Sports unites us all!! =)

With days passing by, many things happening in our life... Little do we wonder, the little things in life are the ones that impacts us the most! Sports, to some, it is a just a form of entertainment. There are some people who relate sports to gambling. Established as a way to ensure active lifestyle for the public, now it is deemed as a way to increase our pockets! Gone are those days, where the passion were running for someone to win a tournament. Those days, whenever someone utters Mokhtar Dahari, they would relate him as the person who scored goals for fun and silenced established oppositions like England and Arsenal. Now, what we hear people criticising the current state of sports in our country and do nothing about it!

However, for the past few days, we are seeing a wave of optimism among our people. All of a sudden we are seeing people thronging mamak restaurents or cafes to watch the Thomas Cup and The Sultan Azlan Shah which is going on. When Malaysia faced Japan during the Thomas Cup, many criticse the inability of certain players to conjure points for our country. All of them criticised in unison! Though it can be detrimental towards the athletes but we could see that our people care about our nations progress in sports. After the defeat, Malaysia bounced back by defeating tricky opponents, Denmark and the performance of Hafiz Hashim certainly united the nation. The success of our hockey team in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup has also gained widespread praises and many feel that the successes of these athletes can certainly heed the call of 1 Malaysia.

Implemented By Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, our premier has gone great lengths to promote the call of 1 Malaysia. The introduction of 1 Malaysia was one of his efforts. Some applauded it but to me it's just a waste of money. F1 is a different ball game. Unity does not play a heavy role in this sport. All that matters in this sport is money and the personality of the drivers. Maybe he had the intention by taking a different approach but Mr. Najib, it will never work. You will hear this one issue from the policymakers...You are wasting taxpayers money! Effort there but criticism rears it's ugly head. He should have gone for a core approach by implementing the concept to core sports like football, hockey, squash and badminton.

From these two tournaments, it certainly showed the 1 Malaysia spirit among our people. There is no need for money to get this. It's all in the patriotism and passion shown towards our county. We can see people from various backgrounds united in supporting our national squad. Many would argue that Malaysians are leaning towards globalisation by supporting international based teams. This can be seen when Manchester United faced Malaysia, Malaysian Based Manchester United fans usurped the attendance of Malaysian National Team football fans. However, this is all bound to change.

This can be seen by the response of people based on our Thomas Cup performances, Azlan Shah Cup heroics and the indomitable form of our national football team during the SEA games. We can see the wave of changes produced by our national athletes. Certainly, we can see the 1 Malaysia spirit shown by athletes and fans alike. Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans and Kadazans are united through means of sports. Politics are just a menacing process which promises harmony but ends up being detrimental.

Sports certainly provides us with many avenues to achieve in life. Malaysians realise that sports have the tendency to unite in moments of sorrowfulness or happiness. Many countries have used sport as a form of unity. Countries such as Cote D'Ivoire, Congo Republic and Czech Republic have used sports as mean of uniting their people. Malaysia is following suit and it is certainly reaping rewards at the right time. Leaders might have other perception on sports but to people, sports is one thing that will never fade away in our lives. For better or worse, it will remain in our hearts.

The rise of these athletes is a certainly an encouraging prospect for our nation. Sports certainly unites every everyone regardless of colours or backgrounds. To achieve 1 Malaysia, sports should be the made the core of its development. Who needs an F1 team when we have our local athletes shedding sweat and tears for our country!

A wishlist to the Prime Minister.....

It's been 52 years since our country for has achieved independence. In these 52 years, we have seen lots of developments in our country. People ranging from the malays to the ibans have lived in harmony for many years. We have been the envy of many nations as our people, ranging from different religions and cultures are able to live together without any fuss. However, in recent years, we can seen an air of discontent within our people.

25 November 2007, a day to remember for many Malaysians. The protest held by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) was a wakeup call to many. This protest certainly faced highlighted the plight faced by the Indian community in Malaysia. As a student, i'm happy to be a Malaysian but based on recent issues most notably the Kampung Buah Pala issue has made me realise that life can be really cruel!

Every kid in this world would have a wish list. Some may grant that wish list but some may not. As a loyal citizen of Malaysia, i, Avineshwaran have a wish list to our beloved Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak. It would be appreciated if he grant those wishes. He could be the 'Genie' that we are looking for! The Indian community has certainly contributed for our country in many ways.From sports to business; we have seen people like Ananda Krishnan to S.Kuhan putting us in the world map.

However, there are some who are being marginalised. As an Indian, we want our scholarships to be offered based on merit not on quota. The use of quota system has certainly deprived many deserving students from furthering their education to better institutions. One of my cousins hailing from a poor background scored 11 A's in his SPM but now he is doing his form 6. We certainly don't want to see this happening in the years to come.

We have seen Kampung Buah Pala vanished from our sights. Many of my relatives struggled and looking at their plight sadden me deeply. My next wish is for the government to protect indian based villages in our county. Kampung Buah Pala had a rich Indian culture and many people in Penang know the might of that place. Many states in Malaysia have Indian based villages and i just hope they would not face the plight that happened to the Kampung Buah Pala people.

The plight of tamil schools in our country should also be highlighted. My next wish is to improve the conditions of tamils schools. Tamil schools deserve this due to the fact that many students in this school excel in their UPSR examinations. They are able to study in desolate conditions and prove doubters wrong. Many have estimated the ability of Tamil school students. Students in this school have the potential to be world beaters! By improvising the conditions of tamil schools, the government would be able to spur these students to greater heights. Changing the school equipments and expanding the school buildings are the main essentials for these schools. Thus, by doing this. our country would be able to create good students in the years to come.

These are the wishes which are currently playing in my mind. I hope Dato Seri Najib would be able to highlight these issues and make it a point to improve the situation. Many Indians are currently confident with the current leadership of Malaysia. The implementation of the 1 Malaysia is certainly an eye opener for many of our Malaysians. I just hope that the current administration would make steps to improve the conditions of the Indian community. This is one way to appreciate the efforts put in by Malaysian Indians for the past 52 years. I'm sure our forefathers would be glad to see this happening.