club (note the change in name) and secondly, it has marked its presence in the region. KL City FC has home advantage. While Al Seeb may be labelled as the favourites, deep down I believe Bojan Hodak's lads could win the title.  All the best to KL City FC and Al Seeb. Here's to a spectacular show. Is KL football finally safe? I would like to see what happens after GE15. This is because we've had individuals from different political af...

"Haresh, meet S.S Dhaliwal. It's like a name of a ship." I was in the midst of typing an article when Johnson Fernandez's voice broke the silence. Standing next to the then Malay Mail sports editor was a tall man clad in a turban. His name: Satwant Singh Dhaliwal. The year was 2001. It was my early days with the daily. The introduction took place when the Malay Mail crew shared the same office space with the New Straits Times - right at the far corner on the fourth floor of Balai Berita in Jalan Riong, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Satwant already had a reputation of sorts prior to joining the newspaper. He was a respected hockey administrator, especially during his days with Yayasan Negeri Sembilan and the Negeri Sembilan state team. As a journalist, he stayed true to his byline: S.S. Dhaliwal - where his articles were similar to that of a large ship that simply cannot be missed. He has made good friends along the way. He also made enemies. As the saying goes, in life, you ...