Coach Rajagopal has done a splendid job

National football coach K Rajagopal is probably feeling very “hunted” these days following the outcry from certain sections of fans after his team’s defeat to Qatar last Tuesday, in the run-up to the Asian Cup tournament in 2015.

However I, like many silent Malaysians, purely feel that the man has done a splendid job with the Malaysian team till to date, even from the standpoint of Malaysian football history.

If any reasonable Malaysian cares to do a reality check with the history of the Malaysian national football team, it won’t be difficult to realise that since the days of Soh Chin Aun, there was no real credible winning team anywhere until Rajagopal took over the coaching of the Harimau team.

With his guidance, we at least won  two regional tournaments in recent years and brought some prestige to the country, after years of waiting in agony.

Of course, its easy for certain hardcore fans and even certain past players who are now armchair critics and possibly also wannabe future coaches, to spew venom at every opportunity, but the fact remains that Rajagopal has indeed lifted the performance level since those early days of Santokh Singh, Mokhtar Dahari and R Arumugam, while many others, both local and foreign, failed.

Now that Rajagopal's contract ends on Dec 31, 2013 the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) may feel compelled to not extend his contract, but let it be said for the record that this man, Rajagopal, had truly done his duty to the nation by lifting the national team’s performance to the levels of the Middle Eastern nations.

 I sincerely wish him  better days ahead whatever the outcome.

 Thank you, Datuk.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/247335

Not a nice, sweet move for Hindus

PETALING JAYA: The removal of the sugar subsidy could not have come at a worse time for Hindus celebrating Deepavali: now they will have to pay more to make their cakes and sweets.

The move to scrap the subsidy may be good on health grounds since 2.6 million Malaysians under the age of 30 are diabetic patients.

But the government should have been a little bit more considerate for those preparing to usher in the festival of lights on Nov 2.

Deepavali invariably involves making sweets such as gulab jamun (a milk-based dessert served in a sugar syrup), jilabi (sweet dessert made of deep fried dough) and palkova (milk sweet), which of course involves a lot of sugar.

Housewife D Ratnam told theantdaily that while the move to abolish the sugar subsidy might promote a healthy living, the timing was inconsiderate.

“Deepavali is just around the corner. The prime minister [Datuk Seri Najib Razak] should have taken into account the importance of the multi-racial composition of the country especially since we use a lot of sugar in making Deepavali sweets.

Palanivel’s men capture most divisions

SHAH ALAM: MIC president Datuk Seri G Palanivel can breathe easier now after his men have won most of the top posts in the nearly-concluded divisional elections.

In Selangor especially, almost all of Palanivel’s men have been elected to the chairman’s post.

The state, which has the largest number of delegates with almost 30 per cent of the 1,450 delegates nationwide, has become Palanivel’s fort in the coming party elections.

The race is now between Palanivel’s men and his deputy Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam who was to have challenged his boss for the presidency but had settled to defend his position following a no-contest deal, brokered by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Under the deal, Palanivel gets to keep his position, inherited from former party supremo Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu, until 2016 before passing the party reins to Subramaniam.

Palanivel has already won his president’s post uncontested.

Recent developments in the party suggest that there is an attempt to get rid of Subramaniam and his line-up of leaders for the party’s three vice-presidents and 23 central working committee members.

The reason is simple: Palanivel needs to have his team of people holding top positions in the party for his own political survival as he had hinted after winning the position unopposed on Sept 1 that he may stay beyond his term.

Mahabharata – Bahagian 50

Raja Vrishaparva yang diiringi Maharishi Sukracharya dan sekumpulan asura berangkat menuju ke tepi tasik di mana Devayani dilaporkan masih duduk menangis kerana dibuli serta dihina oleh Puteri Sarmista.

Peristiwa keberangkatan itu mula tersebar secara meluas dalam kalangan orang ramai.

Walaupun maklumat dan berita cuba disembunyikan oleh golongan pemerintah – kerana melibatkan maruah dan salah-laku golongan bangsawan – rakyat tetap ada cara untuk mendapatkan dan menyebarkan maklumat.

Setiba di tepi tasik yang dimaksudkan, Vrishaparva mendapati memang Devayani sedang duduk menangis teresak-esak di bawah sebatang pokok.

Perkembangan terbaru itu pula segera dilaporkan secara telepatik oleh beberapa pendeta kepada rakan-rakan yang berada jauh dan dekat.

Apabila melihat ketibaan bapanya serta raja yang juga bapa kepada Sarmista, segeralah Devayani berdiri sebagai tanda hormat kerana sudah menjadi kebiasaan sejak kecil.

Sebelum gadis itu sempat menceritakan semula segala apa yang berlaku sejak mula, Sukracharya berkata,

“Tidak perlulah bercerita kerana saya sudah pun memaklumkan secara terperinci apa yang berlaku.”

Mahabharata – Bahagian 49

Golongan asura yang berada di istana Raja Vrishaparva terkejut mendengar kata-kata ketua mereka yang sanggup membunuh diri dengan melompat ke dalam unggun api jika ditinggalkan oleh Maharishi Sukracharya.

“Saya tidak kisah dan saya tidak mahu ambil tahu apa yang akan tuanku lakukan. Saya tidak mahu masuk campur.”

Kata-kata yang diucapkan oleh Sukracharya membuatkan orang ramai dan Vrishaparva terkedu.

Tentulah kemarahan pendeta itu amat memuncak sehingga sanggup meluahkan kata-kata seperti itu kepada ketua golongan asura yang disegani.

“Kalau tuanku sudah tiada sekali pun, saya masih akan meneruskan hidup.

Golongan pemerintah dan penguasa sering mengandaikan bahawa rakyat tidak boleh hidup tanpa mereka.

Hakikat adalah bahawa hidup akan diteruskan seperti biasa tanpa pemerintah yang tidak mampu memainkan peranan yang sewajarnya.”

Wajah Vrishaparva memerah mendengar akan kritikan pedas itu. Namun begitu, baginda tetap berdiam diri kerana mengakui kebenaran kata-kata tersebut.

“Sebagai seorang bapa, insan yang lebih penting dalam hidup saya adalah anak saya iaitu Devayani.

Jika tuanku benar-benar memerlukan saya serta sanggup membunuh diri dengan terjun ke dalam unggun api jika saya memilih untuk meninggalkan kerajaan ini, hanya ada satu cara. …”

Orang ramai terus terpaku. Masing-masing menunggu dengan penuh debaran untuk mengetahui apakah alternatif atau pilihan yang mahu dicadangkan oleh penasihat kepada golongan asura itu.

“Atas dosa dan kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh Puteri Sarmista, saya mahu tuanku pergi bertemu Devayani yang masih sedang duduk menangis di bawah sebatang pokok di tepi tasik,” Sukracharya mengemukakan cadangan dengan berani dan tegas.

Orang ramai mula berpandangan. Tidak kurang juga yang hairan melihat perubahan sikap maharishi itu yang selama ini begitu setia dan akur pada segala arahan Vrishaparva.

Pada hari ini, maharishi itu sudah berani memberikan arahan manakala pemerintah pula yang berdiri tertunduk mendengar apa-apa yang dikatakan kepada baginda.

“Ya, beta akan segera pergi bertemu Devayani. Beta akan meminta maaf bagi pihak Sarmista,” kata pemerintah kerajaan asura itu seketika kemudian.

“Bukan setakat itu,” pendeta berkenaan pula segera menambah. “Saya mahu tuanku menyembah kaki Devayani bagi pihak Sarmista dan memohon maaf.”

Golongan asura yang berkumpul di istana Vrishaparva benar-benar terkejut mendengar arahan itu. Masakan seorang raja akan sanggup menyembah kaki seorang rakyat; apatah lagi seorang wanita!

Vrishaparva memandang ke arah Sukracharya bagaikan memohon simpati. Bagaikan pandangan itu mampu mencairkan hati pendeta berkenaan yang ternyata sedang dikuasai kemarahan.

“Tidak adakah pilihan lain?” tanya raja itu sejurus kemudian.

Sukracharya mengangkat dagu dengan megah dan menggeleng-gelang sambil berdiri bercekak pinggang. Pada saat itu, bagaikan pendeta berkenaan adalah raja yang paling berkuasa manakala Vrishaparva seorang hamba yang paling hina.


Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2013/09/15/mahabharata-%E2%80%93-bahagian-49/

Mahabharata – Bahagian 48

Rombongan yang diketuai Maharishi Sukracharya sampai di istana Raja Vrishaparva iaitu ketua golongan asura.

 Raja berkenaan terkejut kerana memikirkan kemungkinan rakyat telah bangkit dan mahu menggulingkannya daripada tampuk pemerintahan.

“Apakah tujuan begitu ramai pendeta dan maharishi berarak ke istana? Apa yang tidak kena?” tanyanya dengan nada risau. “Nyatakanlah supaya dapat diselesaikan menerusi rundingan.”

Sukracharya yang amat marah dan kecewa tidak berlengah-lengah untuk meluahkan segala apa yang terbuku dalam jiwanya sebagai seorang bapa.

“Dahulu, apabila Kacha iaitu anak Maharishi Brihaspati, penasihat golongan vasu, datang untuk berguru dengan saya, orang-orang di bawah pemerintahan tuanku cuba membunuhnya beberapa kali.

 Malah, mereka berjaya membunuhnya beberapa kali! Mujurlah saya menguasai mantera Sanjivini yang berjaya menghidupkannya semula.”

Vrishaparva hanya mendengar tanpa masuk campur. Raja itu sedar bahawa walaupun dia berkuasa, kuasa rakyat – apatah lagi rakyat yang sedang marah dan sudah bersatu – adalah lebih besar dan tidak boleh dilawan dengan mudah.

Thanabalan, the forgotten hero

IT was the Malaysia Cup Final 1968. Two arch-rivals during the 1960s, Selangor and Penang, were in the final, and in the end, Selangor triumphed.

However, what many of us forgot on that eventful day in 1968 was the scoring prowess of a young man who scored four goals in a Malaysia Cup final and that record has yet to be broken after 45 years!

That man is none other than national and Selangor football legend, Thanabalan Nadarajah or better known as N. Thanabalan .

Thanabalan first represented the country when he was 17 years old at the 1960 Asian Youth tournament and later graduated to the senior team from 1963 to 1971.

He had earned 107 caps playing for the country and was a nippy and skilful striker that put fear in opponents’ heart.

In the 1968 Merdeka tournament that Malaysia won 3–0 in the final against then Asian powerhouse Burma (now known as Myanmar), Thanabalan scored a total of eight goals in six matches.

Not many knew the extreme passion Thanabalan had for the game. He played the 1968 Medeka tournament final on the eve of his wedding day.